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[interviewer] This is astronaut Neil Armstrong,

command pilot for the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

Columbus explored one New World,

how do you feel about such comparisons?

First, he wasn't sure where he was going.

At least he thought he was going to China

or the Indies and ended up of course

in a completely new world.

Now I very much hope that

we won't terminate at some place

that we didn't expect to,

some planet that we hadn't planned to visit.

[epic music]

[light switches churning]

[narrator] We're going to the moon

because it's in the nature

of the human being to face challenges.

It's by the nature of his deep inner soul.

We're required to do these things,

just as salmon swim upstream.

[Armstrong] I wouldn't say that fear is an unknown emotion to us

the work that goes into the preparation for flight

does everything it can toward erasing those kinds

of possibilities and I would say that

as a crew, we among the three of us,

really have no fear of launching out on this expedition.

[sirens wailing]

[Rick] The night before he went to the Cape,

he said, "I just want you to know that

we're confident we're coming back.

But yeah, there is some risk in this mission."

And he just sort of stated it, not dramatically at all,

because that wasn't how he was.

"So, okay, good, see you when you get back."

[Mark] At six years old,

I was sheltered from a lot of the dangers,

a lot of the risks, a lot of the worries.

My Mom carried them all and she carried them in a way

that I did not know that she had them.

[Janet] We did not know that Apollo 11 would make it to the moon,

we only knew that that was an attempt.

Everything had to work and it just wasn't likely

that everything was gonna work out fine,

that there wouldn't be a glitch somewhere along the line.

[inspirational music]

[narrator] Looking back, we were really very privileged

to have lived in that thin slice of history,

where we changed how man looks at himself...

and what he might become.

[helicopter chopping]

[people chattering]

[intense music]

[reporter] There it sits out there,

the culmination of somewhere between

25 and 33 billion dollars.

The skills and dedication of about 300,000 technicians,

the solemn but certainly risk filled pledge of a President,

some heartbreaking failures and some stirring successes.

[astronaut] This is Apollo 10 in Launch Control,

we've passed the six minute mark

in our countdown for Apollo 11,

the flight to land the first men on the moon

and all is still go as we monitor our status quo.

[Mark] I remember getting onto a little boat

and we watched the launch from there.

My guess is that this was in case something went wrong.

[mission control] T-minus three,

we are go with all elements for the mission at this time.

Firing commands coming in now,

we are on the automatic sequence.

We are still go on Apollo 11 at this time.

[typing]

[Ernie] I didn't know it was Neil

until they named him on TV

and I said I know him well!

I didn't know he had progressed this far.

But here he was in command of the moon landing.

Hard to believe.

But, if it was anybody, it was gonna be Armstrong.

Neil Armstrong from Wapakoneta, Ohio,

he's gotta be the guy.

[interviewer] When did you last talk to your son?

Yesterday about noon, we had a nice long talk with him

on various subjects mostly pertaining to the family.

And the rest of the family is close at the Cape.

[distorted voice] About what you expect.

With all of our technology,

we're having difficulty getting pictures

from Wapakoneta, Ohio.

[birds chirping]

[slow music]

[June] We're at my grandparents' home, Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Neil was born in this house in the living room

August fifth, 1930.

Couldn't have been better.

[Mark] Growing up in a small Midwestern town

with parents of German descent

gave my father very strong values.

That's where he came from, those were his roots.

You work hard, keep your nose clean.

Really that kind of simple.

[June] This is a picture with Dean, one and a half,

I'm 18 months older and Neil is three years older.

We called each other Neil the Peel,

Dean the Bean, June the Prune.

[reporter on radio] The experts give 10 to one she can't fly.

[June] Neil was sort of lost in his own world.

[reporter on radio] Look, he's set on taking a chance

and there he goes!

[June] We often found him in the corner

reading his books.

We liked to tease him, but he accepted it with a big smile.

[reporter on radio] And that's the time the experts got fooled.

Good boy, George.

[inspirational music]

[Stephen] He was interested in airplanes

from the time he was a little boy.

His mother bought him a 20 cent airplane and he built that.

Then from the 20 cent he went to a 50 center

and he went all the way up.

Pretty soon he was building them with motor [indistinct],

flying them and testing them.

[narrator] I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up,

I wanted to be an airplane designer.

I wanted to spend my life in aviation.

[airplane engine revving]

[Mark] He got his pilot's license

before he got his driver's license.

It was more important to him to be able to fly

than to be able to drive.

[narrator] The first time you solo any airplane

is a special day.

The first time ever you solo, is an exceptionally special day.

There was a great deal of excitement in my mind

when I got to do that first flight.

He had turned 17 in August, he went to college.

He was doing a Navy scholarship.

[narrator] I couldn't have been happier

with what I was doing,

Going into engineering.

Two years of study, then into the Navy, flight training

and then three years of active duty.

[foreboding music]

[reporter] The highly trained and well equipped

North Korean Army swarmed across the 38th parallel

to attack unprepared South Korean defenders.

Caught off guard, they were all but overwhelmed

until the United Nations took its historic vote

to intervene.

[guns firing]

[water splashing]

[planes roaring]

[narrator] I got my wings in August of 1950

so I was then assigned to a jet fighter squadron.

We immediately prepared for the Korean action.

I was very young, very green.

[Ernie] Neil was just another name on a list

when he came to the squadron.

He was quiet and poised and very confident.

[Tom] He was unusually quiet, I would say.

Reserved to himself.

Nobody was concerned about him at all.

We knew he was a good aviator, good aviator.

[plane roaring]

[Tom] At that time they're flying the F9F-2, the Panther.

[Ernie] Very honest airplane.

Do everything you wanted it to do except climb.

[guns firing]

[Tom] Our job was to support our ground forces,

in our case mostly the Marines.

We learned flak suppression

and how to knock down the bridges and the railroads.

You understand that there's gonna be casualties when you go,

so you've probably made most of that adjustment

in your mind ahead of time.

[narrator] Many younger people are uncomfortable

with the idea of death.

