58 Fun Facts About Neil Armstrong

Which US president telephoned Armstrong from the Oval Office while he stood on the Moon?

Richard Nixon. As he congratulated the crew, a second speech lay ready that he never had to give: one written two days earlier in case they could not get off the Moon.

Near which Ohio town was Armstrong born in 1930?

Wapakoneta. The town opened a museum to him three years to the day after the landing, and in 2017 thieves broke in and stole a solid-gold model of the lunar module that he had been given in Paris.

At age two, Armstrong was taken by his father to the National Air Races in which Ohio city?

Cleveland. He remembered neither that day nor his first flight, in a Ford Trimotor at about six, and said his father had no special love of aviation, only of showing his children new things.

What did Armstrong earn on his 16th birthday, before he had a driver's licence?

A student flight certificate. Sixteen was the youngest the rules allowed for powered aircraft, and it let him fly alone but carry no passengers; he made his first solo flight within weeks.

At which university did Armstrong study aeronautical engineering from 1947?

Purdue. A Navy scholarship paid his way on condition that he break off to serve as a pilot: called up after three semesters, he did not collect his degree until 1955.

Over which country did Armstrong fly 78 combat missions as a young naval aviator?

Korea. The novelist James Michener sailed with his carrier that winter, and Armstrong called The Bridges at Toko-Ri an excellent picture of their flying, though the film added girls he did not remember.

Armstrong took a scrap of wing fabric and a piece of propeller from which pioneering aircraft to the Moon?

The Wright Flyer. The relics came from the Air Force Museum in Dayton by special arrangement and rode down to the surface in his personal kit: one Ohio flyer saluting two others.

After his jet lost part of a wing in combat, what saved Armstrong?

Ejecting over friendly territory. By his own account a cable strung between hills had sliced the wing; he meant to come down in the sea, but the wind blew his parachute back over land.

Which instrument did Armstrong strum to pass the time in quarantine after returning from the Moon?

Ukulele. Music was an old habit: at university he had played baritone horn in the marching band and co-directed a student musical, and a NASA photograph catches him mid-strum in isolation.

Who played Armstrong's wife Janet in the 2018 film First Man?

Claire Foy. The film gives her the home front: before the Moon flight, Janet makes him sit down with their two sons and tell them himself that he may not come back.

At which air force base did Armstrong become a NACA test pilot in 1955?

Edwards. It had no opening when he first applied, so he began at another laboratory in what he called the lowest-paying job he was offered; in 2014 NASA renamed its centre at the desert base after him.

Which rocket plane did Armstrong fly at nearly 4,000 mph?

North American X-15. He was engineer as much as pilot: he worked with the designers on its self-adapting flight controls and then made the first flight with them himself.

Which moonwalker joked that the first step 'may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me'?

Pete Conrad. He had bet a reporter $500 that astronauts chose their own words, so he made up a line no official would script, a joke about his own short legs; he said he was never paid.

With which famous pilot did Armstrong get a jet stuck in the mud of a Nevada lake bed in 1962?

Chuck Yeager. He wrote that he had warned the rain-soaked lake bed would not hold them; Armstrong's version was that Yeager never objected, told him to land again, and howled with laughter when the wheels sank.

Why was Armstrong ineligible for the original Mercury astronaut selection?

He was a civilian test pilot. The first intake took only military test pilots, and when NASA dropped that rule for its second group in 1962 he was already flying its fastest rocket planes.

How did Armstrong's astronaut application get considered after arriving a week past NASA's 1962 deadline?

A friend slipped it in. Dick Day, a simulator expert who had worked with him, was the selection panel's secretary; in one telling he added it to the pile unseen, in another a senior manager told him to.

What did the press call the second group of NASA astronauts, selected in 1962?

The New Nine. NASA hired them to fly the two-seat Gemini as a rehearsal for Apollo, and it paid off: six of the nine went on to the Moon and three walked on it, though two died before any landing.

Which mission was Armstrong's first spaceflight?

Gemini 8. He and David Scott, both on their first trip to orbit, set off in March 1966 on a planned three-day flight and were back in the sea ten hours and 41 minutes later.

What milestone did Armstrong's March 1966 flight achieve before its emergency?

The first docking of two spacecraft. Soon after, a stuck thruster set the pair rolling; once they undocked, the capsule spun at almost a turn a second until Armstrong stopped it with his re-entry thrusters, which ended the flight.

Armstrong's first spaceflight ended in an emergency splashdown 500 miles east of which Japanese island?

Okinawa. The landing had been planned for the other side of the world three days later, so only a backup destroyer was in reach; it hauled the capsule aboard and carried the two astronauts into the island's port of Naha.

