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Up to Eleven: Neil Armstrong (2009)
Issue 21: One Giant Leap
Hi friends,
Hope you’re doing well! First, thanks for listening to this week’s episode of You Had To Be There. The Moon Landing is one of the greatest events and achievements in human history, yet the magnitude of what was accomplished seems to be waning, which why I thought it was important to cover it on the show. There’s few, if any, more inspiring feats in our history, especially when you think about how everyone was able to come together and work towards a common goal on such a truncated timeline. It’s remarkable (and impossible to imagine happening in today’s world). Many people roll their eyes at the idea of going to the moon, but once you delve into the details and intricacies of what was necessary to achieve these missions—ranging from engineering, mathematics, and science to the creation of new materials and alloys, insanely detailed processes involving numerous vendors, navigating political and military egos, bureaucracy, and the courage required—it becomes truly awe-inspiring. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that working on this episode is something I’m proud of and hope y’all enjoy. This week’s issue of Up To Eleven features a brief interview with Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong from 2009.
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I’ve always been fascinated with the moon race. Fascinated is probably an understatement. Every time I read a book or watch a documentary on the space race of the 1960s it blows my mind. We put men on the moon in approximately seven years using a computer with the processing power of a TI-83! It’s incredible!
We all know that Tom Hanks is an American treasure but something that doesn’t get much discussion is how much he’s contributed to telling important stories from the last sixty years of American history. Since its inception, Playtone, the production company founded by Hanks and his partner Gary Goetzman (fun fact: Goetzman was the inspiration for Cooper Hoffman’s character in PTA’s Licorice Pizza), has produced numerous shows and documentaries that tell stories from our recent-ish history, mostly beginning in the 1960s. Playtone is a curiosity factory that produces serious, yet entertaining scripted TV shows, films, and docuseries. However, I rarely see anyone discussing or praising their contributions to telling these important stories. So, I'm going to praise them right here! Playtone has produced a number of iconic scripted shows and incredible nonfiction shows like: From the Earth to The Moon, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams, The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, The 2010s, The Movies, and Masters of the Air (currently airing on Apple TV+).
Following his performance in Apollo 13 (a movie I saw in a theater two days in a row), most star actors would transition to entirely new and different types of projects/roles. Instead, Hanks took his talents to document the entire race to the moon by producing From the Earth to The Moon, which aired on HBO in 1998. It’s an incredible yet under-watched and under-appreciated show that blends scripted performances with found footage, covering all aspects of the race to the moon from Mercury to Apollo. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend episode 5: Spider. It's one of my top 15 TV episodes ever and provides a fascinating look inside the process of pitching, designing, and building the Lunar Module, which was essentially the small two-man ship that landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
The interview below with Neil Armstrong is brief. Truth it seems is that Armstrong really didn’t give too many interviews in the decades following the moon landing. Astronauts weren’t trained to be celebrities or hock products. They were pilots, scientists, engineers…badasses with unlimited supplies of courage. While LIFE Magazine had the exclusive rights to cover their family’s lives throughout the sixties in what was one of the first forays into mass media “reality” content; being a NASA astronaut in the sixties was not only a calling but also validation to the highest degree, it meant you were among the select elite, chosen by the government to serve as 20th-century explorers of new worlds—often at the risk of everything. It meant you had the right stuff.
Next week’s episode of You Had To Be There takes us to the 1994 Cannes Film Festival…See you Tuesday!
Onto this week’s interview!
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The Neil Armstrong Interview
INTERVIEW BY JOHN JOHNSTON
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER | JULY 19, 2009
QUESTION: Why did you join the astronaut corps?
NEIL ARMSTRONG: To investigate the problems of flight in the vacuum of space.
Q: What effect did the Apollo 1 tragedy have on you? (The three-man crew died Jan. 27, 1967, in a fire during a training exercise.) Did it cause you to rethink your involvement in the program?
ARMSTRONG: No. All of us at that time came from the world of flight test and we were all aware of the risks. Disasters of that type just make you try harder.
Q: When you learned Apollo 11 would be a lunar landing, what was your reaction?
ARMSTRONG: We were involved in the process that decided that we would make a landing attempt. It was the remarkable progress on the previous flights that had given us that chance.
Q: Apollo 11 was one of the most anticipated events in history. As launch day grew closer, did your thoughts ever turn to the intense worldwide interest swirling around the mission?
ARMSTRONG: We had plenty to think about in just preparing for the flight. We didn’t really have time to read the newspapers or watch television.
Q: Compare the risks of flying in the space program with risks you faced at other times in your career, such as flying in wartime or as a test pilot.
ARMSTRONG: Risks in space flight were high, risks in flight testing were higher, risks in combat were highest.
I like to think I am a relatively normal person who had some extraordinary experiences.
Q: Reflect on the technology that got you and the Apollo 11 crew to the moon and back, and how it compares with today's technology. Computers were relatively primitive, for example. That would seem to make the achievement even more remarkable.
ARMSTRONG: The technology was “good enough.” Fifty years from now, people will ask, “How did you manage to do what you did in 2009 with that primitive technology?” Today you don’t worry about how good it is. It is “good enough” to do what we are doing.
Q: So much was riding on Apollo 11. Describe the pressure you felt. How much of it was self-imposed? How did you sleep the night before launch?
ARMSTRONG: We did not have high pressure from others. Of course, we put high pressure on ourselves to perform at our best. As far as I remember, I slept reasonably well on the night before launch.
Q: Landing on the moon was particularly challenging. Talk a bit about that – the drama of overriding the autopilot, the fuel situation and finding a suitable place to land.
ARMSTRONG: All the Apollo landings were performed manually. Pilots were unwilling to allow the computer guidance to make the landing and possibly stick a landing leg into a crater.
Q: Describe what you were feeling as you stepped on the moon.
ARMSTRONG: For me, the emotional feeling was associated with the landing. It was by far the most challenging and risky part of the flight. We had high confidence in the work on the lunar surface and it was considerably less risky.
Q: When did the words, “That’s one small step ...” come to you?
ARMSTRONG: I thought about it in the lunar module after landing but prior to descending on the ladder to the surface.
Q: What were the keys to making this team effort a success?
ARMSTRONG: In a large project like Apollo, no one can know everything. It was mandatory that we trust the other members of the team. You develop that trust by constant interaction and the joint solving of problems.
Q: Discuss how you have sought to balance the fame that comes with being the first man on the moon with the desire to maintain a normal life.
ARMSTRONG: I like to think I am a relatively normal person who had some extraordinary experiences.
Q: What should people who are too young to have a memory of Apollo 11 take from that part of history? What lessons are there for future generations?
ARMSTRONG: It was actually Apollo 8 that demonstrated that humans were not forever chained by gravity to Earth, that there were new frontiers for explorers to challenge. Apollo 11 confirmed that humans were capable of landing on other celestial bodies with atmospheres and gravity fields different from those of Earth.
Q: Three words that best describe you:
ARMSTRONG: Very lucky fellow.