I shared that uneasiness.

[exploding]

[narrator] Dear folks, we had a terrible accident aboard our ship.

Four were killed and five missing.

Approximately 15 others were badly burned.

I knew well four of the nine dead

and five of the injured.

It was a tragedy.

Took me a long time to get over it.

[Ernie] I wouldn't say we weren't scared because we were,

but your training takes over.

That gets you through the sticky parts.

[narrator] Dear folks, there's a lot of war to go yet.

Last Monday, September third, while on armed reconnaissance

I was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

I was diving on a target at the time,

and narrowly averted hitting the ground,

but hit some electric lines.

Shaving off about five feet of the Starboard wing.

I was able to nurse the aircraft back across

to friendly territory where I bailed out.

No other news right now, same old Neil.

[Ernie] He was just one of the boys

until that incident and when we started evaluating

his decision making and his skill in flying that airplane

to where he did, that made him kind of head and shoulders

above the rest.

[narrator] I value those experiences very highly,

because you build a lot of character,

and you build a lot of backbone

and you're a better person for having learned

to endure that situation and those risks.

[mission control] T-minus one minute and counting,

we've passed T-minus 60.

[inspirational music]

[mission control] 55 seconds and counting.

We launched and we pulled it back

when we received the good wishes,

thank you very much.

We know it will be a good flight.

Good luck and Godspeed.

[intense music]

[mission control] T-minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal.

[blast]

[Rick] Saturn V launch is so sensory overload.

No video system or audio system I've ever heard

captures the way that really sounds.

[Mark] Sort of the cracking of the exhaust going up.

It's almost like you're being shaken,

but you're not moving, right?

So it's a very odd thing, but it's, it's incredibly powerful

and something that I will never forget.

[inspirational music]

[narrator] The Saturn V was a 3,000 ton machine

with an energy more than that to lift you off the pad.

It felt like a train on a bad railroad track,

shaking in every direction.

And it was loud, really loud.

It was an honest to God go to the moon machine.

[Rick] The thing that I remember is the exhaust

obscured the initial movement of the rocket.

You're like okay, you know, where is it?

I didn't perhaps realize how slow that Saturn V,

you know, sort of lumbers off the pad.

Finally we could start to see the top of the rocket

peer up above the clouds, it was like, okay.

[radio chattering]

[Bruce] This is Houston, you are go for [indistinct].

This is the beginning of the most audacious undertaking

that man has ever attempted.

We'll be back in just a moment.

["Earth Angel" by The Penguins]

♪ Earth angel, earth angel ♪

♪ Will you be mine? ♪

[narrator] My time in Korea expired

and I thought it was important to go back

and finish my education.

When I went back to university, the kids looked so young.

♪ A fool in love with you ♪

[Janet] I met him at Purdue, he was a freshman.

♪ Earth angel, earth angel ♪

♪ The one I adore ♪

[Janet] He didn't like to talk about much.

And he never did talk about much,

but what he did say was seemed to be meaningful.

♪ I fell for you ♪

[Janet] I just thought he was honest,

very good looking, very funny.

♪ Loveliness ♪

After that evening he went home and told somebody

that I was the one he was going to marry.

But he never asked me out until he got out of school.

♪ A fool in love... ♪

And he came up to visit me on his way to Edwards.

[presenter] Edwards Air Force Base

in the Mojave Desert in California.

This is where test flights of all high speed

research aircraft have taken place.

[Joe] Being assigned to Edwards Air Force Base

was I think the goal of every pilot

and certainly anyone who thought about

ever being a test pilot.

[narrator] This was one of the most exciting places

to work in the world at that time.

Dozens and dozens of new concepts, configurations and tests.

Something new to talk about every day.

[plane roaring]

[Dave] At Edwards, more and more technology was being introduced.

So there was this crossover between

flying an airplane manually, the old stick and rudder days,

and managing a sophisticated system in the air.

So it was a challenging period.

[crashing]

[Frank] It was a dangerous business.

Everybody knew it, and those of us that survived

I don't think dwelled much on the failures, on the deaths.

[soft music]

[Janet] We were married in 1956.

January 1956.

After that, we went up to the desert.

Bought a house up there.

It was a cabin that we bought.

A cabin that only had a fireplace for heat.

Neil was trying to work on that and improve it.

[June] And they had Ricky.

He was a good kid.

He still is.

["Let The Good Times Roll" by Shirley & Lee]

♪ Come on baby Let the good times roll ♪

♪ Come on baby Let me thrill your soul ♪

[Rick] We moved when I was five.

So I do remember it although I tend to remember

just little snippets or almost like still pictures

of it rather than longer scenes.

♪ Come on baby Let the good times roll ♪

♪ Roll all night long ♪

I remember walking on a path to a neighbor's house

and a big rattlesnake went right across

and I just kind of jumped over it and kept going.

♪ Rock me all night long ♪

♪ Come on baby Let the good times roll ♪

[June] When Karen was born,

she was the sweetest thing in the whole wide world.

♪ Come on baby Let the good times roll ♪

[June] He called her Muffy right away.

He absolutely loved that girl

and he paid all of his attention to her

like there was nobody else.

[Janet] Karen was a precious thing

and she was Rick's best friend.

In order to keep track of the children

I would put cowbells on their back

and tie them so when they walked they would clank

and that way I could hear them above the roaring wind.

♪ Rock me all night long ♪

♪ Come on baby Let the good times roll ♪

[June] What a life that was.

They were both very happy in those times,

those were good times.

♪ Roll all night long ♪

[beeping]

[reporter on radio] Moscow newspapers were first,

then headlines around the world echoed the news,

Russia had blasted a man-made moon into outer space.

On every continent and in every land,

the story of Sputnik 1 dominated the front pages.

[radio signals]

When Sputnik, the Russian satellite, orbited the Earth,

it was a shocking moment for the world, I suppose,

but certainly for the United States.

[Christopher] Can you drop the atomic bomb from a satellite?

What can they do from that thing that we can't do now,

because we don't have any space vehicles?

