Did Neil Armstrong gör verkligen det här på månen?

Detta behandlas uttryckligen i biografen Första människan: Neil A. Armstrongs liv , av James R. Hansen, som filmen bygger på, och vars författare antagligen är Jim nämnt i wcullens svar .

Armstrong never released any information about the contents of his [Personal Preference Kit]. He agreed to do so for publication in this boo, but reported that he was unable to find the manifest among his many papers.

[...]

"I didn't bring anything else for myself," Neil would declare. "At least not that I can remember." As for Janet, the only thing taken to the Moon for her was the olive branch pin. "He didn't ask me if I wanted to send anything."

Perhaps surprisingly, Armstrong took nothing else for family members--not even for his two boys, a fact that still distresses Janet. "I assumed he had taken things to give to the boys later, but I don't believe he has ever given them anything. Neil can be thoughtful, but he does not give much time to being thoughtful, or at least to expressing it."

Another loved one that Neil apparently did not remember by taking anything of hers to the Moon was his daughter, Karen. What could have made the first Moon landing more meaningful "for all mankind" than a father honoring the cherished memory of his beloved little girl, by taking a picture of the child, dead now over seven years (she would have been a ten-year-old), one of her toys, an article of her clothing, a lock of hair, her baby bracelet? Astronaut Gene Cernan, just before he left the lunar surface on Apollo 17, had written the initials of his nine-year-old daughter, Tracy, in the dust. Buzz Aldrin carried photos of his children to the Moon. Charlie Duke left a picture of his family on the surface.

What if Neil did something for Muffie but never told anyone about it, not even Janet, because it was of such an intensely personal nature? How much more would posterity esteem the character of the First Man? It could have elevated the first Moon landing to an even higher level of significance. Among those who feel so are Neil's sister June, who knew her brother as well as anyone.

"Did he take something of Karen with him to the Moon?" was June's rhethorical question.

"Oh, I dearly hope so."

Perhaps the mystery will be solved when humankind returns, as it surely will, to Tranquility Base.

Som nämnts i de befintliga svaren gör det här händelsen en trovärdig utbildad teori, men jag hittar den tillhörande kontexten w.r.t. Neils levande söner är verkligen relevanta.

Jag är störd av den exakta textmatchen mellan Hansen och Singer's rapport om June Hoffmans svar. Var de båda närvarande i samma intervju? Gede hon ett ord för ord exakt identiskt svar vid två separata tillfällen? Är någon av de två kontona en parafras av den andra? (Bara saker att tänka på.)

Armstrong talade aldrig om detta offentligt.

Jay Barbrees biografi Neil Armstrong: Ett flygliv (Thomas Dunne Books, 2014) säger, s. 272 av paperback-upplagan,

In the lunar dust, Neil and Buzz placed mementos for the five deceased American and Russian space flyers, Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chafee, Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin (the first in space had died in a plane crash the year before), and one small cargo—private and honorable—carried by Neil. It was not to be divulged. It was a diamond-studded astronaut pin made specially for Deke Slayton by the three Apollo 1 astronauts who planned to fly it on their mission before that dreadful fire. And there was one other remembrance. Very special and dear to Neil, a part of an unfinished life he so wanted to leave on the moon, and he did.

Det är helt klart att det "oavslutade livet" är hans dotter Karen Anne ("Muffie"). Barbree skriver också (s. 44),

Neil seldom spoke of this overwhelming heartache in his life. But others were convinced Karen Anne's death was the single most important reason he would submit his name to become an astronaut. Her death gave him a new purpose. A few months before Neil's own passing, I asked him, “Is there something of Muffie's on the moon?”

I read his smile to mean yes.

Barbree var NBC: s rymdkorrespondent i grund och botten för evigt och rapporterade om varje bemannad NASA-lansering. Han beskriver sig som en nära vän till Neil Armstrong i över 50 år, och introduktionen till boken talar om hur Armstrong var en stickler för noggrannhet. Barbree är särskilt känslig för Karen Annes död, eftersom en av hans egna söner dog under förlossningen.

Eventuellt

Tydligen screenwriter Josh Singer

asked Armstrong's sister, June Hoffman, whether her brother had left something for Karen on the moon. June's response: "Oh, I dearly hope so."

"Nearing the bar we were setting for ourselves in terms of accuracy, I never would have felt comfortable doing that on my own," Singer said. "But hearing that it's good enough for Jim, and good enough for June, it was good enough for me."

So, it wasn't fully a Hollywood-ized version of the moon landing. It is more of an educated theory.

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