The first man on the Moon finally drops the Garbo act

[thatcrazycajun]

If you saw the excellent cinéma-verite IMAX documentary In the Shadow of the Moon last year, with all its interviews with the people who made the Apollo moon landings possible—including most of the men who actually walked on Luna—you probably noticed the same glaring omission that I did: the absence of any footage (other than archival) of the first man to set foot on the barren lunar sands, Neil Armstrong. It was, I am given to understand, his choice not to participate, and it fits his famously reclusive profile...but it was still a damn shame.

So you may be as pleased as I was to discover that milkandcookies.com has posted a video of the legendary astronaut's only recent television interview, with the late, lamented Ed Bradley as part of a CBS News piece on his life tying in with the release of his authorized biography, First Man, by its Viacom-owned sister company Simon & Schuster. (Once in a blue moon, corporate synergy can be a good thing.) The 60 Minutes segment runs 13 minutes and change and can be seen here. It almost makes up for not seeing him alongside Buzz and the boys in giant-screen glory...and it reminds us what a ghastly loss Ed's death from leukemia two years ago was—and that we should be glad to see Neil get the recognition he long ago earned while he is (thankfully) still with us.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll have to watch this later. Buzz always was the more outgoing one, going so far as to not only start a space re-exploration company but actually write a novel that was basically an infomercial (oh, that's wild, GTK thinks "infomercial" is a real word!) for the company....

What I think is ironic is that the folks on the current pointy end of the space race (Burt Rutan, Brian Binnie, Mike Melvill (sp?)) are every one of them eligible for their AARP cards. And yet they're still doing this stuff every day... it's kinda crazy to realize that Burt's been doing this stuff since before I started school...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

That... was freakin' awesome. "They may not give me that chance.... but I won't say I'm not available." Gorram right.

And he gets his jollies with gliders. I wasn't all that surprised. A glider is actually just as challenging as a spacecraft... albiet quite a bit safer actually for all that there's no engine.

They still didn't do the business of how much fuel there *really* was in the descent engine.... but I think there's a gentleman's agreement out there that they simply Do Not Talk about that.. screw it, he made it, and that's what counts.

That's one of the best pieces I've seen out of American media in forever. Thank you, kind sir. (And if I can figure out how, I'm .... going to make my da a birthday present, because, well, he was there turning blue with all the rest of those 400,000 people.)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

You're entirely welcome, sir. I thought the music was apt myself, for both its style and its title. Glad you enjoyed the interview as much as I did; I missed seeing it somehow when CBS originally aired it, years ago, so I was glad to get a second shot at it.

>>And he gets his jollies with gliders. I wasn't all that surprised.<<
Me neither; once a pilot, always a pilot. :-) If they can send John Glenn back up in his golden years, they can damn well send Neil back to the moon...assuming (and hoping) God lets him hang on that long.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I remember meeting Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, and Gene Cernan when I was a lad... they flew into my hometown to meet with then-Senator Holley (I don't know if you've been in Georgia long enough to remember him), who had a retreat up on a Tennessee mountaintop... it took me many years to realize *why* they were also the ones doing the flying, rather than Being Flown, as I'd seen so many other bigshots do...

He's had a heart attack, according to Wikipedia, but that was in '91, and he's got things back together enough that they'll at least let him fly gliders. I think if he's still here, and they wave the chance under his nose, he'll go. (Hell, he'd grab that like a bass on a nightcrawler... :) He's just being modest.

And if he doesn't last that long, we'll re-inter him at Tranquility Base in 2069, as part of the closing ceremonies of WorldCon. 'cause we'll make it back by then. *firm nod*

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

p.s. the musical choice is doubly apropos... :)

[patoadam]

Thanks for pointing this out!