A rose- and shrub-lined pedestrian way through Tralee’s town park graced by the footsteps of late astronaut Neil Armstrong is to be named after him, Tralee Town Council has decided.
In a rare public appearance, Armstrong spent four days in Kerry in 1997 on a visit to open an exhibition on space exploration at the town’s county museum.
Thousands of people turned out to greet him on Denny Street on the night of the official opening of the exhibition.
Accompanied by a small number of officials and then deputy mayor Johnny Wall, Armstrong used the road through the town park to access Siamsa Tíre, the national folk theatre. Armstrong also visited Killarney national park.
He was given the freedom of Tralee at a civic reception hosted by the town council and then mayor, the late Maeve Spring, sister of then tánaiste Dick Spring who was instrumental in organising the visit.
Current Mayor of Tralee Johnny Wall, who walked alongside Armstrong, proposed the naming of the road as “The Neil Armstrong Way” and this has been unanimously accepted.
A plaque bearing the astronaut’s name is shortly to be erected.