Neil Armstrong: First Man on the Moon (2012) - full transcript

That's one small step for man...

One giant leap for mankind.

When Neil Armstrong
stepped onto the moon,

he not only made
a giant leap for mankind,

he changed the course
of his own life for ever.

For someone to be able to do that

in their lifetime,

and experience it,
where they actually touched down

and walked on another surface,

is overwhelming.

Armstrong was suddenly
one of the most famous people



who have ever lived.

It sort of caught me by surprise,
really,

when I realised that being
number one on the moon

was going to be
a really, really big deal.

CHEERING

WOMAN: 'What can you do?

'You can just smile
and laugh and wave.'

This was the beginning.

'People wanted a piece of him.
And it wasn't just anyone -'

it was everyone.

After years
perfecting the skills needed

to be one of America's
finest astronauts,

Armstrong was now required
to play a very different role.

There's a mission you train for



and there's a mission
you DON'T train for.

It just never stops.

Armstrong refused to live
in the media spotlight

and would seldom discuss his
greatest achievement with the press.

He became an enigmatic icon
and struggled with his fame.

I think I did see him suffering and
I tried to help him, and I couldn't.

It was an awesome...

..price to pay.

This is the story
of the real Neil Armstrong,

told for the first time on camera

by those who loved, lived and worked
with the first man on the moon.

Neil would dream
he could hold his breath

and that would make him float.

And then he could float
just by holding his breath

and then when he let it down,
why, he'd come back down.

Apparently he could repeat
this dream periodically,

which made him very happy.

That was a really nice,
happy dream to have.

July 16th 1969, the crew of Apollo
11 prepared to leave for the moon.

Alongside Mike Collins
and Buzz Aldrin,

Neil Armstrong was in command.

In his hands lay the responsibility
for a mission

that had taken more than 400,000
people over ten years to achieve.

We, the crew of Apollo 11,

are privileged to represent
the United States

in our first attempt to take man
to another heavenly body.

By July 20th 1969, Apollo 11
was in orbit around the moon

and tension was building.

It's grown quite quiet
here in Mission Control.

A few moments ago,
Flight Director Gene Kranz

requested that everyone sit down,

get prepared for events
that are coming.

And he closed with,
"Good luck to all of you."

Now the world held its breath,

as Armstrong and Aldrin
entered the lunar module,

leaving Mike Collins behind.

And Armstrong and Aldrin,

within the limb, that will be their
home for the next 30 hours or so.

For the astronauts' families
it was a nerve-racking experience.

We were in our homes during flight.
We had integrated communications,

we called them the squawk box,
because it squawked all the time.

I had the squawk box in my bedroom

and I had one out in the living room
and I did listen to those.

All I knew was
that if everything worked

they would attempt to do it
and, I would think, be successful.

That was in the back of my mind.

But everything had to work...

and it just wasn't likely.

While Armstrong and Aldrin

began the final 60-mile descent
to the surface,

Mike Collins remained
in lunar orbit.

I figured that our chances
of 100% success were about 50/50.

At least the crew had few doubts
about each other.

I never really had any thought

that Neil might have some hesitation
about...anything.

But almost as soon
as they started the descent,

things began to go wrong.

'That's Charlie Duke
putting in a call to the crew.'

MAN: As they went around the moon,
looking at their trajectory,

the bottom fell out.

We started having communication
problems, had data drop out.

Then, as they descended
towards the surface,

the main computer began
to raise a series of alarms.

And then started getting
computer-overload alarm.

That really shocked me,

as it could potentially be
a show-stopper on the mission.

Neither of us knew what 1202 meant.

We knew where
we could find the answer,

but it was in a document
about that thick

and you'd have to leaf through it.

Here we are halfway down,
landing on the moon.

But there's a bunch of guys
back on Earth, they can look it up.

The team at Mission Control
found an answer in 23 seconds.

Capcom, we're go for landing.

Houston, you're go for landing.
Over.

Now, just 3,000 feet
above the surface,

everything hung on the skill
of one man.

Neil took over and he was focused
on doing the landing.

That was his one opportunity
in a lifetime

to make a landing on the moon.

As Armstrong got his first
close-up look at the landing site

he discovered
it was strewn with boulders.

And with fuel running low, he had
only seconds to decide what to do.

