Twitter has created a data visualisation that charts the path of tweets as news spread around the globe of the death of American astronaut Neil Armstrong who passed away at age 82 on August 25th.

In all as many as 1.6 million Tweets were sent talking about and remembering the man who was first to step foot on the surface of the moon on  July 20, 1969.

Among those who tweeted their respects was fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin who followed Armstrong onto the moon.

“I know I am joined by millions of others in mourning Neil’s passing — a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew,” Aldrin tweeted. He writes as @TheRealBuzz.

Leroy Chiao (@AstroDude),  who is a four-time astronaut and commander of the International Space Station, said: “He was my childhood hero, who inspired me to become an astronaut myself.”

While Christopher Ferguson, who was commander of NASA’s last space shuttle mission, tweeting as  @AstroFerg, wrote: ”Today we lost a legend. Neil was a source of personal inspiration and a humble and unassuming American hero.”

Put together by Twitter data analyst Nicolas Belmonte this visualization below shows how the word spread of the man described as ”a reluctant American hero”.

Twitter has also produced this short video saluting Armstrong whose family said his life served “as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves”.