WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Acting Purdue University President Tim Sands wants the campus community to honor Neil Armstrong by flying flags at half-mast.

Armstrong died Saturday at age 82.

He became the first person to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, as commander of Apollo 11.

Armstrong earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue in aeronautical engineering in 1955 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering from Purdue in 1970.

Armstrong donated his papers to Purdue in 2008. He lent his name to Purdue's Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. A statue of Armstrong as a young student and a replica of his footprints on the moon are at the entrance.