I said, you know, "What single thing

"do you have
the most uncertainty about?"

And he says, "How deep is the dust?"

1930.

America was suffering
under the twin disasters

of the Great Depression
and the Dust Bowl.

During those uncertain times,
on 5th August,

Neil Alden Armstrong
was born here in Wapakoneta, Ohio,

in America's Midwest.

I do believe
my mother was just thrilled,

first of all, to have a baby.

A baby of her very own.

My parents were very frugal,

but in those days,
I think most people were frugal.

They were somewhat standoffish,

as far
as showing real deep affection.

Were they there for us?

Always.

By the age of five, Armstrong
had a younger brother and sister,

and not long after,

the family moved to the small town
of Upper Sandusky in Ohio.

We had a small rented house.

There were three bedrooms.

The first time I was allowed
to sleep in Neil's bedroom

it was a big day for me.

And it was not for HIM,
because I wet the bed.

JUNE HOFFMAN: Neil seemed to thrive
on friendships.

He had four or five friends
that he played regularly with.

He was quiet.

He was very quiet.

Did not say much,

but when he did say something,
you listened.

He enjoyed my jokes.

Anyone enjoying my jokes
is going to be a friend of mine!

Kotcho recalls the beginnings of
his pal's fascination with flight,

an obsession that would shape
the rest of Neil's life.

'Army planes roaring overhead

'at the national air races
in Cleveland, Ohio,

'thrilled 40,000 spectators.'

When he was, like, five years old,

his father took him
on an aeroplane ride on a Trimotor.

Dad got sick,
but Neil just absolutely loved it.

In the mid-1930s, short rides in
aircrafts such as this Ford Trimotor

were a form of entertainment.

And as with many children,

this first taste of flight for Neil
would leave a lasting impression.

This was the start
and the feeling of being airborne

and actually flying like a bird.

It kindled his inspiration to fly.

He absolutely loved everything
about flight.

He would have three or four
model aeroplane projects

going on all the time.

Mostly gliders,
he got into the rubber-band type

and he just kept building
bigger and bigger ones

and better ones.

We both made models early,
and of course our desire then,

as it was later in our careers,

was to make these things
go higher and faster.

And my solution
to higher and faster was

you took a couple of extra turns
on the rubber band.

Neil's solution -

he built a wind tunnel!

When we were ready for the test,
he said, "Go get Mum."

I said,
"Neil wants you to see something."

So he turned it on.

And all of a sudden the house shook.

And I mean the house really shook.

How many kids could build
a wind tunnel in their basement?

Not any that I know, except Neil.

By the time he was 15 and enthused
by exploits of World War II pilots,

he'd begun to take flying lessons
at his local airfield.

But Armstrong saw no need
to tell his family about it.

I honestly do not think
that my parents actually knew

when he first started
to take flying lessons.

In an interview recorded in 2001,
Armstrong recalled the time.

He had his pilot's licence
before he had his driver's licence.

Armstrong's first flights

coincided with a series
of extraordinary advances

in aviation technology.

Since the Second World War,

engineers had been pushing
the development of aircraft so far

that now not even the sound barrier
stood in their way.

In October 1947, Chuck Yeager
broke the speed of sound

in his Bell X-1 rocket plane.

The Cold War was under way.

Armstrong, keen to pursue a career
in aeronautical engineering,

won a Navy scholarship to study
the subject at Perdue university.

But then everything changed,
as the Cold War began to get hotter.

At the end of his second year,

which would have been 1950,
the Korean War started.

The 20-year-old Armstrong
became a Navy pilot.

After intense training
he joined Squadron VF-51

on the aircraft carrier USS Essex.

There was a lot to learn - and fast.

But the skills he'd honed

would make him one of
the best pilots of his generation.

The carrier was
a dangerous environment.

On 16th September 1961,

this accident on the Essex
killed seven sailors.

Below deck,
Armstrong had a narrow escape.

It was not his first
brush with death.

One of his jobs was to dive-bomb
and blow up bridges and railroads.

And he said that
the North Koreans strung up wires.

For the young pilots
flying at low altitude,

anti-aircraft cables
were an ever-present danger.

And they were hard to spot,
even for the eagle-eyed Armstrong.

Battling to keep control,

Armstrong's instinctive ability
came to the fore.

