Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight

摘要

Neil Armstrong was a complex and private man; not a "recluse," just a man who tried to live his life as he wanted despite being world-famous. Jay Barbree presents a very interesting look at the astronaut with some glimpses of the inner Neil, the man who never lobbied to be first on the Moon but took a quiet pride in his accomplishments. Two decades ago, I contacted Neil through a friend of his to ask if he'd do a short interview for an encyclopedia I was contributing to. Neil sent back word that he would rather be left out of the book entirely. That I couldn't do, and he did answer a couple of questions through his friend: the most interesting response was that he considered his work on fly-by-wire aircraft control systems to be his most significant technical contribution. Clearly, this was a man who didn't let the world or the media define his own vision of who he was.