That's where it started.

[blast]

[narrator] On April 12th, 1961, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

flew once around the world in 89 minutes.

On April 14th, President Kennedy called NASA

into the White House.

"Is there any place we can catch them?

What can we do?

Can we put a man on the moon before them?"

[Dave] At Edwards in the early 60's

there was the transition into space flight

and Neil was on the forefront of that.

Neil flew the X-15.

Everybody admired everybody that flew the X-15.

That was one of the ultimate goals.

If you could get in that program, that was the best, right.

[narrator] The X-15 was a little airplane

powered by a big rocket.

Dropped from the wing of a B-52 bomber,

its rocket would burn for a minute and a half,

accelerate to about Mach 6,

coast up to 60 miles altitude,

then glide to a landing.

[Joe] Took you high enough, we were flying into space,

and more importantly we were learning how to fly

back into the atmosphere.

[Mike] I'm not sure who was the best pilot of the X-15.

There were seven, eight of them, they were all very good.

But Neil I think had a better concept

of how and why the machine was put together

and how it should be tested.

[Joe] Therein is an area that I think Neil

filled a very unique slot.

Neil was a hell of an engineer.

A pretty good pilot too.

[laughing]

[pilot] Release.

[narrator] This particular flight we went to somewhat

about 200,000 feet.

[pilot on radio] Looking pretty good at 250.

[narrator] In the process I got the nose up

above the horizon.

I tried to push down, but discovered I had

no aerodynamic controls.

It was actually skipping outside the atmosphere.

It wasn't going down because there was no air

to bite into.

[Joe] It's like being on a very fast horse

and riding it at full speed.

You've got to be looking out way ahead

where the fences are, where the rocks are

and start to avoid them early.

You can't wait till the last minute

and then jerk on a range.

[narrator] I just had to wait until I got enough air

to have aerodynamic control and some lift on the wings,

and immediately started to make a turn back.

[pilot on radio] Beginning to turn in.

Got plenty of room.

- [mission control] Take it easy, would you. - [pilot on radio] You got it.

[mission control] You have to hold it steady and you're settled right there.

[Mike] Neil could do things like that.

His credentials of performing under stress were clearly there.

[Joe] That was Neil, did a magnificent job.

But I've got to say that he was not the type of person

who would run out and say, "Look at me, I'm Neil Armstrong."

Neil was the kind of person you just wanted to like.

[plane roaring]

[Janet] When Neil was still working at Edwards,

Karen developed a tumor in her brain

under the age of three.

[Rick] I knew something was wrong with her

because she had balance troubles

and I think I told my mom,

"Yeah, she's having a hard time walking again."

But I couldn't put that together with the disease.

[Janet] The tumor grew very, very fast.

We tried radiation.

[sad music]

[June] All through her radiation,

she smiled and never complained once.

Never, never, never once.

She was a gift to both of them.

[Mark] She died on their wedding anniversary.

[Janet] Neil missed her dearly.

[narrator] I thought the best thing for me to do

in that situation was to continue with my work.

Keep things as normal as I could

and try as hard as I could not to have it affect

my ability to do useful things.

I was doing the best I could.

[Janet] After Karen died, I was ready to go anywhere.

I thought a change would be good.

[narrator] There was this project down in Houston,

the Apollo program.

They didn't really know what to test for exactly,

so they did everything.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] They didn't miss anything as far as I knew.

They did every test known to man.

[Janet] Neil finally decided that he would try for this program

and he got accepted.

[upbeat music]

[film reel whirring]

[Janet] When we moved to Houston, I was pregnant with Mark.

Mark was born. Yippee, Mark!

He's so totally different from Rick, you know.

They're two opposites.

[soft music]

[Janet] The neighborhood in Houston,

there wasn't much of a neighborhood, it was all trees.

It hadn't even been made into a street yet.

[narrator] Ed White and I bought some property together

and split it.

I built my house on one half of it,

and he built his house on the other.

We were good friends, neighbors.

[Mark] All the people in the neighborhood

had someone that worked for NASA

in one respect or another.

That whole community was very self-supporting.

Everyone was in it together.

[upbeat music]

[Frank] How I would characterize Neil,

he was quiet, introspective,

much more interested in the details of things

than I ever was.

You look at a watch, Neil wants to know how it runs

and I want to know what time it said.

[Mike] Neil lived in a shell and in order to get Neil

out of his shell you had to introduce a subject

that he was interested in

and you had to convince him that you knew something

about that subject. And if you pass that test

and he'd pop out of his shell, big smile on his face

and be your best buddy.

[Gerry] He listened a lot.

And when he spoke, he didn't use a lot of words,

but it was very clear that he had thought through something

and had come to a conclusion.

[narrator] I was so pleased to be

associated with the program.

The goals, I thought, were important to society in general

and I would've been happy doing anything

they asked me to do.

[reporter] Before men ever stand on the moon,

many technical hurdles must be overcome.

The steps remaining parallel the steps undertaken

in the development of aviation.

Project Mercury put us through

the Kitty Hawk stage in space.

Our second step, Project Gemini.

[roaring sound]

[Dave] I'd been CAPCOM on Gemini 5.

They just splashed out.

My boss came up and said, "I'd like you to start working

with Neil as prime on Gemini 8."

I thought, "Really, really?"

He said he's waiting for you in his office, go see him.

So I went over and there was Neil, big smile

as he always had, you know?

Okay, so here we go, let me tell you what we're gonna do.

[inspiring music]

[narrator] We were in a race,

and it was very evident to us all the time.

You wanted not to be diverting your attention

in any way to things you really didn't need to worry about.

You could stand across the street

and you could not tell when quitting time was.

People didn't leave at quitting time.

Fourteen hours a day, six and a half days a week,

it was just insane.

[Rick] Dad was training a lot.

He was not home very often.

My mother was very much of an unsung hero.

And Dad not being the most verbose person you ever met,

he had been guilty of not being very communicative.

So she wasn't always well informed

about where Dad was going, what he was doing.

