Neil Armstrong personally responds to an NPR correspondent's rhetorical moon-landing questions

Yesterday, NPR's Robert Krulwich wondered aloud why, after all the trouble it took to get to the moon, did astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stick within 100 yards of their lunar lander?

Today, Krulwich got an answer to his rhetorical question—from Armstrong, himself.

We were operating in a near perfect vacuum with the temperature well above 200 degrees Fahrenheit with the local gravity only one sixth that of Earth. That combination cannot be duplicated here on Earth, but we tried as best we could to test our equipment for those conditions. For example, because normal air conditioning is inadequate for lunar conditions, we were required to use cold water to cool the interior of our suits. We did not have any data to tell us how long the small water tank in our backpacks would suffice. NASA officials limited our surface working time to 2 and 3/4 hours on that first surface exploration to assure that we would not expire of hyperthermia.

There was great uncertainty about how well we would be able to walk in our cumbersome pressurized suit. My colleague demonstrated a variety of techniques in view of the television camera that I had installed in a position predetermined to be in the optimum spot for coverage of all of our activities. Preflight planners wanted us to stay in TV range so that they could learn from our results how they could best plan for future missions.

But, it seems, our boy Neil was not completely by-the-book...

I candidly admit that I knowingly and deliberately left the planned working area out of TV coverage to examine and photograph the interior crater walls for possible bedrock exposure or other useful information. I felt the potential gain was worth the risk.

On a scale of one-to-Buzz Aldrin punching that guy, this is worth at least two good uppercuts.

Read the entire letter at NPR's Krulwich Wonders blog

Image: Some rights reserved by jurvetson

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

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Uncle Geo

By the way, if you are not a fan of Robert Krulwich -y’oughttabe! He has an uncanny ability to make complex or obscure things very clear and he’s funny too. He is definitely my favorite journalist.

My guess is Neil Armstrong reads his blog regularly too.
seer

there’s an excellent series available to stream from Netflix called “When We Left Earth”. it is full of extended interviews with Armstrong, Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Story Musgrave, Gene Krantz et al, not to mention hours of awesome launch/EVA/lunar footage.

that calm humility you see in all the astronauts, but especially Armstrong, comes from incredible competence at what they do, self-confidence from already having thought their way out of lethal danger in realtime many times, and thus a complete absence of a need to prove anything to anyone.

true heroes.
Uncle Geo

Oh, and if you hear and see Robert Krulwich on the y’tubes or in podcasts you’ll really experience the magic.

Any devotee of clear explanation will learn plenty.
ackpht

I’m lucky to have been around at the time of the moon landings. The excitement, the feelings of common concern and common purpose, were palpable- not only in the US but around the world.

The placard on the Eagle’s descent stage read -still reads- “we came in peace for all mankind”- and it was true.

I think manned space exploration is worth the investment for that alone. Scientific knowledge is just a bonus.
Anonymous

Oh my god.
Cybe

Totally hitting on the next “Transformers” plot.
MikeBrown

As someone who has considered Armstrong a High Priest of Coolness all of my life I never thought I would actually hear anything from him, much less read an email he sent. If I ask rhetorical questions in my guest blog here on Boing Boing will he answer? [hint hint: that was already a rhetorical question RIGHT THERE]
Anonymous

Contrary to how it is sometimes put, Neil Armstrong isn’t quite the secluded hermit who never talks to anyone. He does appear publicly, he does give interviews (not all the time, but he does), and uses his status e.g. to inspire other people. He has (very) slightly geeky tendencies, uses the internet, connects with people and is an otherwise active man who isn’t exactly “retired” at age 80. But beyond his achievments and his competence, he also possesses a quality that is a bit of a rare find these days, nonetheless a precious gem: he is a humble person.
Anonymous

People tend to forget that crews landed on the Moon five more times after Armstrong and Aldrin, and went very far afield (especially with the lunar rovers, on which the Apollo 17 crew — knowing this was the last mission of the entire Apollo program — threw caution to the solar wind and drove several MILES away from the landing site).

