First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong

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.

I feel as if I've traveled to the moon and back thanks to Hansen's compelling biography filled with gripping accounts of one of America's greatest achievements of the 20th century - the first moon landing on July 20, 1969, not to mention an intimate look into the man who commanded that mission - Neil A. Armstrong. "First Man" is an incredibly well researched and comprehensive look into that life and is the only authorized biography of our American hero who by the way, played an integral role in the first edition of the book published in 2005 while he still alive. Since then, two editions have followed ending with this third 50th Anniversary 2018 edition that contains even more stories about the First Man and the legacy that has burned for 50 years "strong."In light of the fact that we are quickly approaching the 50th anniversary of that historic mission is one of the reasons why I wanted to read this before July 20. While the movie starring Ryan Gosling as our leading First Man didn't perform very well at the box office, I loved every minute of it and couldn't wait to read the book to fill in the missing details that would help me understand even more the fascinating life of Neil Armstrong."First Man" begins with a look back in time, retracing the Armstrong name as far back as the 1400s and then jumps forward through eight generations of the Armstrong ancestry, Neil being the ninth. We follow this child prodigy through his teenage years as a pilot where upon the age of 16 he earned his pilot's license even before his driver's license; his pursuit of a degree in aeronautical engineering temporarily interrupted by his naval aviator career which included dangerous missions that took him and other pilots over North Korea; later recruited by NACA (NASA's predecessor) to "push the outside of the envelope" aboard the X-series aircraft high above the desert at Edwards Air Force Base, some of the most thrilling moments of the book are contained within these pages; and ultimately to NASA to command two missions: Gemini VIII and its successful completion of the first-ever docking in space; followed by Apollo 11 which led to that historical day on July 20, 1969, where more than 600 million people from around world watched and listened to those immortal words spoken by Armstrong as he stepped down from the Lunar Module onto the surface of the moon, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind!"Throughout his career, he risked his life on so many accounts and Hansen brilliantly captures every bit of the nail-biting action during those perilous test flights, Lunar Landing Training Vehicle testing when Armstrong narrowly escaped with only seconds to spare before the vehicle crashed and burned. Even his Gemini mission was in jeopardy when the recently docked vehicles started to spin out of control. I was captivated as each thrilling detail unfolded. But even more thrilling than those death-defying maneuvers, was the final descent to the surface of the moon that had me on the edge of my seat. Because of Hansen's moment-by-moment account of the entire landing which lasted less than 15 minutes but seemed like an eternity, I felt like I was on board the Eagle the entire time. How Hansen and Armstrong were able to able to recall in such spectacular detail is mind boggling.Despite all of the thrilling accounts of his spectacular career, there were darker times as well, devastating losses that he suffered during some of the pivotal times in his NASA career. Hansen tenderly pulls back the curtain to reveal those heartbreaking moments which brought me to tears on a few occasions. How Armstrong moved past them without once letting them affect his performance in the day job is beyond me. But he did."First Man" not only allows us to follow in the footsteps of Armstrong but we also embark on a privileged insider's look into the the operations of the NASA space programs including an overview of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions and how each of them was a stepping stone designed to contribute to the overall success of a lunar landing - "to land a man on the surface of the moon and return him home safely." As we all know, Armstrong and the crew of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, achieved that goal nearly 50 years ago today, July 20, 1969.If you're a NASA buff or only remotely interested America's entry into the Space Age, I highly recommend this book to all. While it does get a little technical at times due to Hansen's expertise in aerospace history and the history of science and technology, the pages within offer a compelling look into the life a man who never wanted to become a hero.

James Hansen wrote this very interesting authorized biogrpahy of Neil Armstrong and it was wonderful to read. The book covers the entire life of Armstrong from his early life, through his Navy flight career and into his participation in the space program culminating in his moon walk. The book is full of all the details of his life , his parents, wife and even details of his relationships with Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins who flew with Armstrong on the Apollo 11 trip in 1969. There is always so much behind the scenes that make great people tick and it was a joy to read.Incidentally, the book was advertised as "Used" but came in excellent, mint condition ....thanks to Betty. I will be donating it to our local library.

Una vida de glória !Exemplar perfecto e sien problemas.Recomendo.

The best book read in my life

Ce livre est particulièrement fourni et bien documenté. L'auteur est d'ailleurs l'unique biographe "officiel" approuvé par Armstrong lui même. Grâce à cela, il a eu accès aux témoignages d'Armstrong, de ses proches, et à des documents inédits. Le résultat est une biographie extrêmement détaillée et très convaincante. Le sujet est passionnant.Malheureusement, tout cela manque singulièrement de focus. L'auteur passe des pages et des pages à décrire des éléments insignifiants. Nous avons le droit, par exemple à un listing fastidieux de la quasi totalité des camarades d'Armstrong pendant la guerre de Corée (cela dure plusieurs pages). Ensuite, on nous liste la totalité de ses missions pendant cette guerre. En revanche, l'enjeu et le pourquoi de la guerre est à peine effleuré. C'est dommage de n'avoir pas suffisamment situé l'événement dans son contexte.Le livre ne devient réellement passionnant qu'avec le récit d'Apollo 11, même si l'auteur s'égare encore parfois dans des descriptions inutiles.L'après Apollo 11 avec les conséquences sur la vie d'Armstrong sont bien traités aussi (même si on aurait aussi pu se passer de la liste de la totalité des membres de la commission d'enquête sur la catastrophe de Challenger).

Armstrong was an unassuming, hard working, dedicated engineer, pilot and astronaut.The best parts in the book are the Space years. That's the reason why the bookwas written, and that's what you want to read about. It doesn't disappoint on that front.Armstrong's great moment was landing the lunar module manually and safely on the Moon.A wonderful display of professionalism, common sense and self control.Everything else was routine, which isn't without interest.I recommend this book, all the content was endorsed by Armstrong.

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