That just left mom to figure things out on her own,

and I think she did that, she did it very, very well,

and she did it without complaint.

[rattling sound]

[thumping]

The objective of Gemini 8 was to rendezvous

and dock with the first target vehicle anybody would have,

the Agena for the first time.

People didn't know whether rendezvous would work or not.

Once we got docked, I would do an EVA,

I was going to walk around the world,

I had a 90 minute EVA,

and then a controlled re-entry

so it was our job to put all these pieces together

in a full spectrum of space flight.

[applauding]

[Rick] We had a squat box in the house installed for the mission

so you could hear Mission Control communications

all the time rather than just what might be on TV.

[mission control] Phase two pre-valves coming open,

five seconds.

T-minus 20 seconds, mark.

Five, four, three, two, one, ignition.

Liftoff.

[blast]

- [mission control] Roger - [astronaut] Fuel pressure running a little high.

- [astronaut] Roger. - [mission control] Roger, understand.

[astronaut] How's it looking, guys?

[mission control] It's looking good, flight.

[astronaut] Roger.

[Dave] The launch was great,

the second stage was all in the mail,

and then you're going through the rendezvous,

seeing the Agena, just actually spectacular,

spectacular view.

[inspirational music]

[astronaut] That's beautiful!

[mission control] And that's great, way to go, partner.

[astronaut] You done it, boy, you done a good job.

[mission control] Do the thing.

[mission control] OK, Gemini 8,

you're looking good on the ground, go ahead and dock.

[Dave] Neil did the docking, smooth as you would expect.

[thump]

[astronaut] To flight, we are docked.

Shortly after I looked over and saw Neil's eight ball,

the altitude horizon was in a 30 degree bank.

There was no horizon out the window.

I said, "Neil, we're in a bank."

And he looked out and he said, "We are in a bank."

- [astronaut] On a flight CSQ. - [mission control] Go ahead.

[astronaut] The Agena is tumbling violently at this time.

[astronaut]On the Gemini 8 CSQ, com check out, do you read?

[indistinct radio commotion]

[astronaut] Okay.

[Dave] Neil says, "Turn the Agena off", which I did.

He turned on the Gemini and then everything stabilized

for about four, five minutes,

and then it started to turn, started to roll again.

[tense music]

[narrator] When the rates became quite violent,

it was a bit dicey.

They say Murphy's law says bad things happen

as the worst possible time.

And in this case, we were out of radio contact.

We got down to about 13 percent propeller

and decided we have to get off of the Agena.

I hit the undock switch.

[thump]

[Dave] And when we pulled off the Agena,

we found out the problem was not the Agena,

it was the Gemini.

And then we started a very rapid roll rate.

[indistinct radio commotion]

I have to check the spacecraft [indistinct]

[Janet] Things were just awful.

They were spinning at maybe a revolution per second,

and there was a very strong concern

that they would black out.

And that would be it, he would be over.

[astronaut] I wonder if there's any chance

of something like that happening.

[mission control] I don't know.

At that point, Mission Control turned the squawk box off.

[mission control] We're trying to check all that out now,

we're trying to get some.

Mission Control did not know what was happening,

and they didn't want to expose a tragedy

without being able to manage the situation.

That was something that my mother was not happy about.

She wasn't happy about that and she went over

to Mission Control to find out what was going on.

And I was refused entry.

I would not have wanted to been the one

to tell her that she couldn't come in.

That wouldn't have gone well for them.

[tense music]

[Dave] We got down to no other options

and Neil finally said, "We gotta activate the RCS."

Now the RCS was a small re-entry control system

in the nose of the spacecraft.

[Gerry] Once you activate that system, that's your last gas.

If you lose it, you can't get back into the atmosphere.

He probably deduced that, "This is all I can do,

is try this and see if it works."

[Dave] He had to reach up to an overhead panel

to get a hold of switches.

That's amazing physiologically

that in this high speed roll he could turn his head up

and get the right switches,

which he did and he stopped the roll.

[astronaut] We do have the spacecraft under control

at the present time, we're in slowly drifting flight.

[Gerry] At that time, they could see on the monitor

that he had activated the re-entry control system.

So almost immediately we knew we were going to have

to get them down quickly.

[man 1] Okay, you're sending all of that in ASAP?

- [man 2] Affirmative. - [man 1] Okay, let's expedite.

[mission control] CAPCOM Houston flight, we are primed for air to ground.

[astronaut] Roger. Go.

[inspirational music]

[narrator] I took great pride in landing

close to the aircraft carrier that was awaiting us.

My carrier was located in the Caribbean.

I landed near Okinawa.

That's the furthest anyone's ever missed.

I don't expect that record to be broken.

[Frank] Some of the people were second guessing Neil

about his performance.

I never did, I thought he did a good job.

There's a lot of that among very competitive people.

[film reel whirring]

[Gerry] Neil's action I think saved the mission.

It upped my view of Neil at that point.

You knew he had the right stuff.

[cheering]

[Christopher] Stayed calm, didn't get excited.

That's what we were looking for in the first place

for using test pilots.

A guy that was used to putting his life on the line

every time he flew.

[narrator] There are a lot of people here,

most of them seem to be my family.

[laughter]

You're my people and I'm proud to be one of you.

[crowd applauding]

[Janet] They could've lost their life.

There was no point in talking about it,

you either do or you don't.

That's the way it is, you know.

This spacecraft you're going to ride on

is to a certain extent untried.

You approach it with any apprehension

as compared to the Gemini which had been flown before?

There's a great deal of pride involved

in making a first flight.

So I think I'm looking forward to the flight

with a great deal of anticipation.

[dramatic music]

[Jules] It was all over in one stunned

horrifying second.

At T-minus 10 minutes in a simulated countdown,

an electrical spark apparently shot out

and ignited the 100 percent oxygen in the cabin.

Horrified engineers watched the burst of flames and smoke

envelop Grissom, White and Chaffee.

They heard their last words of shock and surprise.

The crewmen never had a chance.

[sad music]

It was terrible.