Apollo 11 was the historic “first landing” but it was also still considered a test, a shakedown cruise of the LM system as much as it was the first attempt to return scientific data. If you’re visiting another planetary body for the first time, you’re not just going to start bounding up and down the landscape like you’re Lewis and Clark. You’re going to act more like Columbus, giving the land a once-over and gathering info for subsequent trips.
planettom

Then there was Apollo 17, which traveled 36 kilometers in the lunar rover.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo17/A17_surfops.html

At its farthest point, the lunar rover was maybe 8 kilometers from the lunar module.

Which is pretty scary; picture if the lunar rover had broken down at that point. Could they have hoofed it back with available oxygen?
- The 2-Belo
  
  From what I understand the rover was technically not supposed to travel farther than the distance they could cover on foot, but since this was the last mission of the entire program and the last chance they would ever get… screw it, floor the accelerator! A risk, yes, but I suppose they figured they were due for a bit of risk-taking.
- Mister44
  
  “if the lunar rover had broken down at that point. Could they have hoofed it back with available oxygen?”
  
  YES! I believe so. They were limited how far they could go for that very reason. Not a bad idea, American cars from the 70′s weren’t that reliable ;o)
  
  Also the Russians ran two rovers remotely for months and it when hundreds of kilometers, IIRC. It was call the Lunakhod.
Art

Totally agree with Mike Brown and this is just too fantastic for words! Thanks, BB.
Anonymous

I had the great pleasure of meeting Armstrong once – it was at an event at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and I remember well a somewhat frazzled and harried woman forcefully insisting that there were to be NO pictures and that NO, Neil Armstrong would not be meeting people. He was simply getting an honourary degree then vanishing, according to her.

Needless to say, my already stellar impression of the man soared even higher when he promptly proved her wrong – talking with anyone and everyone who wanted to say hello. We spoke for a moment or two and he was a funny, engaging, encouraging and altogether inspiring man. Thinking back on it now, it’s amazing to me that someone who has flown so high into the heavens can remain so down to earth.

Thanks, Mr. Armstrong.
Anonymous

Seriously? This question needed to be asked? Why? They were in a COMPLETE UNKNOWN, you don’t go off on a nature walk as soon as you land when NOBODY has ever been there before. Jeez, this is as bad as that jick-jack a few weeks ago daring to ask the Az Cardinals QB why he dared to laugh once on the sidelines when his team was losing. It’s like they’ve run out of all the pertinent questions and are asking the most simplistic stuff they can, lest they get fired from their jobs. This guy needs to go back to journalism school and learn how it’s done. I’m sure you can find a better example in about 30 seconds of your first class.
JonS

I wonder if, given the choice, Armstrong would chose to be the first on the Moon but only be allowed short EVAs and to be tethered within 100m of the Lander, or to be on one of the later missions and really /explore/ the moon.
Robotech_Master

Apparently they didn’t always stay within view of that cameraâ€¦
Mister44

Thank your, Mr Armstrong.

All of the arguments for why we didn’t/couldn’t land on the moon can now be answered/refuted in under an hour with Google.

It is an insult to the thousands of people who gave up their lives (both literally and figuratively) to get us there and perform what is probably still the single greatest feat of human engineering.

Anyone who doesn’t believe we didn’t go is either ignorant and needs to read a book – or simply crazy.

Also – for you space and computer buffs – research “rope memory”. Awesome low tech stuff.
- Anonymous
  
  “Anyone who doesn’t believe we didn’t go is either ignorant and needs to read a book – or simply crazy.”
  
  Does that mean I’m ignorant or simply crazy, because I don’t believe they didn’t go.
  - Mister44
    
    re: “”Anyone who doesn’t believe we didn’t go is either ignorant and needs to read a book – or simply crazy.”
    
    Does that mean I’m ignorant or simply crazy, because I don’t believe they didn’t go.”
    
    haha- no it means the ghost of my Honors Senior English class will probably come visit me and haunt my ass for double negative use.
Guysmiley

Robert Krulwich comes off as kind of a douche in that article. What the hell has HE done to be questioning the hows and whys of the Apollo program?