As long as he could keep
a certain speed,

he could stay up, but as soon as he
slowed down, the plane would drop.

And so, he knew that he could not
land on the aircraft carrier,

he'd have to bail out.

It was the first
in a series of close shaves

in which he developed the ability
to remain calm when in danger.

He never showed any fear

or anything
involving his close calls.

He really loved what he was doing.

It was a very meaningful time
for him.

Armstrong had flown 78 missions
over Korea.

He was now a skilled and experienced
pilot at the age of just 22.

He returned from Korea in 1952

as the Cold War arms race
was reaching ever higher,

with each superpower racing
to launch its nuclear warheads

on more and more powerful rockets.

But back at Purdue University,

this young man of few words
had other things on his mind.

I met him at Purdue.

He told someone that I was
the one he was going to marry.

But he never asked me out
until he had graduated.

This will kind of illustrate
about Neil.

I had never heard a word
about Janet Shearon for two years,

or that he was even seeing her,
dated her, knew her, or anything.

He didn't like to talk about much.

And he never did talk about much.

But what he did say
seemed to be meaningful.

We were married in January 1956,
and after that, in May,

we went up to the desert.

With his degree
in aeronautical engineering

and his military flight experience,

Armstrong landed a job
as a test pilot

at Edwards Air Force Base
in California.

It was here that the very latest
planes were being developed,

and for Armstrong,
it was the perfect opportunity

to develop his talents further.

We were out at the edges
of the flight envelope all the time,

testing limits.

If memory serves, there were 17
aircraft, pretty much all different.

A lot of X-airplanes and fighters

and a B-47 and a couple of B-29s

and all kinds of exotic aircrafts.

And as they became more confident
of my abilities,

they gave me more and more jobs

and I did a lot of different
test programs in those days.

And then finally,
I was flying the X-15.

The rocket-powered X-15 was
the pinnacle of aviation technology

and the fastest plane in the world.

Only the very best pilots
got to fly it.

The X-15 was absolutely
the top of the line.

It was a whole supersonic zone
above the rest of us,

and therefore all the people
who flew the X-15

were held in the highest regard
by the rest of us peasants.

Neil, of course,
was one of that group.

It was a very exciting programme.

Challenging goals.

I think it was certainly one
of the memorable parts of my life.

For Janet, life in the desert
would prove equally challenging.

It was totally different, foreign, to
anything I'd ever known in my life.

And then I got pregnant.

So we bought a house up in the hills.

That's where we lived
when Rick was born,

and then shortly thereafter, Karen.

I think he was absolutely thrilled
with Karen.

He called her Muffy

and she was the sweetest little
toddler you would ever want to hold.

In 1961, Karen fell seriously ill.

Karen was a precious thing

and she developed
a tumour in her brain.

She was just barely two.

And, erm...

We could not save her.

We did everything we could for her.

Karen died on 28th January 1962.

The death of Karen really hurt him.

It was the only time
that I have ever seen him

really, really hurt.
Couldn't talk about it.

Well...

Maybe you just can't find the words.

SHE SIGHS
And then it was back to work.

Armstrong focused back on his work,

pushing himself
and the fearsome X-15 to the limit.

I got the nose up above the horizon

and I found I was actually
skipping outside the atmosphere,

where I had no aerodynamic controls.

Soaring out of the atmosphere
at almost a mile a second,

Armstrong was unable
to keep control.

What I couldn't do is get back down
in the atmosphere.

I pulled over and pulled down,
but it wasn't going down

because it had no air to bite into.

So I just had to wait

until I got back in with enough air

to have aerodynamic control
and some lift on the wings

and immediately started
making a turn back.

Armstrong had touched
the edge of space,

making the longest ever X-15 flight,

180 miles in just over 11 minutes.

But beyond the skies of Edwards,

a new generation of pilots
were flying so high

that the world had
christened them spacemen.

The space race had pitched America
against Russia,

but by 1962 the Russians were ahead

and President Kennedy
set a new, ambitious goal.

Before the end of the '60s, we will
see a man on the moon, to the moon,

an American, and we're very proud

that our country continues
to produce these young men,

who go so far
and carry with them so much.

70 seconds. Leaving a nice paper
trail now, looks real fine.