I could hear his voice in that thing.

You could hear, I could hear all three of them.

They didn't last very long either,

they only lasted 10 or 15 seconds.

It was a very depressing sight,

everything was burned and gray and melted.

It was a disaster.

[Christopher] The management were running, running to get to the moon,

and I think they were willing to take some chances,

and I think that had they been thinking properly,

they wouldn't have taken them.

[narrator] Some very traumatic times.

I suppose you're much more likely

to accept the loss of a friend in flight,

but it really hurt to lose them in a ground test.

That was an indictment of ourselves.

[Frank] There was never any commotion about it

like there would be today.

So you mourn, but briefly and then get on with the job.

[planes roaring]

[gears churning]

[Christopher] It took the fire to rebuild the vehicle

and I think that was the secret to Apollo.

Without it, it just wouldn't have happened.

I don't think we would've gotten to the moon.

[Gerry] The Apollo missions came close enough together

that we were in this constant one more step, one more step.

Then, when 11 came along, it all seemed different.

You know, this time, we are really gonna go land.

[Joe] There were 30 people vying to be

the first man on the moon.

I think they could've all done the job,

no question in my mind about it.

It was Deke Slayton who was responsible

for crew scheduling,

had developed a program where

if you were backup for one flight,

then three flights later you became the prime.

They all say there was a rotation method in it.

Well if it was, it was a hard one to understand.

[Mike] One seat and in it was a fellow named Neil Armstrong.

Now why was that?

What were the reasons that he was the one

and the others were rejected?

If you take the short view,

it is that he was probably the best qualified.

He had been a combat pilot during Korea,

he proved his mettle there.

He was flying the X-15 and that put him above and beyond

all the rest of the candidates.

If you want to take a longer view

then you want to consider,

what was he gonna be like after the flight?

That was equally important.

He wasn't gonna go out and drink too much,

make a fool of himself.

He was a straight arrow.

A lot of people criticize Neil

because he didn't, quote, "get out and sell the program."

But I think he was much more effective in his quiet way.

Did I have anything to do with Neil

being the first man on the moon?

Yes, I did it.

Deke Slayton said, "Aldrin is gonna be the first guy

on the moon."

Up here says, "We don't want Aldrin

the first guy on the moon."

I just felt like Buzz was not the right personality

and would not be the best representative

for the United States.

I thought Neil would do better.

I didn't dislike Aldrin.

Didn't like him either.

We all had weaknesses.

I haven't met that guy yet.

I didn't know Jesus.

[cameras snapping]

[indistinct chatter]

[narrator] We were a congenial bunch,

but really focused on the job.

Buzz and I had both flown in Korea

and his flying skills I was sure were good.

His intelligence was high, he was a creative thinker,

and he was willing to make suggestions.

I'm not sure I recognized at that point in time

what might be considered eccentricities.

Mike Collins was a joy to work with.

Able, cheerful and relaxed.

He'd be the sole occupant of the command module

whilst we descended to the moon surface.

[Mike] We were working night and day.

We felt the whole weight of the world on our shoulders,

everybody was looking at us.

[narrator] There were some things that were done

specifically for the benefit of giving the press

the opportunity to either talk with us,

or take pictures of our activities in preparation.

We probably resented that to some extent.

[reporter] How would you describe your attitude

just before flight?

[laughing]

- I certainly wouldn't... - Not to draw straws.

[narrator] I was asked by the bosses,

"Do you think you and the guys are ready?"

And I had to say, "Well,

it would be nice to have another month,

but we were in a race here and I had to say, "We're ready,

we're ready to go."

[dramatic music]

[mission control] This is Apollo Control

at 102 hours, 12 minutes into the flight of Apollo 11.

We're now 21 minutes, 23 seconds

from the beginning of the powered descent

to the lunar surface.

[Mark] As we approached the landing, mom woke me up.

So I was little, probably groggy eyed.

But it was all fun and no worry

from my six year old point of view.

[indistinct]

[narrator] I was more than just a little amazed.

Amazed not only because of the unlikely chain of events

and quirks of fate that had put

an Ohio farm boy in that remarkable position,

but amazed even more because everything was working.

[Charlie] Eagle, Houston. If you read,

you're go for powered descent, over.

[astronaut] Five by, Eagle, we're standing by,

for your burn report, over.

[mission control] Columbia, Houston, we've lost Eagle again.

[Duke] They lit the engine and the wheels came off of the thing.

We started having communication drop outs,

landing radar problems, we were off trajectory

so we were gonna land short.

[astronaut] Our position checks downrange

show us to be a little long.

[mission control] Roger, copy. And, Eagle, Houston,

we've got data dropout.

[Charlie] We couldn't understand why this was happening.

[astronaut] Program alarm.

[astronaut] 1202, 1202.

[mission control] Roger, copy.

In Mission Control it got very, very quiet.

[narrator] You're always concerned

when any kind of alarm comes on.

I didn't understand the nature of this particular alarm.

The computer had a lot of complaints,

but my own feeling was as long as the engine

was operating right, I had control.

I would be in favor of continuing

no matter what the computer was complaining about.

- [astronaut] 1202 alarm. - [mission control] It's executive overflow.

If it does not occur again, we're fine.

[astronaut] We're going.

We're going that alarm.

[radio commotion]

When Neil pitched over and he said, "Hey,

we got a bunch of rocks out there, we can't land here",

that was potentially the end if he couldn't find

a place to land.

[narrator] The autopilot was taking us in towards

a very large crater about the size of a big football stadium

with steep slopes covered with large rocks

about the size of automobiles.

Not a good place to land at all,

so I took over manually and flew it like a helicopter

out to the west.

[Rick] I just remember them saying,

"Yeah, he's off flying it himself for some reason."

And they were asking,

"Can anybody tell us where this thing is?"

[Gerry] He was moving across the lunar surface

at pretty great speed.

We kept hearing the fuel call outs and that was

grabbing all of our attention.

[radio commotion]

[Christopher] We knew he should be landing.

