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Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Bargain Price
On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and an individual.
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| Good insight to the space program and the life of an astronaut |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is the biography I've read from the Apollo program (The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space and Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys) and each one, truly, has offered different insight than the others. Unlike the other two, which were autobiographies, First Man is a biography.
What's Good:
Detailed and new insight into the space program and the life and training of an astronaut, both before and after his time as an astronaut. The author did well relating Armstrong's pre-Apollo life and tying it all together so the reader could fully appreciate how one life experience benefited others. Unlike the Collins and Cernan books, First Man delved more into the technology and engineering aspects, but not so much as to make it unreadable or academic. One of the more interesting parts was how Armstrong dealt with the sudden celebrity that began when he was announced as the commander of Apollo 11 and continues even today. He shows throughout his life that he was not a hero, in the sense of one who goes above and beyond the call of duty. He was, rather, the consumate engineer and worker. He did what he was told, he excelled at it, and he offered what he could, in the true spirit of a test pilot, to make it better. His modesty is genuine and indicative of his work ethic and character, both as an individual and as an astronaut.
What's Not so Good:
This book was written by a history professor and many parts of the books seemed to say "Look how thorough my research was!" The book could easily have been much shorter without the unecessary detail provided by the author. My biggest problems with the book were two-fold: (1) The author admits towards the end that even the title of the book is antithetical to who and what Neil Armstrong is and was. Armstrong has always been a man of confident modesty who never saw himself as anyone special, but rather a member of a very special venture. To spend over 600 pages building the man up to something that the subject himself would resist is contradictory to the man about which he is writing. (2) I felt that author regarded Armstrong's crewmate, Buzz Aldrin, condescendingly and disrespectfully, while at the same time building up Armstrong into a near deity. Aldrin and Armstrong (and even Collins) were all very disparate personalities, and attempting to make any comparison is weak at best. From the way the author recounts the Apollo 11 mission and training, Aldrin comes across as a liability, buffoonish, immature, petty and highly individualistic. To be fair, though, not all the treatment of Aldrin was like this - some good insight was rendered regarding his personal demons, battles and strugles, but very little showed any significant contribution that Aldrin made to the Apollo 11 program - as though he was merely riding in the side-car of a motorcycle. I also found the issue of who took photographs of whom to be a particularly petty argument to be made by the author.
All in all, however, I enjoyed the book. Having been born in 1969, I missed they heyday of the Apollo and US Space programs. It is truly fascinating to all-but experience what it was like to be so intimately involved in the space program of the 60s. I would definitely recommend the book.
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| One of the best Astronaut books.Learned so much |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book has got to be one of the best written Astronaut books. Mr Hansen did a great job. Its a thick long book but reads well.
I wasn't interested In Neil Armstrong's ancestry so the first two chapters to me were not interesting. After that the book is great and gets better and better. I'll just say a little on the book. Its much much more detailed with more interesting facts. We all know he was the first man on the Moon but he was very quite about it compared to Buzz Aldrin.You never hear anything from Neil Armstrong. Basically he had a job to do and he did it.
We see Neil's early days as a child and the religious influence from his mother. Neil was always a thinking person who would think about a problem first if he could rather than a spontaneous reaction type of person.
We see his love of reading, learning and building model planes at a young age leading to his wanting to fly. We see him saving for lessons to get his private pilot license before he can drive a car. Then we see him going to college to get an engineering degree and tied into the US Navy. He is a good student but not straight A. After completing college he fulfills his contract with the Navy and becomes a fighter pilot and is with the Screaming Eagles fighter squadron on the Essex aircraft carrier during the Korean War. Neil has many hours of combat experience and is highly decorated.
He becomes a jet test pilot and an experimental test pilot. He flies many many different high speed jets including the rocket plane the X15 and becomes a member of the 100,000 ft. plus club going well over mach 2. So many extreme challenges and dangerous assignments. He almost gets killed a few times and escapes death by seconds. He even flies once with Chuck Yeager and gets his jet stuck in the mud at a lake bed. Kind of embarrassing.
He is selected into NASA and goes up on Gemini V111 and survives a bad tumbling of the Gemini spacecraft after docking with another spacecraft.
My heart went out to Neil, Janet his wife and family when their 2 year old baby daughter dies of a brain tumor. Both Neil and Janet are crushed but somehow Neil continues with NASA. Also their home goes up in flames and Ed White their neighbor helps them get out of their burning house. Poor Ed White later dies in the Apollo 1 fire.
