Page 230 - Lunacy and the Age of Deception

that historic day, because until now, Neil Armstrong, now 81, has been pretty quiet about that walk.
So, it caught a lot of people by surprise when he talked candidly in front of a group of Australian
accountants that he was surprised that Apollo 11 actually worked because there were so many
unknowns about making a lunar flight.
[ S o u r c e :
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-rare-interview-frustrated-nasa-lacks-direction/
story?id=16423267]

This rare interview would also be the last of Neil Armstrong’s life, for he died not long afterwards.
Some weeks back a reader wrote to share the following with me.

Back in the early 80's I was a demonstration pilot for Gates Learjet based in Tucson, AZ. Neil
Armstrong was on the board of directors at that time. I was given an assignment to fly a Learjet from
Tucson to Ohio to pick up Mr. Armstrong and fly him back to Tucson for an important board
meeting. I was briefed by my boss not to discuss his moon landing. No questions period. I thought
that was very odd. Neil was a nice guy but very quiet. I spoke with other Learjet captains that had
spent lots of time flying with him and they said the same thing. The moon landing was never
discussed. It was off limits.

If the Apollo 11 Mission achieved the goals that NASA and the American government have claimed,
why did the first man to set foot on the surface of another planetary body avoid talking about it for
the rest of his life? Nor was Neil Armstrong the only member of the Apollo 11 crew to exhibit signs
of a troubled psyche when it came to discussing their accomplishments in public. In a July 8, 2009
article in the UK’s The Telegraph newspaper, a most unusual piece was written on the 40 th
anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission. Following is an excerpt.

Buzz Aldrin: the dark times that followed that historic flight
By Marc Lee

A few minutes into our conversation, Buzz Aldrin makes it clear that we won't be spending much
time reliving the day that began a new chapter in the history of the human race and made him one
of the most famous people on – and off – the planet. It's not that the Second Man on the Moon
doesn't want to talk about his space odyssey; it's just that he thinks he should be suitably rewarded
for doing so.

Sharing his extraterrestrial experiences is, he concedes, "an appropriate and necessary thing: it's
what people want. But I can't just keep doing that for ever in my life [he's 79] unless I'm
appropriately compensated."

So, is he reluctant to talk about Apollo 11? "No, I wouldn't say I'm reluctant, but my [interest] is not
in the past…" And he proceeds to roll out a diversionary anecdote about how, when he was young,
his father would reminisce endlessly about the early days of aviation and how "regrettable" that
was. He is and always has been, he says, "future-oriented."

Surprisingly, Aldrin's reservations about describing what it's like to kick up moon dust for an hour
and a half, as he did on July 20, 1969, are in marked contrast to his willingness to discuss – free of