We knew how much fuel we do have,

we were timing it on the ground.

[Christopher] What's going through your mind,

he's gonna run out of petrol.

That's what's going through your mind.

[astronaut on radio] 60 seconds.

[Charlie] He had 60 seconds to land or we would call an abort.

Then I called 30 seconds.

[pilot] We're out of fuel.

[mission control] Roger that. Anybody?

[Charlie] Tension was increasing,

literally holding our breath, are we gonna make it?

[Buzz] Four forward,

drifting to the right a little,

okay, down a half.

[Gerry] Buzz said, "We're picking up some dust."

I can remember thinking, "My God, we're there,

we are blowing dust off the surface of the moon."

I heard "contact" and then there was a pregnant pause.

[Neil] Houston, Tranquility Base here.

The eagle has landed.

[applauding]

[dramatic music]

It was the same old Neil, just calm as you can imagine,

you know, unflappable.

I don't see how he did that so calmly

because I was shouting it out.

[mission control] We copy you down, Eagle.

[Duke radio voice] You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue,

we're breathing again.

[Charlie] It was just a celebration, we pulled it off,

we actually did it.

[narrator] We made it.

The thought finally reached my consciousness.

I clasped the bulky glove of Buzz Aldrin on my right.

The silent handshake was the only congratulations necessary.

[reporter] How did it feel at the moment of touchdown?

Oh it was exciting, just a marvelous thing

that we have successfully

managed to land safely on the moon.

[reporter] Did Neil carry anything for you to the moon?

Yes, but that's private.

[reporter] You're not gonna tell us?

No.

[dramatic music]

[Bruce on radio] Okay Neil, we can see you

coming down the ladder now.

[Charlie] When Neil stepped out,

that's when you could really hear a pin drop

because people were trying to listen

to everything that was going on.

[Neil on radio] I'm at the foot of the ladder.

The surface appears to be very, very fine grained

as you get close to it.

It's almost like a powder.

I'm gonna step off the LM now.

[Duke] Just the thought of the first step of a human being

on another heavenly body was to me personally overwhelming.

[Dave] Nobody knew he would say anything,

I mean there was no big plan for him to do anything,

and then he came up with the right words as usual.

[Neil] That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

[inspirational music]

[Rick] The thing that I remember about the first step

was that nobody heard the first words in our living room.

That's kind of, "What'd you say?"

Something about one small step, you know.

Man, where'd he get that from?

That was perfect!

[narrator] I thought well, when I step off

I'm just gonna be making a little step

from there down to there.

But when I thought about all those 400,000 people

that had given me the opportunity to make that step

I thought it's gonna be a big something for all those folks

and indeed a lot of others who weren't even involved

with the project.

So it was kind of a simple correlation of thoughts.

I think he said it pretty well, don't you?

[narrator] It was special and memorable,

but we weren't there to meditate.

We were there to get things done,

so we got on with it.

There were a lot of proposals for what to do

on the lunar surface by different people.

Some people thought a UN flag should be there,

and some people thought there should be flags

of a lot of nations.

My job was to get the flag there.

I was less concerned about whether it was

the right artifact to place.

I let other wiser minds than mine

make those kinds of decisions.

[Charlie] We were watching it in our living room

and the fascinating thing was

how each of the three generations reacted.

My wife and I, of course were overwhelmed

with the achievement.

My Dad was speechless.

Having been born in 1893 when there were

no automobiles or buggies or anything.

To see this, he could hardly comprehend it.

My two teenagers were sort of,

"Yeah, I think maybe I saw this on a TV show last week."

- [Buzz] Beautiful view. - [Neil] Isn't that something!

Magnificent sight out here.

[Frank] I was with the President during the landing

in the White House.

You know that could've been a disaster for him

if something would've gone wrong,

who would've got the blame?

I tried to tell him that, and I also tried to keep him from

taking too much credit because he didn't deserve

either the credit or the blame.

[Nixon] Hello Neil and Buzz, this certainly has to be

the most historic telephone call ever made.

For one priceless moment in the whole history of man

all the people on this Earth are truly one.

[Neil] Thank you, Mr. President.

It's a great honor and privilege for us to be here

representing not only the United States,

but all nations

and a vision for the future.

[inspirational music]

[man] It's marvelous.

[woman] Fantastic.

[man] [indistinct] I know!

[woman] Being closer to the moon makes us realize

that we are all human beings together.

[man] I hope this brings unity.

[man] I thought the world got closer today,

I felt we all got to know each other that much more.

[man] Good thing for all people, for all the world.

[Janet] Everyone thought they were united.

They were united at that time,

it was extremely exhilarating.

[man] This is the greatest event in all the history

of the human race.

Today is New Year's Day of the year one.

[cheering]

[Tom] The whole thing was one of great exhilaration

and pride about what we were accomplishing,

what he was accomplishing,

what the country was accomplishing,

what mankind was accomplishing.

Apollo 11 was kind of like crossing the goal

in a football game.

The rest of our flights had helped to advance the goal,

but Neil and his crew were the ones that scored.

[June] You know what he told me?

"Seeing the Earth in the background was it.

That's what I remember more than anything."

[narrator] To stand on the surface of the moon

and look at the Earth high overhead

is certainly a unique experience.

Although very beautiful, it is very remote.

An oasis or an island,

but it is the only island that we know of

that is suitable for man.

The importance of protecting and saving that home

has never been felt more strongly.

Protection is required, however not from foreign aggressors

or natural calamity, but from its own population.

[Charlie] What a moment.

We had all been working on it for so long

and then there it was.

But in the back of our mind

we were thinking about getting them home

and get them off of there.

[dramatic music]

[Ronald] Tranquility Base, Houston.

- [Neil] Roger, go ahead. - [Ronald] You're cleared for takeoff.

[Buzz] Roger, understand.

We're number one on the runway.

[Ronald] Roger.

[Neil] The eagle is back in orbit

having left Tranquility Base.

[Ronald] Roger, we copy, the whole world is proud of you.