To meet Kennedy's challenge, NASA
went looking for more astronauts.

Curiously, the Milwaukee Journal
gave me a call.

And they said,

"I understand your brother is
one of the newest astronauts."

Er... I think I was speechless.

And then I called my mother
and she said,

"Oh, I know,
I just found out myself."

She saw it on television.

June's reticent brother
was now called upon

to carry the hopes of the nation,

as America sought to beat
the Russians to the moon.

Along with Janet, Rick
and a new son, Mark,

Neil began a new life
in Houston, Texas,

home to America's rapidly growing
space programme.

It was a nice house,
you know, it had a pool.

Because it was Houston
and because it was often very hot,

there was a lot of swimming.

The neighbourhood was buzzing
with trainee astronauts,

including Ed White, one of
Armstrong's friends from Edwards.

I was visiting Ed White,
I knew him pretty well,

and there was this guy
in the backyard,

in front of the garage,
where there's a lot of cement.

And here's this guy roller-skating.

I said, "Who's that?"

He said,
"Oh, that's Neil Armstrong."

Armstrong's first space flight would
come with the Gemini programme.

It was a vital part of the
preparations for the Moon Landings.

Gemini had already had
some successes,

the first close approach
of two spacecraft in Orbit,

and the first US spacewalk,

by Armstrong's friend and neighbour,
Ed White.

OK, I'm coming over.

It looks beautiful.

Armstrong's mission
would be the first

to attempt to dock
with another spacecraft in orbit -

a procedure which was vital
if they were ever to reach the moon.

His co-pilot was Dave Scott.

Well, yes, I mean, the whole
programme depended on docking.

So, docking had to be proven
or we couldn't go to the moon.

So it was a critical mission, yeah.

Squeezed into their
tight-fitting Gemini capsule,

the pair prepared for launch.

Neither of them knew
what lay in store.

'Three, two, one, zero.

'We have ignition.

'And we have a lift-off
at three seconds.

'Three seconds.

'Neil Armstrong reports
the clock has started.

'Roll program is in,
Armstrong says.'

I remember watching the launch on TV

and I remember having
the squawk box on the TV,

where you could hear
the Mission Control.

When they talked air-to-ground
you could update yourself.

They started out just great.

Their docking target was
an unmanned craft called Agena,

which had been launched
earlier that day.

It's a spectacular view,
to see another object in orbit.

Neil takes his hand
off the controller and says,

"Boy, this is really great."
And you don't move.

You're just stationary.

As Armstrong and Scott passed
into the night side of the Earth,

they prepared for docking.

Neil eased it forward

and we moved right in.

Then Scott noticed
that something was wrong.

The two spacecraft were not stable
now they were joined together.

You're supposed to fly straight
and level, like an aeroplane,

with a horizon, but all of a sudden
I noticed that we were tilted.

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

And he looked over and said,
"Yeah, we're in a bank."

The tilt on both spacecrafts
soon turned into a slow spin.

Neither man was sure
of the cause of the problem.

We first suspected
that the Agena was the culprit.

We were on the dark side
of the Earth,

so we really didn't have
any outside reference.

Out of contact with the ground,

each astronaut tried in turn
to regain control

using the Gemini's thrusters.

Finally, I notice that

we're down to about 13 or 16%
propellant in the Gemini

and we're running out of gas,
basically.

So I said,
"Neil, we'd better get off."

He said, "Yeah, we'd better get off,
let's prepare to undock."

And he says, "Ready?"

And I put my hand on the switch
and Neil says, "Undock."

And then things start really moving.

Undocking from the Agena
had caused the Gemini capsule

to enter a terrifying tumble,

but Mission Control was still
unaware of the problem.

Then we go into a very rapid roll,
which was almost a tumble.

And at that point we realised
that it wasn't the Agena,

it must be the Gemini.

As the spin rates increased,

Armstrong and Scott started
experiencing intense G-forces

within the capsule.

If Neil doesn't find a solution,

we'll spin up to the point
where we'll both black out

and nobody will ever hear from us
again.

They were spinning at maybe
a revolution per second.

At home,
a photographer captured Janet

as she listened to
the unfolding drama.

You knew they were spinning fast

and there was a very strong concern
that they would black out.

And that would be it,
it would be over.

And then NASA cut the squawk box.

