One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey [9780312875923]

Overview

On July 20, 1969, the whole world stopped. It was the day when a man who grew up on a farm without electricity announced, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." But the world never knew how truly dangerous this quest was.

Armstrong and his crew's extraordinary mission was a long, complex chain of events, at least 50 percent likely to snap at one delicate point or another and end in failure or worse. As the mission unfolded, those in the know about the daunting task the astronauts faced held their breath. The President of the United States, Richard Nixon, ordered their eulogy prepared for him to read on national television.

In this, the first-ever biography of Neil Armstrong, Leon Wagener explores the man whose walk on the moon is still compared to humankind's progenitor's crawl out of the primordial ooze---and whose retreat back to a farm in his native Ohio soon after the last ticker-tape confetti fell has left him looked upon as a reclusive hermit ever since.

This is the true story of a national hero whose lifelong quest to walk on the moon truly mirrors our best selves. He's an American who daily braved incredible danger over a long career and finally broke free of Earth's surly bonds, achieving what seemed impossible and proving forever that man can reach for the stars and succeed.