[Neil] To all those Americans who built those spacecraft,

and put their, their hearts

and all their abilities

into those crafts.

To those people, tonight, we give a special thank you.

It was sort of all about the team, not the individual.

Not what he did, but everybody.

[alarm sounding]

[reporter] July 24th, dawn, in the Pacific,

Apollo blazes across the heavens,

coming back to Earth at 25,000 miles an hour.

[parachute launching]

[water splashing]

[cheering]

[sirens blaring]

[engines idling]

[triumphant music]

[Janet] We did New York, Chicago and L.A. all in one day.

It was fabulous, like nothing I'd ever seen before.

The streets were just jammed.

I mean, It was 50, 60 people deep.

Everybody was pushing and shoving

and trying to get your attention.

[man] It was kind of crazy.

The amount of ticker tape was filling up the car.

You don't have any preparation for that experience.

[motorcycle revving]

This was the beginning. [laughing]

It's the beginning of it all.

But there was nothing you could do,

I mean these people were just happy to see you.

[Gerry] It came immediate,

more than rock stars even.

They were world heroes.

And all three of them were not attention seekers

at that point.

How do you propose to restore some normalcy

to your private lives in the years ahead?

I wish I knew the answer to the latter part

of your question.

[laughter]

Kind of depends on you.

[crowd laughing and applauding]

[Duke] Neil didn't like the exposure that he saw coming.

He did a real good job at it,

doing the world tour and everything like that.

Everywhere we went, our spokesman was Neil.

Poor guy had to make the speeches.

[narrator] This is the beginning of a new era.

When man understands the universe around him

and the beginning of the era when man understands himself.

[crowd applauding]

[Christopher] He did what he had to do.

And whenever he had to do it, he was gonna do it well,

but he might not like it,

and so that was Neil.

[Duke] Some of the activities he performed

through a feeling of obligation

that was part of his job.

He's probably the best person of all of us

to have been the first man on the moon

because of the way he handled it.

I mean I don't know if I could ever take on that load

and the fact that he's first,

everybody wants Neil Armstrong.

[applauding and cheering]

We'd like to know when you're gonna take

the first woman to the moon?

Yeah.

We welcome you with open arms.

[laughter]

[cheering]

[Rick] The amount of requests for him

to come here, do this, speak, show up,

write a letter of recommendation.

People would write letters,

Neil Armstrong, USA, and he would get them.

[Mark] I certainly became aware of the stresses

after the flight of Apollo 11,

with news crews and folks essentially camped out

in our front yard.

At that point you could start to see

a little bit of frustration

with just being able to function normally.

[Janet] You start scratching your head and you say,

"Oh, gee whiz, what do we do now?"

Thank God social media didn't exist back then.

[melancholic music]

[Rick] At that point, we moved to Ohio.

[Mark] The decision to move was very intentional

to try to simplify our lives.

[Rick] He just wanted to be a regular guy

just like everybody else,

and he could, he was like that.

[Mark] The media at that time

labeled my father as a recluse,

and it's just nothing could be further from the truth.

[Duke] He got a bad rap from the press.

He just didn't like the publicity.

[Mark] He wasn't comfortable taking credit

for something that belonged to so many people.

[narrator] I just don't deserve celebrity.

I wasn't chosen to be first,

I was just chosen to command that flight.

Circumstance put me in that particular role.

It wasn't planned by anyone.

[Norman] Everybody is pretty numb about space by now

and I think nobody cares at all.

These space shuttles have been too exclusively

scientific in their orientation

and I think the average man in America

feels that space is just a great waste of money

because he doesn't feel any part of it.

[reporter] Five years later, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

are out of the space program and very different men.

Mike Collins, now 43, briefly tried a State Department

public affairs job, found it impossible,

and now heads the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Buzz Aldrin, now 44, suffers from bouts of depression

and blames NASA for the Boy Scout fishbowl lies

they were forced to live.

Armstrong will be 44 next month,

is now professor of aeronautical engineering

at the University of Cincinnati.

Still his own man, Neil lives within himself

and shies away from the press and public.

[Rick] After we moved to Lebanon

we got to spend more time together,

we were able to do the things

that maybe we didn't get a chance to do

when I was younger.

We spent a lot of time together around golf.

He loved golf.

And he wasn't a great player, but he loved it.

[calm guitar music]

[Charlie] As I got to know him, our friendship developed,

we genuinely enjoyed one another's company,

certainly on the golf course but socially as well.

That I think then lead me

to an ostentatious thought on my part.

I wonder if he would be interested in joining

my corporate board.

Most people I invited, all really,

they'd say yes immediately.

I spent almost two hours with Neil in his office.

He wanted to be sure,

number one, that I wasn't using him.

Also, he wanted to know why I thought

he'd be a good board member.

So answering those two questions to his satisfaction

took some time.

Neil became a spectacular board member,

asked all the hard questions.

In fact, I remember one board meeting

he asked a particularly hard question

and I couldn't help it,

I said, "Who the hell invited you

to get on this board in the first place",

and we all laughed.

He said, "You know who did."

Not surprisingly, Neil went on several other boards,

United and Learjet among them.

He was even the founder of a Lloyds of London

insurance business aptly named Apollo.

Put that in the can.

[Steve on radio] Good roll program confirmed.

Challenger now heading down range.

Engines at 65 percent, three engines running normally.

Three good fuel cells, three good APU's.

Challenger, go at throttle up.

[astronaut] Roger, go at throttle up.

[exploding]

- [mission control] Flight, FIDO. - [Greene] Go ahead.

[mission control] RSO reports vehicle exploded.

[Greene] Copy.

[Mark] Just as things are settling down,

President Reagan asked my father

to be involved in the investigation committee

for the Challenger tragedy.

The space program was at risk at that point

and he just didn't feel like he could say no.

And that took him right back into workaholic mode.

[Joe] Neil spent an enormous amount of time

on the Challenger accident.

He was very key in a situation like that.

And I want to pay particular tribute and credit to Neil Armstrong

because he's done a great job.

He did so much of the engineering aspects of it.

