First man the life of neil a armstrong

Warning: This blog post is a review and analysis of the movie First Man and contains spoilers for the film.

I recently had the privilege of seeing an advance screening of the new movie about Neil Armstrong, First Man. It is almost certainly is the most accurate fictional depiction of human spaceflight in the s ever made. The care of the director, Damien Chazelle, and his team to respect the integrity of historical events is obvious to anyone with a solid knowledge of the Gemini and Apollo programs. That was in significant part due to the involvement of James R. Hansen of Auburn University, who wrote the biography on which the movie is based, as well as other space history experts. First Man does take a few liberties with the facts, but they are mostly done to make the events of the program more comprehensible to the non-expert, or to advance the film’s interpretation of Armstrong’s character.

Although the book covers Armstrong’s full life, the movie for quite practical reasons treats only to First Man opens with one of Armstrong’s flights in the X rocket plane, one in which he got into some trouble because (the film seems to suggest) he was distracted by the cancer of his daughter, Karen, who would die at the age of 2 not long afterward. It then takes us through becoming a NASA astronaut and a series of accidents and near-fatal incidents that highlighted how dangerous it was to be in the program at that point.

The prime crew for Gemini IX, led by Armstrong’s friend Elliott See, was killed in a plane crash in early , shortly before Armstrong commanded Gemini VIII. That mission became the first American human spaceflight to be forced into an emergency landing. He and his co-pilot, David Scott, had just executed the world’s first docking with another space vehicle when a thruster on Gemini VIII stuck open. Their spacecraft went into wild gyrations, forcing an undocking from the Agena rocket, and then into a violent roll that threatened to kill th

With Meghna Chakrabarti

The new movie “First Man” puts the Apollo 11 moon landing on the big screen. But what was Neil Armstrong, the man who took that giant leap, really like? We’ll ask NASA historian and Armstrong biographer, James Hansen.

Guests

Alissa Wilkinson, film critic for Vox. (@alissamarie)

James Hansen, professor emeritus of history at Auburn University. Former historian for NASA. Co-producer of the new film "First Man." Author of "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong."

Maria Lane, On Point listener. As a year-old visiting her uncle in Oahu, Hawaii, she got a firsthand glimpse of the Apollo 11 team.

A Story From Our Listener

When On Point listener Maria Lane heard that we were doing an hour on Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission, she reached out to share her connection to the historic moment.

At the age of 13, she was visiting her family on the Hickam Air Force Base in Oahu, Hawaii, during the summer of After Apollo 11, Maria says, the astronauts touched down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii. They were picked up and then made their way — in the NASA Mobile Quarantine Facility, a streamline trailer — to the Air Force base.

The route that NASA traveled happened to run right alongside Maria's uncle's house. She watched as Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong rode by.

Here are photos from the encounter:

More Photos

From The Reading List

Excerpt of "First Man" by James Hansen

Prologue
THE LAUNCH

After the Moon mission was over and the Apollo 11 astronauts were back on Earth, Buzz Aldrin remarked to Neil Armstrong, “Neil, we missed the whole thing.”

Somewhere between , and 1 million people, the largest crowd ever for a space launch, gathered at Florida’s Cape Kennedy in the days leading to Wednesday, July 16, Nearly a thou

Inspiration for bio-pic starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy

Hansen, James R.

New York: Simon and Schuster, First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #
ISBN:

First edition. A near fine copy in a near fine jacket. Free rear endpaper creased.

xi, pp. Inspiration for bio-pic starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. "When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon's surface in , the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over fifty hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this “magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon. In this “compelling and nuanced portrait” (Chicago Tribune) filled with revelations, Hansen vividly recreates Armstrong's career in flying, from his seventy-eight combat missions as a naval aviator flying over North Korea to his formative trans-atmospheric flights in the rocket-powered X to his piloting Gemini VIII to the first-ever docking in space. 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 near-fifty years since the Moon landing, rumors have swirled around Armstrong concerning his dreams of space travel, his religious beliefs, and his private life. A penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and as an individual. “First Man burrows deep into Armstrong's past and present…What emerges is an earnest and brave man” (Houston Chronicle) who will forever be known as history's most famous space traveler."

Official biography of Neil Armstrong

"First Man (book)" redirects here. For the Albert Camus book, see The First Man (book). For other uses, see first man or woman.

"The Life of Neil A. Armstrong" redirects here. For the biography article, see Neil Armstrong.

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is the authorised biography of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first human to walk on the Moon, on July 20, The book was written by James R. Hansen and was first published in by Simon & Schuster. The book describes Armstrong's involvement in the United States space program (culminating in the historic Apollo 11 mission), and details his personal life and upbringing.

The book has received a warm reception from several individuals associated with astronomy and the promotion of spaceflight. Examples include the broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite, and the English public intellectualSir Patrick Moore.

The book was adapted into the film First Man.

Development

Academic and author James Hansen is also known for serving as a professor of history at Auburn University in Alabama. He additionally serves as director of that institution's Honors College. The writing process began in October , when Hansen first wrote to Armstrong asking if he could author the book. At first, Armstrong told him that he was too busy, and the astronaut mentioned how he had already turned down several previous offers from well-known authors such as Stephen Ambrose and James A. Michener. Hansen persisted, sending what he described as a "goody box" of his work. One of the items included was the author's well-received biography, titled From the Ground Up, of seminal aviation pioneer Fred Weick.

Armstrong felt impressed with the style of Hansen's work. In June , Armstrong and Hansen signed a formal agreement. Two months later, Armstro