That’s according to Lord Laird who has led local tributes to the pioneering spaceman after he died at the age of 82.

Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, had suffered complications from heart surgery earlier this month, his family said.

The former Nasa astronaut famously uttered the quote moments after setting foot on the lunar surface: “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Lord Laird said Armstrong was one of the most important Ulster Scots or Scots Irish in the 20th century and praised the spaceman's “massive impact” on the development of mankind.

“It is with pride that we in the Ulster Scots community consider the life and achievement of space pioneer Neil Armstrong,” he said. “He was an archetypical Ulster Scot — not publicity seeking but very hard-working and always seeking to improve mankind's understanding of things around them.”

He explained the spaceman’s links with Ulster: “Armstrong is a ‘border reiver’ name which comes from the west side of the debatable land mostly between Carlisle and Dumfries.

“The Armstrongs came to Fermanagh in the early 17th century during the Plantation of Ulster. Many of that surname still live there today.”

Lord Laird that that although Armstrong's direct ancestors had been teachers in the Enniskillen area — and that his grandfather had allegedly taught in a school on the Tempo Road — he didn't think the astronaut ever visited Northern Ireland himself.

As tributes poured in from around the world, well-known names in Northern Ireland also shared memories of watching Armstrong’s touch-down on the moon’s surface in 1969.

Good Vibrations record label boss Terri Hooley was in his late teens. He said: “I remember it well, I was sitting at home with my mum and dad, watching it on the television.

“There was a lot of excitement about it, and in the run-up to the actual event. I was quite interested in the whole space thing at the time and remember thinking that this was it, this was the start of space travel and we'd all be doing it soon,” he said.

“There were lots of conspiracy theories at the time, that it never really happened and was filmed in a studio, but I didn't believe them.”

Former Northern Ireland international footballer and Sky Sports commentator Gerry Armstrong said he could recall the moon landing well and that he felt a sense of pride, as a child, at sharing the same surname with the world-famous astronaut.

“I didn't really know much about space, apart from what I'd read in comic books or seen in sci-fi movies, but I do remember, as a child growing up in Belfast, that this was something pretty special,” he said.

“My dad told me that Armstrong had links with Tyrone and that's where my family is from. I just remember being really proud we had the same

name. I watched it all unfold at my granny's house and was very well aware that this was a moment in history. No-one knew what to expect.

“What I also remember about Armstrong was that he always came across as a humble man, who shied away from publicity, despite his huge fame.”

U105 presenter Frank Mitchell says he was more excited at watching an actual TV than Armstrong's first steps on the moon.

“We didn't have a television at the time so had gone round to a neighbour's to watch it. I was aware of the excitement of the older people in the room, but couldn't say I was enthralled. I was more excited about the fact that I was watching TV.”

Frank said his favourite Neil Armstrong story had come courtesy of the late comic Frank Carson.

He said: “I remember Frank joking that Armstrong had asked him the best way to the moon. Frank said 'well, if you're going to go up, make sure you go up at night'.”