Why Neil Armstrong Got to Be the First to Step on the Moon
On July 20th, 1969, with “one small step,” Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Since that date forty five years ago, the moon landing has been the subject of intense study and historical analysis. From what Armstrong actually said with his first step to if the American flags the astronauts planted are still there, mankind’s first rendezvous with the moon has captured the world’s attention in a way few other things have. Despite this, there are still several noteworthy facts that have remained obscure after all these years. Allow us to bring just a few to (moon) light:
Neil Armstrong was chosen to be the first person on the moon due to the basic structural design of a part of the Eagle.
Out of a group of 29 astronauts that trained for the Apollo mission to the moon, only three were chosen when the final announcement was made in January of 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and the oft forgotten Michael Collins became the official crew of Apollo 11. Immediately, attention turned to which crew member – Armstrong or Aldrin — would be the first to walk on the moon (Collins was the command module pilot and, therefore, was ineligible).
Even though both men were going to walk on the moon, it was a great honor to be the first. In fact, the question was asked at the press conference and the response was that it had yet to be decided.
Over the next four months, as the astronauts continued their training, debate and rumors circulated among the media. At first, it seemed that Aldrin would have the honor. This speculation came from the precedent set by the Gemini program, which made ten crewed flights for the purpose of testing ships and astronauts to spacewalk. During the flights, the commander (which Armstrong was to be for Apollo 11) stayed inside the ship while the pilot (which Aldrin was to be for Apollo 11) did the space walking. Further fueling this thinking was that it was rumored that Aldrin was actively campaigning to be the guy. According to the memoir written by Chris Kraft, head of Mission Control, “Buzz Aldrin desperately wanted that honor and wasn’t quiet in letting it be known.”
In April, only three months before liftoff, it was announced that Neil Armstrong would be the first man to walk on the moon. The main reason NASA gave for the decision was that the Eagle’s hatch opened to one side – rather than up or down – and that side was towards the pilot, Aldrin. The bottom line was that when the hatch was opened, the commander, Armstrong, had a clear path to exit, while the pilot was pinned in the rather cramped space of the module. By a sheer happenstance, it made more sense for Armstrong to exit first. Plus, as NASA’s heads pointed out, Armstrong was actually the more senior member of the team anyway, having entered the program in 1962, while Aldrin came in 1963.
In later years, despite the official hatch story, some, including Kraft and fellow astronaut Al Bean of have come out and said that NASA wanted Armstrong to have this honor rather than Aldrin because they thought Neil’s ego could handle it better than Aldrin’s. So perhaps the hatch design simply gave them the excuse they needed.
Armstrong’s famed “one small step” line was pre-planned, at least according to his brother.
Even until his last breath in 2012, Armstrong adamantly insisted that his first line was spontaneous and was only settled on in the moments prior to the walk. A BBC documentary released after the astronaut’s death disputes that. In the film, Dean Armstrong – Neil’s brother – tells the story of a note passed during a late-night game of Risk (yes, the board game).
In the months leading up to the mission, Dean, Neil, and their families spent time together on Cape Cod. After both men put their boys to bed, Neil challenged his younger brother to a hearty game of Risk. During that game, Neil handed Dean a piece of paper:
“On that piece of paper there was ‘That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.’ ‘He says, ‘What do you think about that?’ I said ‘fabulous.’ He said, ‘I thought you might like that, but I wanted you to read it.”
That said, both Aldrin and Collins made it clear that at no point did Armstrong share his thoughts about what he would say. Of course, perhaps his brother was an exception.
The second thing said on the moon was a tad less poetic than the first.
While everyone remembers that first line, few can recall the second. That’s because it didn’t hold the same “oomph” factor. According to the official Apollo 11 Air to Ground Voice Transcription, that line was “And the – the surface is fine and powdery.”
Armstrong continued on this line of thinking,
“I can – I can pick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole and sides of my boots. I only go in a small fraction of an inch, maybe an eighth of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my boots and the treads in the fine, sandy particles.”
After further discussion about the ease of movement on the moon, they began to go back and forth about Buzz’s placement of the camera and backlighting. Exciting conversation, indeed!
President Nixon had an “In Event of Moon Disaster” speech ready
After the Apollo 1’s tragic fire in 1967 and the unproven nature of space travel at the time, the safe return of Apollo 11’s crew was far from an assured thing. To that point, President Nixon had to prepare for every scenario when he addressed the nation, including the tragedy of a “moon disaster.” So, he had his speechwriter, William Safire, prepare remarks that are both chilling and inspiring. The speech begins with these two lines,
“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.”
Additionally, below the “death” speech were instructions to what needed to be done both before and after the address to the nation. Before, the President should “telephone each of the widows-to-be.” Afterwards, NASA will end “communications with the men” and “a clergyman should adopt the same procedure as burial at sea, commending their souls to the ‘deepest of the deep,’ concluding with the Lord’s Prayer.”
