(21-07-2011 09:08 )bombshell Wrote: [ -> ]1969: Man takes first steps on the Moon
Neil Armstrong's place in the history books was due a combination of luck, misfortune to others and being in the right place at the right time. He was a fine astronaut (and human being) but without in any way denigrating his achievements he wasn't NASA's first choice by any means.
With Alan Shepherd grounded for medical reasons and Virgil "Gus" Grissom killed in the Apollo disaster, Frank Bormann and Jim Lovell moved to the top of the pecking order, but Apollo 1 had been a chilling reminder of the hazards of space travel and Bormann promised his wife that Apollo 8 would be his last mission. He made it clear to NASA that he did not want command of a subsequent moonmission and would be resigning from the astronaut corps.
Buzz Aldrin also only just made it. His development of processes to assist spacewalks and his work on the lunar landers would have guaranteed him a place in NASA's hall of fame in any circumstances but Frank Bormann's retirement left the problem of what to do with his Gemini partner Jim Lovell. Bormann (a lay preacher) and Lovell (a hard-drinking funlover) were chalk and cheese, but they were the finest double act in NASA's history and had spent 14 days in orbit together in Gemini 7. It was more than 30 years later that former flight director Chris Kraft revealed in his autobiography that NASA had approached Armstrong and asked if he would prefer to have Lovell instead of Aldrin on his mission. Armstrong thought long and hard, as Lovell was tremendously experienced and not everybody got on well with Aldrin, but decided to stick with him (it was said that the reason Armstrong and not Aldrin was first on the moon was because NASA were concerned about Aldrin's ego, but Armstrong might also have considered that he could lose the honour to Lovell!).
Lovell was instead given command of Apollo 14, only for the crews of Apollo 13 and 14 to be swapped over meaning that Lovell took the ill-fated 13 mission and never got to walk on the moon.
After Apollo 11 Armstrong largely withdrew from public life. He taught at the University of Cincinnati for a number of years but gave fewer and fewer interviews, and eventually stopped signing autographs altogether after finding that people were selling them for personal profit. In 2005 Armstrong became involved in an unusual legal battle with his barber of 20 years, Marx Sizemore. After cutting Armstrong's hair, Sizemore sold some of it to a collector for $3,000 without Armstrong's knowledge or permission. Armstrong threatened legal action unless the barber returned the hair or donated the proceeds to a charity of Armstrong's choosing. Sizemore, unable to get the hair back, decided to donate the proceeds to the charity of Armstrong's choice.
An urban legend grew up that Armstrong converted to Islam. The story went that after hearing strange noises over his headset whilst on the moon he then heard the same noises coming from a ceremony being held at an Islamic Temple whilst on a goodwill visit to the Middle East, but Armstrong has publicly and repeatedly denied this.
Buzz Aldrin had a very different time after his moonwalk. He returned to the Airforce but his career was blighted by alcoholism and clinical depression. He once said that having walked on the moon, what else was there left to do? What possible target could he set himself? Fortunately he sought treatment and cleaned himself up, and still makes many media appearances.
Whilst Armstrong declined all invitations to become involved in politics Aldrin is a committed and active Republican.
In 2002, filmmaker Bart Sibrel, a proponent of the Apollo moon landing hoax theory, confronted Aldrin and his stepdaughter outside a Beverly Hills, California hotel. Sibrel said "You're the one who said you walked on the moon, when you didn't" and called Aldrin "a coward, and a liar, and a thief."
The then 72-year-old Aldrin flattened Sibrel with a right hook! Despite the incident being caught on camera and in front of almost 50 witnesses, not one of them was prepared to say anything other than Sibrel had started it, and no charges were brought.
...er, yes, but then you would have missed the programme!