CINCINNATI (AP) — Two fellow lunar pioneers have helped launch a children's health fund in memory of Neil Armstrong, whom they praise as an inspirational team player.

Eugene Cernan (SIR'-nun) and James Lovell spoke Friday morning at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday at 82. A private service for him is set for later Friday morning.

Cernan and Lovell recount the quiet Armstrong's heroic qualities and say they had visited U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with him. They say he always had an inspirational impact when meeting troops, schoolchildren and other admirers.

Cernan was the last astronaut to walk on the moon. Lovell was commander of Apollo 13, where an oxygen tank in the spaceship exploded and the moon mission was aborted.

Associated Press
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.