What became of the overshoes Armstrong wore to make the first lunar footprints?

Left on the Moon. To lighten the lander for lift-off and free up its cramped cabin, the two men threw their overshoes, life-support backpacks and other spent gear out of the hatch.

In which South American country did Armstrong greet dignitaries in Guarani during a 1966 goodwill tour?

Paraguay. President Johnson sent him round South America after his Gemini flight, and he later said the trip had taught him what to expect when the whole world wanted to meet the first man on the Moon.

Armstrong was in Washington on the day of the Apollo 1 fire for the signing of which agreement?

The Outer Space Treaty. Signed at the White House that day with five astronauts looking on, it bars any nation from claiming the Moon, so the flag he planted there in 1969 staked no claim.

What was the nickname of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle from which Armstrong ejected in May 1968?

The Flying Bedstead. The crash did not put him off: he was flying its successor again the month before launch, and said afterwards that the Moon landing would not have succeeded without such training.

By Armstrong's own account, whom did Deke Slayton offer him in place of Buzz Aldrin for the first landing crew?

Jim Lovell. Armstrong said he took a day to think and kept Aldrin, reasoning that Lovell, who had already commanded a Gemini flight, deserved a command of his own and not the crew's most junior seat.

What reason did NASA give in 1969 for sending Armstrong out of the lunar module ahead of Aldrin?

How the cabin hatch opened. It swung inwards towards Aldrin's side and boxed him in; Chris Kraft later wrote that the managers had in any case wanted a calm, quiet man like Lindbergh to go first.

Which rocket launched Armstrong's crew towards the Moon from Kennedy Space Center in July 1969?

Saturn V. Its last unmanned test had shaken itself badly on the way up, and Armstrong thought it 'incredibly aggressive' when NASA put a crew on the very next one, seven months before his own launch.

What did the 1202 alarms that sounded during Armstrong's descent to the Moon turn out to mean?

An overloaded guidance computer. Neither astronaut had met the alarm in training, but Houston took only seconds to call 'Go': the computer was shedding its low-priority jobs and carrying on.

Why did Armstrong take manual control of the lunar module moments before touchdown?

A boulder field ahead. The automatic descent was heading for rough ground beside a crater, so he flew on to a smoother spot, landing with the fuel warning lit and the engine's dust blurring his view.

Which name did Armstrong give the landing site when he radioed Houston that 'The Eagle has landed'?

Tranquility Base. The sudden new call sign left Charlie Duke in Houston tongue-tied ('Roger, Twan... Tranquility'), and he added that mission control had 'a bunch of guys about to turn blue'.

Why does the flag Armstrong planted on the airless Moon appear to ripple in photographs?

Its support rod stuck part-way. With no air to hold a flag out, NASA ran a telescopic rod along the top edge; it jammed short of full length, and the bunched nylon looks as if a breeze has caught it.

The mementoes Armstrong and Aldrin placed on the lunar surface included medals honouring Vladimir Komarov and which other Soviet cosmonaut?

Yuri Gagarin. Both men had died within the previous three years, and at the height of the space race their medals went into a small bag, beside an Apollo 1 patch, that Aldrin tossed onto the surface.

Listeners heard 'one small step for man', but which words did Armstrong say he had meant to speak there?

For a man. Without the 'a', 'man' and 'mankind' mean the same thing; he blamed static for years, then conceded he must have dropped it and asked only that it be printed in brackets.

How long did Armstrong and Aldrin spend outside on the first moonwalk?

Two and a half hours. Every later landing was allowed longer outside than the one before, until the last crew spent more than 22 hours on the surface over three outings.

When a circuit breaker snapped in Armstrong's lunar module, what did the crew push into it so they could leave the Moon?

A felt-tip pen. Aldrin had snapped off the switch that armed the lift-off engine, probably while wriggling out of his backpack; a pen's tip would not conduct electricity, so it went in where the button had been.

Which ship recovered Armstrong and his crew after their splashdown in the Pacific in July 1969?

USS Hornet. The President had flown out to the carrier to welcome them home, and had to do it through the window of the sealed cabin they were shut into as soon as they came aboard.

How long was Armstrong's crew quarantined after the Moon landing?

Three weeks. NASA feared lunar germs, thought the risk remote but took no chances, and the isolation ran long enough for Armstrong to turn 39 inside it, with a surprise party.

Which cosmonaut hosted Armstrong at the Soviet training centre in 1970 on the day her husband was launched into orbit?

Valentina Tereshkova. Nobody breathed a word of the launch: that evening his hosts simply played him a tape of Soyuz 9 lifting off, and only then did he learn a flight was under way with her husband aboard.

