NASA landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, just eight years after President John F Kennedy set sights on the lunar orb. The Apollo 11 mission saw astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land on the Moon, while Command Module pilot Michael Collins stayed in lunar orbit. And though millions of people watched the Moon landing from their homes and in public, very few people knew what was happening behind the scenes of Apollo 11. American author and journalist Norman Mailer explored the lesser known details of the Apollo 11 mission and its crew in his incredible book Moonfire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11, now re-released ahead of the Apollo 11 50th anniversary.
Neil Armstrong ‘detested’ being in the spotlight
After NASA selected the Apollo 11 crew for the first Moon landing, the world’s attention was focused on the three astronauts that would fly to the Moon.
In particular, reporters were interested in Commander Armstrong and expressed a fascination in the possibility of the mission failing.
According to Mr Mailer, the NASA astronaut absolutely “detested” the attention and some of the more morbid questions from the media.
To fight the press, Mr Mailer said the astronauts developed a very dry and “impersonal” speech, giving reporters nothing but curt replies.
There were, however, times when questions would cut deep, particularly when Commander Armstrong was asked about the possibility of dying during the mission.
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NASA Moon landing: The 50th anniversary of the Moon landing approaches (Image: NASA)
Mr Mailer wrote: “They could not, of course, restrain the questions which looked for ultimate blood.
His detestation of answering questions in public had been given its justification
“‘James Gunn, BBC. You mentioned that your flight, like all others, contains very many risks. What in view of that, will your plans be’ – a British courtesy in passing – ‘in the extremely unlikely event that the Lunar Module does not come up off the lunar surface?’
“Armstrong smiled. His detestation of answering questions in public had been given its justification.
“Journalists would even ask a man to comment on the emotions of his oncoming death.
“‘Well,’ said Armstrong, ‘that’s an unpleasant thing to think about.’”
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The Apollo 11 astronauts were kept from their families
The Moon is an incredibly dry and barren world, devoid of any life but that which has landed on it since 1969.
But up until Apollo 11 returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, there was no telling what sort of alien pathogens and diseases were lurking on the Moon.
Because of this, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin were forced to undergo a mandatory quarantine before they could return to their loved ones.
The three astronauts spent almost an entire month in quarantine, shielded from the very same Earth they only blasted away from eight days earlier.
Mr Mailer wrote: “Since the astronauts were being guarded against infection, they were seen next behind the protection of a glass wall in the visitors’ room a the Lunar Receiving Laboratory.
“An entire building had been constructed to quarantine them on their return, a species of hospital dormitory, galley and laboratory for the Moon rocks.
“Since for 21 days after their return they would not be able to be in the same room with their families, or with NASA technicians and officials who would debrief them, a chamber like the visitors’ room in a prison had been built with a plate-glass partition hermetically sealed off from floor to celling running down the middle.
“Dialogue through the glass wall proceeded through microphones.”
Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin (Image: NASA)
NASA Moon landing: The astronauts were kept in quarantine after returning to Earth (Image: NASA)
Neil Armstrong struggled to leave the Lunar Module after touching down
After the Eagle Lunar Module, or Lem, landed on the Moon the astronauts had some time to prepare for their eventual EVA or Extravehicular Activity.
Because of the excitement of the event, NASA rescheduled the moon walk by a few hours to give Armstrong and Aldrin a chance to walk on the Moon earlier than planned.
Unfortunately, once the time came for the astronauts to leave the Lem, Armstrong’s bulky space suit made the ordeal rather tricky.
Mr Mailer explained in Moonfire: “A cheer not unmixed with mockery came at the announcement at 9:40 in the evening that the hatch was still open. Still no image on the screen.
“Now followed long incomprehensible instructions back and forth, talk of window clanks and water valves, high-gain antenna and glycol pumps.
“Out of all this, quiet exhortations from Aldrin to Armstrong. Through words came the realisation that Armstrong, made twice bulky by his space suit and the Portable Life Support System on his back, was trying to push through the open hatch of the Lem out onto the small metal porch which led to the ladder which in turn he could descend to the Moon ground.
“It was obviously a very tight fit to get through the hatch.
“As Aldrin gave instructions there was an inevitable suggestion of the kind of dialogue one hears between an obstetrician and a patient in the last minutes before birth.”
NASA Moon landing: Norman Mailer’s incredible book explores the Apollo 11 mission in great detail (Image: TASCHEN)
NASA Moon landing: Moonfire was re-released for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 (Image: TASCHEN)
Moonfire by Norman Mailer, with contributions from author Column McCann, originated as a series of non-fiction reports published in Life Magazine between 1969 and 1970.
Mr Mailer’s work was then compiled into a coffee table special edition in 2009 for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.
A hardback edition of the book was then released in 2015 and the 50th-anniversary edition of the book is now available to purchase through Taschen.
Normal Mailer received a Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1969 and 1980, alongside numerous other awards.