I didn't like that,

so I went over to NASA

and I was refused entry.

Back in orbit
and still tumbling out of control,

Armstrong kept his cool and
turned to his only remaining option,

switching on the re-entry system to
regain control of the spacecraft.

He had to reach up above his head
and throw switches,

under this high-speed roll.

That's amazing,
that he was able to do that.

And he knew exactly
where the switches were,

exactly which ones to throw.

I mean, the guy was brilliant.

He knew the system
so well that he found a solution,

he activated the solution under
extreme circumstances,

and I've got to say,

it was my lucky day to be flying
with Mr Neil Armstrong.

Splashing down on the
South China Sea a few hours later,

Armstrong might have lost his
mission but he'd saved their lives

and possibly even
the space program itself.

He landed and came home -
drove his car home.

Came in with his gear
and put it down in the bedroom.

We went into the kitchen,
had a cup of coffee,

and he was telling me
about the flight.

We knew that they could have lost
their lives.

We knew that anyway, so there was
no point in talking about it.

Either you do or you don't.

That's the way it is.

You know?

The full risks of the space
program would be brought home

less than a year later,
in January 1967,

with the deaths of three astronauts
in a fire

on board the Apollo 1 spacecraft.

Armstrong found himself burying
his close friend Ed White who had

died along with Gus Grissom
and Roger Chaffee.

Everybody's attitude that I knew
was that this was a real disaster.

Very sad. Very depressing.

But we go on because we know Gus, Ed
and Roger would want us to go on.

They wouldn't want us to stop.

No Americans would fly into space
for almost two years.

But after a series of unmanned test
flights of the Saturn 5 moon rocket,

NASA was ready to launch men
into space again.

ENGINE ROARS

The first men to ride this
giant rocket

went straight into orbit
around the moon on Apollo 8.

Armstrong was the backup commander

and watched closely
from Mission Control.

This guaranteed him
command of a following mission.

And as luck would have it,
that was Apollo 11.

On Apollo 11,

it was the first spacecraft
that was capable of landing.

The first lunar module that could
even attempt a landing.

And so I think Neil's attitude is,

"I'm not number one.
I won't be number one on the moon."

What I saw in his attitude was,

"I'm training to be the first one
to ATTEMPT the landing on the moon."

Part of the preparations to attempt
to land on the moon

required Armstrong to fly
a lunar-landing training vehicle,

affectionately known
as the flying bedstead.

It was difficult to fly.

But on the other hand, I think
we all felt it absolutely mandatory

to be able to fly that type
of vehicle before you go to the moon.

On one of Armstrong's flights,

a failure of the fuel system
suddenly caused the craft to tip.

He only had a second
to decide what to do.

It was yet another close call
for the fast-thinking astronaut,

escaping with only minor injuries.

And I get a telephone call.

HE SLURS: "Hello, Dean? Neil.

"I just want to tell you I'm OK. Just
cut my tongue in two with my teeth.

"But I'm going to be OK."

I said, "Great to hear from you."
HE LAUGHS

Back at work the next day,
Armstrong's training continued.

The pace was relentless
as he prepared for that first step

he would take on the moon.

As launch day approached, there was
one last thing to do for the family.

And the reserved engineer prepared
for it in the only way he knew how.

I do remember a meeting.
We had a family meeting.

Before he left.

But it was sort of a Q&A
type meeting where he did say,

"You know,
there is some risk in this mission.

"We are confident we are going
to at least get back, you know,

"but that might not happen."

July 16th 1969. Cape Kennedy.

Over a million people came to watch
Apollo 11 leave for the moon.

Among them was Armstrong's
childhood friend Kotcho Solacoff.

The day before the launch,

we had a tour of the facilities
at Cape Kennedy.

We stood in front of the rocket
while my wife took their picture

and we shook hands
and said congratulations,

we had finally got
Neil on a good job, at last.

Then we give him a salute.
HE LAUGHS

We didn't say goodbye.
It was more like good luck.

He leaned over and gave me
a little peck on the cheek.

Just a little bitty kiss.

And then he turned around
and was gone. He didn't say a word.

He didn't say anything. That was it.

'Launch operations manager
Paul Donnelly wished

'the crew on the launch teams
good luck and Godspeed.

