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First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
James R. Hansen
On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person ever to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few
Simon and Schuster
October 2005
Featuring: Neil Armstrong
784 pages ISBN: 074325631X Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-
eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become
the first person ever to step on the surface of another
heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became
better known than those few he uttered at that historic
moment. Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was honored and
celebrated for his monumental achievement. He was also --
as James R. Hansen reveals in this fascinating and
important authorized biography -- misunderstood.
Armstrong's accomplishments as an engineer, a test pilot,
and an astronaut have long been a matter of record, but
Hansen's unprecedented access to private documents and
unpublished sources and his interviews with more than 125
subjects (including more than fifty hours with Armstrong
himself) yield this first in-depth analysis of an elusive
American celebrity still renowned the world over. In a riveting narrative filled with revelations, Hansen
vividly re-creates Armstrong's career in flying, from his
seventy-eight combat missions as a naval aviator flying
over North Korea to his formative transatmospheric flights
in the rocket-powered X-15 to his piloting Gemini VIII to
the first-ever docking in space. These milestones made it
seem, as Armstrong's mother, Viola, memorably put it, "as
if from the very moment he was born -- farther back still --
that our son was somehow destined for the Apollo 11
mission." For a pilot who cared more about flying to the Moon than he
did about walking on it, Hansen asserts, Armstrong's
storied vocation exacted a dear personal toll, paid in kind
by his wife and children. For the thirty-six years since
the Moon landing, rumors have swirled around Armstrong
concerning his dreams of space travel, his religious
beliefs, and his private life. In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship,
Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an
astronaut and as an individual. In First Man, the personal,
technological, epic, and iconic blend to form the portrait
of a great but reluctant hero who will forever be known as
history's most famous space traveler.
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