Each used a single jet engine turned right-side up to simulate the Moon's one-sixth gravity of Earth. Two Lunar Landing Research Vehicles were built. Actor Ryan Gosling stands in the backyard of the burning home in a scene omitted from the biopic (above).ĭid Neil Armstrong almost die while training for the lunar landing? Not shown in the movie, the Armstrongs' home burned to cinders in a 1964 house fire. Neil described the 25 feet to Rick's bedroom as "the longest journey I ever made in my life." Rick was okay except for a burn on his thumb. He then went to save his six-year-old son Rick, holding a wet cloth over Rick's face as they made it outside to the backyard. Neil passed their ten-month-old son Mark through a window to Ed. Astronaut Ed White (portrayed by Jason Clarke in the movie) was their neighbor at the time and jumped the fence to help. Janet woke in the middle of the night and smelled smoke, at which time she alerted Neil. Though the scene was cut from the final version of the movie, the First Man true story confirms that the Armstrongs' Houston home caught fire in the spring of 1964. First Man Book Interviewĭid Neil Armstrong's home really catch on fire?
The movie seems to depict this time in Armstrong's life rather accurately. "I thought the best thing for me to do in that situation was to continue with my work," said Armstrong, "keep things as normal as I could, and try as hard as I could not to have it affect my ability to do useful things." He became an astronaut that same year. On January 28, 1962, Neil and Janet lost their two-year-old daughter Karen to a case of pneumonia while suffering from a malignant brain tumor. Actress Claire Foy portrays Janet in the First Man movie.ĭid Neil Armstrong really lose a daughter to brain cancer? Janet Armstrong (left) is pictured on Jwhile her husband is on the Moon. Initially, Clint Eastwood had been attached to direct. Film rights to the book were sold in 2003, prior to its publication, but a Neil Armstrong movie took years to get off the ground.
Armstrong gave his full support to Hansen and encouraged others to provide any necessary information that the author requested. At the same time, it explores his personal life as well. It chronicles his involvement in the space program, concluding with the climactic Apollo 11 mission. First published in 2005, the book is the only official biography of Armstrong. Hansen's New York Times bestselling biography First Man: The Life of Neil A.
Is the First Man movie based on a Neil Armstrong book? Up to his death, he largely remained a bit of an enigma. He was a man of few words who was driven to accomplish something no other human being had done. The First Man true story reveals that unlike many astronauts, Neil Armstrong was not the hotshot type, nor was he a fame-seeker.