'Neil Armstrong reported back
when he received the good wishes,

' "Thank you very much.
We know it will be a good flight." '

Actually, my wife took the movies.
I was taking 35mm shots.

'All engines running. Lift-off.
We have lift-off.

'32 minutes past the hour.
Lift-off on Apollo 11.'

I just kept saying,
"Go, Neil! Go, Neil! Go, Neil!"

I was just yelling like this.
"Go, Neil."

It would take four days
for Armstrong, Collins

and Aldrin to get to the moon.

Then would come an attempt to
pull off one of the most audacious

achievements in human history.

Without a doubt, powered descent

and landing successfully
is what it was all about.

That's what the President said.

"Land a man on the moon
and bring him back safely."

We were certainly aware
that the nation's hopes largely

rested on us
doing the best job we could.

Armstrong's job was now to fly
the lunar module

for the first time in his life,
and land it successfully.

'All flight controllers,
going to go for a landing.

'Retro. Go. Fido. Go. Guidance. Go.
Control. Go. Tel Comm. Go. GNC. Go.

'E Comm. Go. Surgeon. Go.
Capcom, we're go for landing.

'Eagle Houston,
you are go for landing. Over.'

Working around
the broken communication links
and computer alarms,

Armstrong was just 2,000 feet
above the lunar surface.

I was in my bedroom.

We were tracking it on a map as they
pointed out verbally where they were.

With the fuel starting to get low,

Armstrong was still looking
for a safe place to touch down.

It was a fairly steep slope and it
was covered with very big rocks

and it just wasn't a good place
to land.

That's why he had
to hover around there,

to find a good spot to put down.

I wanted to make it
as easy for myself as I could.

There was a lot of concern about
coming close to running out of fuel.

With only 30 seconds of fuel left,
the landing

hinged on the unflappable
test-pilot-turned-astronaut.

I was sure he was going to do it.

We copy you, Eagle.

I just jumped up and down
and screamed and cried

and yelled and everything.

I was in orbit, of course,
when they landed

and I was delighted they were down
and safe on the surface.

I gave a little sigh of relief.

With Apollo 11 safely down,

press attention turned
to the astronauts' wives.

Every time a door opened,

some press person would rush up
with the camera and yell,

"Who is that? Who is that?"
And all of this kind of thing.

And what they all wanted to ask
Janet was what Neil would say

when he first stepped out.

Do you have any inkling what he's
going to say? He wouldn't tell us.

When he steps out on the moon. No, I
have no idea what he's going to say.

But whatever he says,
I'm sure it will be worthwhile.

Armstrong always said
he thought up his famous words

AFTER landing on the moon.

But his brother Dean remembers it
differently.

Before he went to the Cape,

he invited me down to be with him
and spend a little time with him.

He said, "Well, why don't you and I,
when the boys go to bed,

"why don't we play a game of Risk?"

I said, "I'd enjoy that."

We started playing Risk.

And then he slipped me a piece
of paper and said, "Read that."

And I did.

And on that piece of paper there was,

"That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind."

He said,
"What do you think about that?"

I said, "Fabulous."

He said,
"I thought you might like that.

"But I wanted you to read it."

It was,
"That's one small step for a man."

Prepared with the words that history
would best remember him for,

Armstrong started down the ladder.

'We are getting a picture on the TV.'

It was somewhat difficult to see.

I mean, we were watching our sets
like this.

Because we weren't quite sure
if he was coming down the step.

'Neil, we can see you
coming down the ladder now.'

I can remember vividly that grainy
TV picture and him saying,

"I'm on the footpad now.
And now I'm stepping off."

'I'm going to step off the LEM now.'

'That's one small step for man.

'One giant leap for mankind.'

Perfect!

It was pure Neil.

I was pretty close to him
when he said that.
HE LAUGHS

He was really surprising
in how he would say

just the right thing
at the right time.

Oh, it's...

Overjoyed. You know? Unbelievable.

I've never had such great feelings
in my life.

'Isn't that something?
Magnificent sight out here.'

'Magnificent desolation.'

Finally, it began to sink in with me,
that really is another planet.

'Roger.
The EVA is progressing beautifully.

'I believe they are setting up
the flag now.'

At last, after the years
of preparation, the launch

and the landing, the first two
human beings on the moon could

simply marvel
at this strange environment.

