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| Neil Armstrong 1930-2012 |
I’ve been carrying around a copy of an email for 12 years, thinking it was so great I’d have a chance to impress people with it someday. It was about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon who passed away this Sunday.
After I found out about his death, I thought, aha, let me find that email and I can use it in my blog.
Prior to publishing, I did some research, as I always do, to ensure that what I write about has some level of veracity to it. Much to my chagrin, I found out that the story in that email was, as some described it, an “urban legend,” actually a tall tale that a lot of people believed for a long time. But it wasn’t true.
The concept is so great I’d like to share it with you, shortly, so please bear with me for a bit while I set it up.
It is certainly true that July 20, 1969 was one of those moments I’ll never forget. On that day, 600 million people, an astounding 20 percent of the world’s population, were glued to their TVs or radios watching and listening as Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. I was at my parents’ house watching with them what was undoubtedly the single most memorable event in history.
Also true was the fact that Armstrong was a phenomenal pilot with an incredible resume, including being a US Navy officer, serving in the Korean War and being one of the nation’s foremost experimental test pilots, logging more than 900 flights and flying the dangerous X15 to an astonishing 207,000 feet.
Armstrong became a NASA astronaut and was command pilot for Gemini 8, performing the first manned docking of two spacecrafts. And he guided the lunar lander to the moon’s surface on that July day in 1969 with about 30 seconds of fuel remaining.
And he avoided the spotlight at all costs. True as well. As the Associated Press reported Sunday, Armstrong fit every requirement the space agency needed for the first man to walk on moon, especially because of his engineering skills and the way he handled his celebrity, by shunning it.
“I think his genius was in his reclusiveness,” said Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley. “He was the ultimate hero in an era of corruptible men.”
On that never-to-be-forgotten summer night 43 years ago, Armstrong uttered the words that will live forever: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The story I was referring to concerned a remark Armstrong supposedly made while re-entering the lunar module: “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.” The legend went on to say that Armstrong was asked about this on a number of occasions and always declined to answer, instead just giving a knowing smile.
The story goes that when Armstrong supposedly found out that the elusive Mr. Gorsky had died, he finally told people what he’d meant by his comment.
In 1938, 8-year old Armstrong was playing baseball with a friend in his backyard in that small Ohio town. His friend hit a fly ball that landed over by the neighbors’ bedroom window. His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.
Armstrong tip-toed over toward their house to retrieve the ball, an as he leaned down to pick it up, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky: “Sex? You want sex? You’ll get sex when that kid next door walks on the moon!”
Many people believed this to be true, me included, only to finally be debunked by NASA’s actual transcripts of the flight. It ruined a wonderful joke that Armstrong, being the class act that he was, laughed at every time he heard it. I still do as well.
Have a memorable day.
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Follow me on Twitter: @jpalmer7890
