Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home stands in Wapakoneta, Ohio—with a yellow “for sale” sign in the front yard. 

You may remember Mr. Armstrong as the first man to walk on the Moon. His feet performed that feat on July 21, 1969. But years before that, he sat in his bedroom at the top of a creaky stairway. He launched model airplanes out the window to see how far they’d fly.

Now autographed astronaut photos hang in that room. These astronauts visited 601 W. Benton Street. They wanted to see where Mr. Armstrong’s first steps to the Moon began. A retired history teacher owns the house now. The house has not been for sale for nearly 40 years. 

When he lived there, Mr. Armstrong built planes out of balsa wood and glue in the dining room. He constructed a basement wind tunnel to test his models. And he pedaled his bike to an airstrip, where he learned to fly. He was 16 when he made his first solo flight and got his pilot’s license.

Just 20 years later, he rocketed into space for the first time. After the Moon landing, he taught at the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Armstrong died in 2012. He was 82.

Tourists can’t go into the house. But they do stop outside to see it. They also visit the Armstrong Air and Space Museum nearby. 

When Karen Mikesell bought the place in 1988, she had no idea who once lived there. But when she found out, she wanted to “keep it like the Armstrongs had it.” 

Since then, she has hosted nine astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, who flew to the Moon with Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Aldrin stepped inside the bedroom upstairs just a few years after Mr. Armstrong died. Ms. Mikesell remembers, “The tears just streamed down his cheeks.”

Guests have come bearing gifts for the homeowner. Over the years, she’s been given a Moon rock and a piece of gold foil that covered the Apollo 11 capsule.

“You can read books, but you can never have those kinds of experiences that I was able to have because I lived here,” Ms. Mikesell says. 

She never met Mr. Armstrong. He famously liked his privacy. But she did talk with his parents, siblings, and children about the house.

Ms. Mikesell hopes someone might be willing to buy the house and donate it to the Armstrong museum. 

“It’s time to let someone else have the opportunity to be as blessed as I’ve been,” she says, “and to take care of it and keep it as a part of history.”