'That looks beautiful from here,
Neil.'

The 2.5 hour moonwalk passed
all too quickly.

And soon it was time to come home,

as the pair climbed
back inside their spacecraft.

'I'd like to say, from all of us and
the countries in the entire world,

'we think that you've done
a magnificent job up there today.'

He got me there,
and he got me back. Safe.

And I made a couple of mistakes.

Fortunately,
they...they were not that crucial.

And I'm not going to tell you
about them.
HE LAUGHS

A brief period in quarantine
would be the crew's only respite

before an extraordinary
madness began.

Armstrong, the humble aeronautical
engineer and test pilot

from small-town Ohio, was about to
have his life utterly transformed.

We did New York, Chicago and LA
all in one day.

There were thousands
and thousands of people.

People from windows above, apartments
and so on. It was fabulous.

It was like nothing
I'd ever seen before in my life,

or ever had done before in my life.

We were in open cars.
Open convertibles.

I can remember, you know,
I'm in a car and I'm waving

and I'm like, "I didn't do anything.
Not sure why I'm in here."

CROWDS CHEER

The schedule was punishing,

with the astronauts forced into the
role of international ambassadors.

Together with their wives,

they visited 23 countries
in just 45 days.

Their mission now was to shake hands
with the world.

And everyone was eager to meet
the first man on the moon.

We went to each country
and it would be, of course,

a huge welcome at the airport,
which called for a speech.

A huge luncheon or something,
which called for a speech.

And then there would be
the major State dinner,

which called for a speech.

And I always felt that Neil had
the responsibility,

the burden, if you will,
of always saying the perfect thing.

He was the star.

But I have to say, he had a pretty
darn good supporting cast.

This was the beginning.

This was the beginning of it all.
But there was nothing you could do.

These people were just
happy to see you.

None of us had married an astronaut.

And here were our husbands,
all of a sudden,

and people are calling and saying,
"Oh, we want an interview."

People wanted a piece of him.

I either want your autograph
or I want my picture taken with you.

And I think that it wasn't just
anyone - it was everyone.

Such an intense level of intrusion
into Armstrong's life would

eventually start to take its toll
on him and his family.

To be out to dinner and sort of
minding your own business and

to have people coming and looking
at you, going, "I know who that is."

Coming over and, "May I have
your autograph, please?" You know.

After a while, even if they do it
in the nicest possible way,

which many of them did, still,
it just wears you out after a while.

And he really didn't know
what he wanted to do.

That was a problem.

"What am I going to do now?

"What CAN I do?"

In 1971
Armstrong resigned from NASA.

It seemed there were
no greater challenges left.

He could fly no higher and no faster
than he'd already flown.

He chose instead to pursue
his first love, aircraft design,

and accepted a professorship
at the University of Cincinnati,

back in his home state.

We were looking for a place to live

and he wanted to live
out in the country.

I guess he wanted to escape
the people. He wanted privacy.

The Armstrongs bought
this secluded farm in Ohio.

It was a radical change
of lifestyle, and not just for Neil.

Life on the farm was very quiet.

We had 200 acres of land
and we had maybe 100 head of cattle.

And we raised crops.

I kept thinking,
"I wonder how they manage this."

And Neil sat there
and prefaced his remarks by saying,

"Well, I do have a very
competent farm manager."

And then I realised later that

the good, competent farm manager
was Janet.

I ended up taking over
the management of the farm.

I'm not sure that Mom really wanted
the farm life.

But she did very well.
She was a trooper.

While Janet dealt with the farm,

Neil turned his attention
to teaching.

But escaping his fame was never
going to be easy.

Whenever Neil Armstrong came
onto the campus,

there was a number
of rather interesting reactions.

The first day was rather chaotic.

As class was letting out, the media
was massed outside the classroom.

And he did, in fact, push
the students out of the classroom

and then quickly closed the door
with himself inside the classroom.

Eventually, behind the closed doors
of academia,

Armstrong found refuge
from the consequences of his fame.

I began to think of him
as simply Neil.

Not as Neil Armstrong,
first man on the moon.

I just thought of him as Neil.

But outside university,

the burden of celebrity
still sat uncomfortably with him.

He felt he was an engineer.

He was a test pilot and he was
just testing one of the machines

when they landed on the moon.