I know he was trying to make a completely unrelated point about distances, but when the quote you refer to is “one small step for [a*] man, one giant leap for mankind”, stuff like “What Neil called “a giant leap for mankind” wasn’t quite as giant as it seemed.” makes you seem like you’re a moron. He CALLED the step small… right in the quote you referenced.

*arguments on all sides about if that was a flub, intentional or the VOX just didn’t pick up the “ay” sound.
Urban Garlic

People who want to get more of an insight into the flight part should read the Apollo lunar surface journal — it’s transcripts of the radio chatter, annotated with comments from interviews and debriefings of the participants, including control-room personnel and the astronauts themselves.

It sounds boring the way I’ve written it there, but I found it quite gripping, it’s a lot like being there in the lander with them.

Apollo 11′s is here.
Ugly Canuck

A fascinating story, a great topic.

Can’t help but plug a fine documentary about the trips to the moon and more especially its effect on those who went – the film is called ‘In The Shadow Of The Moon’, and was released in 2007:

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Moon-Blu-ray-Buzz-Aldrin/dp/B003NOGNPQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291941973&sr=8-1

Here’s a link to the IMDB page for those boycotting Amazon:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/

IMO it’s a fine little movie. Worth a gander.
- Sam
  
  IMDB is owned by Amazon – bought in ’98.
  
  That said, +1 for the documentary recommendation. Wonder if it’s on netflix…
- MadMolecule
  
  Ugly Canuck, if you loved “In the Shadow of the Moon,” you should check out “For All Mankind”. Same topic, somewhat different approach, every bit as stunning: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097372/
netsharc

Now that’s an unbeatable signature line…

Neil Armstrong

Commander

Apollo 11
Anonymous

Neil,

I want to thank you for your service to humanity. Pushing the boundaries of human knowledge outward is an important endeavor, and you certainly did your part in that.

Taking the time to answer questions about your experience is a refreshing uplift to my day.

Thanks to every person that dedicated their time and effort to the space program, I wish that we had given you a bigger budget.

Sincerely,

An American Citizen.
oasisob1

Take that, Chuck Norris.
- mdh
  
  I lol’d
jonw

nice to know he listens to NPR
Anonymous

Wow. Just wow. Great link. I really hope Dr. Armstrong is a writer.
Anonymous

Neil Armstrong also broke his silence to send a letter to Honeysuckle Creek tracking station, congratulating their work on the 40th anniversary of Appollo 11 (including his opinion of the movie The Dish) here (PDF) — http://www.honeysucklecreek.net/40th/from_Neil_Armstrong.pdf
Mister44

Neil Armstrong is also the subject of one of my favorite jokes:

When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” statement but followed it by several remarks, usual communication traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made this remark “Good luck Mr. Gorsky.”

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “Good luck Mr. Gorsky” statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995 in Tampa Bay FL, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in the front of his neighbor’s bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.

As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs.Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. “Oral Sex! You want oral sex?! You’ll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”
mccrum

Love both the guys, but the real question is “Why did we only land on the moon six f$*%ing times when it took us a decade and millions of dollars in the first place?”
- Jake0748
  
  Because of Nixon and f-ing republicans, what else? There was more important stuff to fund, like war, etc.
  
  And Thank You, Dr. Armstrong, for another glimpse into the whole exciting adventure of the lunar landings. Bless you sir.
- peterbruells
  
  The ratings were declining and people complained about the repeats.
- Moriarty
  
  We only went to the Moon six times because our primary purpose for going was to prove that we could before the Soviets could, and that was accomplished.
Anonymous

Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” For whatever reason, that’s not what it sounded like to some people over an analog radio from a quarter million miles away.

In the 2005 book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, Armstrong told Hansen that others have pointed out that he can often be heard dropping the vowels from his speech in his radio transmissions.

“It doesn’t sound like there was time for the word to be there,” Armstrong said in the book. “On the other hand, I didn’t intentionally make an inane statement, and … certainly the ‘a’ was intended, because that’s the only way the statement makes any sense.