With regard to Space Shuttle it is more correct to mention X-20 "Dyna Soar" (nearly a homonym to dinosaur, actually stand for "Dynamic Soaring").
Yes, Armstrong was in the group to fly this ugly beast, too. But McNamara killed the project.
IMHO more interesting is that the projet manager was Walter Dornberger, the former project manager for the nazi's V-2 and boss of Werner von Braun. I assume that all interested in space read his (very interesting) book.