Originally Posted By DAR No he's not dead or anything but he seems to have disappeared. I only ask because I watched a fantastic documentary about the early Apollo missions called In The Shadow Of The Moon. They talked to many of the participants but Armstrong was absent and I didn't know if he's become a recluse or anything. But I'm going to plug the film, it's well worth your time. It should have been nominated for an Oscar.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yeah, he's what you might call a semi-recluse. Not on a J.D. Salinger or Bobby Fisher level, but he made it known long ago that he wished to remain private, and he doesn't even do things like appear in these documentaries with the other astronauts. That's long been his decision, and I can respect that.
Originally Posted By jonvn Actually, he's not an active professor anymore, I was just reading up on him. He's still very private.
Originally Posted By DAR I think he's kind of earned the right to be left alone. But it was neat hearing these stories from the other Astronauts. This movie could have been four hour long and I would have been enthralled.
Originally Posted By jonvn <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/03/60minutes/main1008288.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories /2005/11/03/60minutes/main1008288.shtml</a>
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn They really need to make an epic movie, or a series of movies about the lunar mission. Apollo 13 isn't enough. Calling Mr. Spielberg? Mr. Lucas? Mr. Ron Howard?
Originally Posted By DAR Don't forget there was The Right Stuff and the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Here is Neil Armstrong in Disneyland on July, 2005, at the re-launch of Space Mountain: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/Lotion-View-101-1.asp" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/L otion-View-101-1.asp</a>
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh Neil Armstrong is a Freemason. Most of the Apollo astronauts were. Not sure if he joined the Shrine, and got to drive one of the funny little cars in a parade.
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster I think he's just probably tired of lying about his fake moon landing. Kidding, btw.
Originally Posted By jonvn That was a graet movie. Of course, not as good as the real documentary, Capricorn One, but still, one of my favorites, too. Shows what we used to be able to do in this country.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Of course, not as good as the real documentary, Capricorn One<< LOL!!!
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan The only thing that's sad about the moon landing is the poor guy blew his line. Should have been "This is one small step for A man..." Not "One small step for man..." Without the "a" in there, the line contradicts itself, as there's no difference between "man" and "mankind". There's some disagreement over whether he actually miffed the line, or if communications briefly cut out to the "a" was cut out accidentally. Either way, the messed up version is what is in the books and on plaques and stuff.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Not sure if he joined the Shrine, and got to drive one of the funny little cars in a parade.<< <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/can-we-survive-on-the-moon/moonbuggy-250.jpg" target="_blank">http://discovermagazine.com/20 07/mar/can-we-survive-on-the-moon/moonbuggy-250.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry I have a co-worker that once sat next to Neil Armstrong on an airplane flight from Houston to Las Vegas. They were in first class, so it was just the two of them sitting next to each other for three hours. My co-worker sits down next to him, and introduces himself, just in the casual way you sometimes do to a fellow traveler. After a brief back-and-forth, my co-worker learns that he's sitting next to Neil Armstrong, and that he's retired from NASA. It's not that unusual to be on a commercial flight from Houston with someone from NASA, considering the number of NASA personnel based in Houston. In fact, I once sat immediately behind Gene Kranz, who was the mission controller for Apollo 13, and was portrayed by Ed Harris in the movie. He was a very social and upbeat guy, and really engaged those nearby that wanted to talk to him. But getting back to the matter at hand, my co-worker's next question to Armstrong was "So, what did you do for NASA?" That's right, my co-worker did not recognize the name and had no clue who he was sitting next to. Reportedly, Armstrong got a momentary funny look on his face and then said something vague like "I worked on the Apollo program." That was good enough for my co-worker, and they proceeded to spend the entire flight talking about college football. It wouldn't surprise me if Armstrong was actually relieved to not have to spend 3 hours once again talking about the Apollo mission, and could just shoot the breeze with a fellow traveler like anyone else. By the time the co-worker got back home and relayed the story to me, he had figured out that Armstrong was "some sort of astronaut or something." I was incredulous, and asked him if he had ever heard of the quote "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" that had been made by the first man to ever step foot on the moon. He said "Oh, that was Neil Armstrong?"