[Rick] That was a year of being away from home,

and I think that was very difficult for my mother.

I think he just had his priorities

and it depended on where you were on that priority list.

And the truth was, I was pretty low.

[Mark] My father felt like there were things

he just couldn't say no to,

and my mother felt like she really wanted him

to spend more time with her and with the family.

[Janet] He said he would change.

He'd had 38 years to change,

and I just didn't see that it would happen.

We attempted counseling and see if we could

help him save it but we were way over our heads.

[Janet] We'd been living separate lives for years.

I just finally decided to make it final and I did.

And it was the right thing to do,

but it was difficult for the boys.

[narrator] The one thing I regret is that my work

required an enormous amount of my time

and a lot of travel.

I didn't get to spend the amount of time with my family

I would've liked.

Ladies and gentlemen, Neil Armstrong,

the first to plant his foot on the surface of the moon

has been a pioneer in many ways.

Mr. Armstrong, in asking you to come to the podium,

may I say that millions of Americans have admired you

not only for your achievement

but for the quiet dignity with which

you have conducted yourself and represented

not only our country, but humankind.

Ladies and gentlemen, Neil Armstrong.

[crowd applauding]

[Gerry] I kind of lost touch with him for some time.

But then toward, starting around 2000 or somewhere in there,

he got more available.

Fellow astronauts, ladies and gentlemen.

[Gerry] He was kind of back amongst us.

He had served his time and kind of had gotten

a little bit, maybe not so full of pressure.

Wilbur Wright once noted

that the only bird that could talk was the parrot,

and he didn't fly very well.

[laughter]

So I'll be brief.

It was very nice, very pleasant to see Neil

enjoying himself.

I got a feeling that Neil really felt

like he was in the right place at the right time,

and he was enjoying what he was doing there.

[narrator] You want to make a mark.

You'd like to leave the world a little better

than when you came, that's my goal.

[applauding]

[Janet] He said he would change and I think he did,

but it wasn't through me that that happened.

I'm happy that he married Carol.

I have no ax to grind at all.

History is a sequence of random events

and unpredictable choices,

which is why the future is so difficult to foresee.

[Charlie] Open heart surgery I think is always a cause for concern.

You're not frighten, you're anxious for it

to be over with, you know.

[June] Mark called me and he said,

"Aunt June, if you're coming, you have to come now.

Neil's dying."

I was in there with him and I said this is your sister.

He squeezed my hand.

He knew.

It was a tragic thing.

He was a good guy.

[reporter] We have lost an American icon.

Neil Armstrong had heart surgery earlier this month

just days after his 82nd birthday,

his wife reportedly telling friends

he was doing well with his recovery.

The passing today of a true American hero

carrying a pioneering spirit right into space.

[Charlie] I was honored to be one of the eulogists

at his memorial service.

Let me read the last paragraph of it,

because I can't say it any better.

"Let me close with this, Neil's historic statement

from the surface of the moon

said that it was one small step for a man,

one giant leap for mankind.

Well it may have been a small step,

but it was taken by a giant of a man.

He was that rarest of men.

One who simply did what he believed was right,

nothing more, nothing less, every time."

[plane roaring]

[Ernie] He knew who he was and he knew what he wanted to do

and he knew how to go after it,

and I think he did just that.

[inspirational music]

[Tom] Everybody's proud of what he's accomplished.

Could I have done that?

I'm certain I could've done that,

that's who we are.

[Mike] He was a wonderful representative of the United States,

and beyond that he was a wonderful human being.

[Duke] I liked his humility.

You see him on an airplane you'd never realize

this guy was even a pilot.

[Gerry] Obviously he was a great stick and rudder pilot

and he'll be remembered in aviation

and even space circles for that,

but it's the more intellectual side of him

and the fact that he was able to mix it all together

and produce this beautiful blossom.

[Christopher] Neil was a super guy, he was a class guy,

and I loved him.

[narrator] I am and ever will be

a white socks pocket protector, nerdy engineer,

born under the second law of thermodynamics,

steeped in steam tables,

in love with free body diagrams,

transformed by lab-las and propelled by compressible flow.

God bless you, goodnight from Apollo 11.

[beeping]

["Flight of Fancy" by Kali Armstrong]

Subtitles by explosiveskull www.OpenSubtitles.org

♪ I float among the clouds ♪

♪ They sort of can't Hold me down ♪

♪ And my trap is there Far, far below ♪

♪ Up here there are no bounds ♪

♪ And up here There are no crowds ♪

♪ And I'm gonna soar As long as I can go ♪

♪ Gliding on the air ♪

♪ Riding where the eagles dare ♪

♪ This flight of fancy ♪

♪ I'm exactly where I wanna be ♪

♪ It's a flight of fancy ♪

♪ Down there I feel the stress ♪

♪ The work, the bills, The relentless press ♪

♪ The weight of things That just wind up on me ♪

♪ But up here above the clouds ♪

♪ There's a rare grace ♪

♪ It's a peaceful night That's perfectly unique ♪

♪ There's a job to do I know ♪

♪ Responsibilities down below ♪

♪ But right here, right now All there is this flight ♪

♪ Soon the sun Will be sinking low ♪

♪ And I'll turn around ♪

♪ And head back in Before I lose the light ♪

♪ Lose the light ♪

♪ Hear the hush of The rushing wind ♪

♪ Feel it lift you up again ♪

♪ Choose your path ♪

♪ Now the western clouds Are rushing in ♪

♪ Twilight is not far ahead ♪

♪ The thermals have Retreated to the Earth ♪

♪ But as long as I could go ♪

♪ The time had flew by slow ♪

♪ It's fair to say I've all that I could ♪

♪ Setting down at last ♪

♪ There's that scent Of new mown grass ♪

♪ It's a flight of fancy ♪

♪ I'm exactly where I wanna be ♪

♪ It's a flight of fancy ♪

♪ It's a flight of fancy ♪

♪ I'm exactly where I want to be ♪

♪ It's a flight of fancy ♪