He was given the credit and
he didn't think he deserved it all.

Armstrong eventually opted
for a pragmatic approach,

shunning the limelight
and rationing interviews.

Which led to the media
unfairly branding him a recluse.

He just didn't feel the need
to notify the media

about what he was doing...
so, a media recluse maybe,

but that's
a completely different thing.

Struggling with the never-ending
burden

of being the first man on the moon,

Armstrong coped in
the only way he knew how -

throwing himself deeper into his
work, just as he'd done in the past.

In 1979, he left the university
in search of new opportunities -

this time in the world of business.

Chrysler 5/50 protection plant.

He even ventured into the world
of advertising.

Unexpected repair bills
for five years for 50,000 miles.

It protects you longer than any
other American carmaker's plan.

His calendar
was double-parked all the time.

He was gone during the week
and he'd be home in the weekends

and he really didn't want
to work on the farm on the weekends.

He wanted to do things with the boys
and so on and so forth,
and I did too.

I think that she'd hoped
that at some point

Dad would work a little less and
they might be able to do some things

that they'd always wanted to do.

Um, but he was a workaholic.

Er, and, so it was,
I think, Dad's strong work ethic

and Mom's isolation on the farm

that eventually came between them.

Janet and Neil separated in 1990,

divorcing four years later.

The break-up between he and Janet

was devastating to him.

So, I think, for several years,

he just...was miserable.

Er, I just think it opened his eyes
a little bit and made him

aware that he didn't have to work
all the time.

That was very good for him.

It put him in a great position
to meet other people.

During his later years,
Armstrong finally began to ease up,

swapping endless rounds
in the boardroom

for rounds on the golf course
with his sons.

And it was during
a golfing breakfast in 1992

that his life would take another
direction on meeting Carol Knight.

And a few weeks later,

somebody called
and he had a really quiet voice.

And I said, "Who is this?"
He said, "Well, it's Neil."

And I said, "Neil who?"

It didn't dawn on me he'd be calling.

He said, "What are you doing?"

I said, "Actually I was outside,
trying to cut down

"this dead cherry tree."

Then he sprang to life cos he's a
farmer, and he said, "I can do that!"

So, he was at the house
in a half-hour.

Two years after meeting,
Neil asked Carol to marry him.

He liked good wine and good food
and I like to cook.

And, yeah, it was mellow.

In the last 10, 15 years,
I just feel like

there was just a general
lightening up in all aspects

of his interactions with people.

Dr Neil Armstrong.
Ladies and gentlemen...

Thank you so much.

The method we used
to descend from orbit

to the surface of an alien world,
er, worked.

LAUGHING

But it would have been
far more efficient

and far less traumatic
if we could just beam down.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

All the men have certainly,
as we say quietly, mellowed.

So that they're more relaxed,

they're more ready to just spend
time doing something just for fun.

Armstrong turned 80 in 2010.

And Carol decided to do
something special to mark it.

His 80th birthday party, I thought,
"We could have a surprise party

"and it'll be a lot of fun." And
I had about 250 people on a list

because our friends are spread
all over the country.

I think he was surprised.
He put on a good act if he wasn't.

We had a great time.
He was grinning ear to ear.

And then, by the end of the evening,
he was playing the piano.

And, he asked somebody
to have me come up front

and I didn't know why.
So I went up front but I sat down.

He was serenading me.

# Here's to precious days

# I'll spend with you... #

And then every guy
in the audience was mad at him.

After almost everybody left,
I went up to him

and congratulated him
on his birthday and everything.

He hugged me and he says,
"You know, I love you."

I said, "I do too, Neil.
We go back a long way."

He said, "Yeah, we do."

That was the last time.

On 7th August 2012,

Neil Armstrong was admitted
to hospital for heart surgery.

He remained there
until his death on August 25th.

If there's a legacy,
I think he may have left it already.

He very much wanted

the exploration of space

to be an accomplishment

that was important for this planet
and everyone on it.

His inspiration

to, um,
the generations that will follow

is incalculable, I believe.

It's overwhelming to think about how
much has come from that inspiration.

If there was something
that he could pass along

to future generations,
I think it would be

the conviction...
to do the right thing.

One thing, he was true to himself.

He was the man that you saw.

That was him.