Where did Armstrong teach aerospace engineering from 1971 to 1979?

The University of Cincinnati. Two years after the Moon he gave up a NASA headquarters desk in Washington for a classroom in his home state, and taught engineering there for the rest of the decade.

What had exploded on Apollo 13, according to the review board Armstrong sat on?

An oxygen tank. The board found that its switches, built for the spacecraft's 28 volts, had been ruined by 65-volt ground power weeks before launch, leaving a heater to run unchecked.

On which body investigating the Challenger disaster did Armstrong serve as vice chairman?

The Rogers Commission. Chaired by a former secretary of state with Armstrong as his deputy, it traced the loss to a booster seal stiffened by a freezing launch morning, and kept its recommendations to nine.

Which was the first company Armstrong agreed to appear in advertising for, from 1979?

Chrysler. He said he agreed because the carmaker had a strong engineering division and was in financial trouble; in later years he lent his name only to American firms.

With which mountaineer did Armstrong travel to the North Pole in April 1985?

Steve Fossett and Hillary's son Peter were also on the trip, which Armstrong kept from the press.

Which company did Armstrong sue in 1994 for using 'one small step' on a Christmas ornament?

Hallmark Cards. The ornament played a recording of his voice without permission; he settled out of court, gave the money to his old university, and NASA grew stricter about the use of astronauts' names and voices.

Which song did Diana Krall sing at Armstrong's memorial service in Washington in 2012?

Fly Me to the Moon. She sang it in Washington National Cathedral, beneath a stained-glass Space Window that holds a sliver of Moon rock, and Michael Collins led the prayers.

How did Armstrong lose the tip of a finger in 1978?

He packed the fingertip in ice and had it reattached in Louisville.

What did Armstrong's barber sell to a collector for $3,000 in 2005?

His hair clippings. Armstrong demanded the hair back or the $3,000 for a charity of his choosing; the barber, who had cut his hair for years, told a reporter the money was long gone on bills.

What was the cause of Armstrong's death in August 2012?

Complications from coronary bypass surgery. He died 18 days after the operation, and his family asked anyone wanting to honour him to look up on a clear night, think of Neil Armstrong 'and give him a wink'.

Where were Armstrong's ashes laid to rest in September 2012?

In the Atlantic Ocean. He had been a Navy pilot long before he was an astronaut, and his widow committed his ashes to the sea from the deck of a Navy cruiser the day after his memorial in Washington.

Who played Armstrong in the 2018 film adaptation of his authorised biography First Man?

Ryan Gosling. Armstrong fended off would-be biographers for years before he sat for more than 50 hours of interviews for the book the film draws on, the only life of him that he authorised.

Which gold emblem of peace was among the mementoes Armstrong and Aldrin placed on the lunar surface?

An olive branch. The eagle on the mission's badge carries one in its talons, and identical gold sprigs flew to the Moon and back as presents for the three astronauts' wives.

Armalcolite, a mineral first found in Armstrong's Moon rocks, takes its name from what?

The Apollo 11 crew. It runs together the first letters of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins; nobody had seen the mineral before their rocks were opened, though it has since turned up on Earth as well.

For which planemaker did Armstrong set five climb and altitude records in 1979?

Learjet. He flew the record runs himself, as a 48-year-old professor, in the first Learjet 28 built, and in 2020 that same aircraft was given to the museum in his home town.

In 1976 Armstrong joined an expedition into the Cueva de los Tayos caves in which country?

Ecuador. A bestselling author had claimed the caves hid a library of gold plates; the expedition, with Armstrong as its honorary president, found no such thing.

Which new TV channel launched in 1981 with pictures of Armstrong's Moon landing, its logo on the flag?

MTV. Armstrong's permission to use his famous words never came, but the pictures ran to a guitar riff at the top of every hour for years, and a 'moon man' became its awards trophy.

Armstrong was backup commander of which mission just before being offered the first lunar landing?

Apollo 8. Backup crews normally flew three missions later, so understudying the first flight round the Moon put him in line for the first landing; NASA named his crew two weeks after that flight came home.

In 1970 Armstrong became the first Westerner to see up close the Tu-144, the Soviet rival to which airliner?

Concorde. The Soviet jet had beaten its Western rival into the air by two months, and the veteran planemaker Andrei Tupolev took Armstrong to its hangar and gave him a model, which he later passed to the Smithsonian.

Which honour did Armstrong's crew receive at a 1969 state dinner in Los Angeles?

Presidential Medal of Freedom. It ended one long day, 13 August: ticker-tape parades in New York and Chicago before about six million people, then a flight west to dine with 44 state governors.