Neil is so level headed, the thinking persons astronaut and the sort of low key, non flaming personality that can get along with anyone. He goes through so much training and training. Finally he is selected by Deke Slayton the head astronaut to be the commander of Apollo 11 and be the first man on the Moon. Buzz Aldrin with a PHD from MIT wants to be the first man on the moon and INMO makes an a** of himself trying to persuade anyone who will listen why he should be first. The higher ups in NASA say no way we want Aldrin to be the first man on the moon as the first man will be a legend for a thousand years like Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. They wanted a level headed, non assuming mild mannered personality to be the first man on the moon. Armstrong is to be first man.
We see the landing. Neil gets out first followed by Buzz. Neil's famous statement from the moon " A small step for man and a giant leap for mankind". Neil may have forgot to put the a between for and man. This statement will last a thousand years. Both Neil and Buzz do experiments and collect rock and dust samples. Neil takes pictures of Buzz but both get distracted from a talk with President Nixon and later Buzz forgets to take pictures of Neil on the moon. The only picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon is the one with Neil in the faceplate of Buzz. NO PICTURES....terrible. They do have video of Neil stepping on the moon and Neil in the shadows.
Someone puts a wreath on President Kennedy's tomb saying " Mr President the Eagle has landed". I shed a tear on that one.
Its explained why the flag looks like its blowing. Of course there is no air on the moon. Some conspiracy idiots still think we never landed on the moon. Its explained Neil and Buzz could not get the mast for the flag fully extended and the flag straight out and as a result the flag was partially bent and looks like its blowing. Plus they have a lot of problems getting the flag mast to stay deep enough in the fine moon dust.
They almost forget to leave a disk with Earth leaders signatures and best wishes, and another memento of the two Russian Cosmonauts that died and Gus Grissom, Ed White and Chaffee who perished on Apollo 1, but in the last minutes they do leave it. One of the last things Buzz sees out the window as they leave the moon is the flag falling down.
We see Mike Collins the Columbia pilot who waits in lunar orbit for Neil and Buzz to launch from the moon and rendezvous with the Columbia. Collins can't land and save them. If the Eagle doesn't lift off and get into lunar orbit Neil and Buzz are dead men.
Such courage and determination by Neil, Buzz and Mike Collins. All heroes. There is much more great passages later on in the book as well as excellent pictures. This has got to be one of the best astronaut books. Mr Hansen did a great job. I learned so much about Neil Armstrong and the other astronauts, ground control members and about Neil's family. An enjoyable, exciting learning experience. Excellent book 5 stars.
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| An Exhaustive Biography |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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The author provides exhaustive details on Armstrong's life. The book goes back I think five generations of Neil's ancestors. The book provides details on every mission he flew in Korea and almost every test flight. Every crash or near miss is extensively analyzed. Extensive quotes from fellow pilots on the accidents and Neil's own viewpoint are presented. The details in the first few hundred pages or so are mind numbing. The jargon and acronyms are extensive and saturate the text. I can understand that this is an authorized biography, but it is very dry in spots.
However, for me, the books picks up steam when Armstrong joins the Apollo program. How the author tells the story of the moon landing is somewhat straight forward. The book meanders some, but I would encourage skimming over paragraphs so you can get Neil's quotes. I've found details here that I could find nowhere else.
The author's style is readable. The jargon is intrusive, but I could muddle my way through. I strongly recommend the book. I don't think another book will be written where the author has so much access to the reclusive Armstrong, Armstrong's family and the other astronauts.
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| Fascinating |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I found this book extra-interesting, since it's the only authorized biography of Neil Armstrong. Because of that, the people who were interviewed for the book seemed to have extra authority in shedding light on the life of a reluctant public figure. I gained a sympathy for Neil upon learning of the difficulties of being so famous. I found his life's achievements fascinating, and his good behavior refreshing.
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| An amazing story about a truly exceptional man |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I must admit that I only recently became interested in the Apollo program as it was somewhat before my time. However, I am fascinated by the life of Neil Armstrong. I recently read an article about how he is a true superstar, unlike the "Michael Jacksons" of the world. One hundred years from now, school kids will know who Neil Armstrong was and what he did. It's a great story about a man who was not seeking fame or fortune, but had it thrust upon him. However, he handled it with grace an humility. A truly remarkable man.
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