If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:
- Why the Same Side of the Moon Always Faces the Earth
- What the Moon Smells Like
- That Time the United States Proposed Nuking the Moon
- Why the Moon Looks Bigger on the Horizon
- The Men Who Walked on the Moon
Bonus Fact:
- Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s name, before getting married, was Marion Moon.
- Why was Neil Armstrong first on the moon? – New Scientist
- Gemini Goals – NASA
- Did Neil Armstrong lie about the origins of his ‘one small step’ speech? And did he still fluff his lines? – Daily Mail UK
- How Michael Collins became the forgotten astronaut of Apollo 11 – The Guardian
- 12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard – Mental Floss
- Apollo 11 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription – NASA
- The Flags on the Moon – Today I Found Out
- “One Small Step for Man” or “One Small Step for a Man”- What Did Neil Armstrong Really Say – Today I Found Out
- Ten Things You Didn’t Know About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing – Popular Science
- Apollo 11 – NASA
- Apollo 11 – Aerospace Guide
- Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Chris Kraft
- Neil Armstrong: The ‘First Man’ Decision – America Space
- First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong By James R. Hansen
- Neil Armstrong’s ‘One Small Step’: Controversy Erupts Over Moonwalk Quote – Space.com
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In Deke Slayton’s autobiography “Deke!: An Autobiography”, the Apollo selection chief (and one of the original Mercury 7) discussed how Gus Grissom was a likely candidate for Apollo 11 commander, and therefore first on the moon, but that was tragically cut short by the fatal Apollo 1 fire.
There was a defined rota for the crew selection which Armstrong slotted into after Grissom’s passing, which put Armstrong in the commander seat for Apollo 11. (And of course a lot of hard work on Armstrong’s part – he earned it).
The article doesn’t mention the most widely reported reason at the time, for Armstrong being chosen to be first on the moon, among all the astronauts, was the fact that he was a “civilian.”
Most, or all, of the other astronauts were still military pilots too, but Armstrong, a former Korean War fighter pilot, had resigned his US Navy officer’s commission to return to college and grad school. He later became a civilian test pilot before becoming an astronaut.
From a PR standpoint, it was felt that his civilian status would send more of a “peaceful exploration” message to both an interested world, and forever to history.
But it still has info what do you expect
after all these years most people are still brainwashed that it really happened. it was just a cold war coup de gras. and the world brough it. every shadow is wrong and still no stars in any back ground photo. just think if we had the photography from them days now we would have about 50 million pixels just for ourselves.
it’s about time the USA came clean. and before you lot get on your high horse just think, how much tin foil did they use?
Moron.
The stuff about the moon begin powdery may not sound exciting but don’t forget until that point they really were not sure what the surface would be like and it was vital information to get back to the people making mission choices. Some people had been thinking the dust was a few feet thick!
I understand that they had to prepare for the worst case scenario – i.e. Neil and Buzz not being able to get off the moon – but I can’t believe the plan was to “break all communication and let them die slowly”. It would have made much more sense in such a situation to have provided them with some sort of lethal injection/capsule to commit suicide with rather than die a slow, terrifying and obviously painful death.
Collins in his book said that while the procedures showing the pilot out first Armstrong simply executed his prerogative as commander and changed the order.
I happened to catch an interview with Buzz Aldrin recently in honor of the 45th anniversary of the Lunar landing. While the video played in the background, the interviewer asked what Buzz was thinking as he paused at the bottom of the ladder. He replied that he had an urgent need to urinate and so, while Armstrong got to take the first steps on the moon, he had a “first” of his own.
Your article was partly correct. That was the official answer giving by NASA. However, if you go and read the book: First Man, The life of Neil A. Armstrong page 370-271 you will see that in fact, the structure of the LM has nothing to do with it. There were many ways they could have positions themselves before putting on the backpack (of the space suit), that would have allowed Buzz to leave the LM first.
On page 371, they simply do not want somebody with Buzz’s character on the moon first. He was not the type of American Hero that NASA wishes to have. They simply don’t think he has the right quality, and he desperately wanted to be the first on the Moon, and he made that known to his fellow members. As compared to Neil, who simply was looking it as a mission, a obligation.
I don’t think it really matters that what they said following “One small step” was less poetic. They weren’t up there just for the sake of reciting memorable lines, they were explorers. The first explorers to set foot on a body that wasn’t Earth. On Earth the viewing public, the scientific community at large and NASA, were desperate for information. NASA particularly needed that information for future landings, there was still a lot they would need to know. What followed Neil’s famous line was the actual reason for them being there, they didn’t spend all that money just to screw around.