A Case Study of Neil Armstrong
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
― Neil Armstrong
What You’re Told
During research for my last blog, I happened across this paragraph in a LinkedIn article:
“Who was the first man that landed on the moon?” Everyone in the class shouted, “Neil Armstrong”. Who was the second man? No one replied. The professor then went on to explain the importance of being the top and never settle for second, and that life is literally a race. And getting good grades are important to reach there, to be somebody.
This story’s interpretation struck a chord in me, because I’ve seen it repeated in many places. Not just in the competitive education system, but by domineering parents and ambitious students.
Was Neil Armstrong a highly competitive person with an obsession for becoming number one? Well, quite the opposite.
Look at a Humble Life
Let us explore this interesting man’s youth, as well as why NASA selected him for such a momentous role.
Along the way, you’ll see that his low-profile mannerisms made it easy for teachers and parents alike to obscure his biography.
Growing Up
Here is a description of Neil Armstrong on the PBS NOVA episode, “First Man on the Moon” (words bolded by me).
Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon. But this modest and unassuming man was determined to stay out of the spotlight […]
KOTCHO SOLACOFF (Neil Armstrong’s Childhood Friend): When he was, like, five years old, his father took him on an airplane ride on a Tri-Motor. They had got sick, but Neil just absolutely loved it. […]
MIKE COLLINS (Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot): We both made models early, and, of course, our desire then, as it was later in our careers, was to make these things go higher and faster. And my, my solution to higher and faster was you took a couple of extra turns on the rubber band. Neil’s solution? He built a wind tunnel!
DEAN ARMSTRONG: When we were ready for the test, he said “Go get Mom.” I said, “Neil wants you to see something.” So, and he turned it on.
JUNE HOFFMAN (Neil Armstrong’s Sister): And, all of a sudden, the house shook, and I mean the house really shook.
MIKE COLLINS: How many kids could build a wind tunnel in their basement? Not any I know, except Neil.
This scene is very revealing. From the beginning he wasn’t trying to outshine anyone. He just did what energized him — as an act of personal initiative.
Going on to his teenage years (Wikipedia):
At age 17 in 1947, Armstrong began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. He was the second person in his family to attend college. He was also accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but after watching a football game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Ohio Stadium in 1945, in which the Boilermakers, led by quarterback Bob DeMoss, soundly defeated the highly regarded Buckeyes, he resolved to go to Purdue. An uncle who had attended MIT advised him that it was not necessary to go all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a good education. His college tuition was paid for under the Holloway Plan.
I am presuming MIT was quite prestigious even in those days — especially with WWII using their services. Yet again, he did whatever he felt like doing.
I’m not saying traditional metrics of success are necessarily bad, but they sometimes hinder independent decisions (the emperor has no clothes). Neil Armstrong knew that which college you attend must be a personal decision rather than a societal one.
*Funny side note: MIT itself was started by a maverick. Throughout history, anti-authoritarians are often so distinctive, powerful, and occasionally truthful that they turn into the very authority archetypes they lament about!
Top Choice for NASA
Now we will explore why Neil Armstrong was selected by the NASA committee. Below is a rich and illuminating article (NASA’s Chris Kraft concurs to this viewpoint in Wikipedia also).
NASA committee lobbied for Neil Armstrong to be the first on the moon. Here’s why they picked him. (a local Virginia newspaper)
“But there was a private discussion among those four chief people — Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Deke,” NASA historian and author James Hansen said. “They knew whoever did step out first would become a world famous individual. They felt that he would become another Charles Lindbergh, and all four men felt unanimously that Neil was very Lindbergh-like — better, personality-wise, to handle the fame and celebrity that would come with it.”
Lindbergh, the legendary American aviator who captured the world’s attention in 1927 with his solo flight from New York to Paris, was a stoic man — articulate but not glib or colorful, a family man who was comfortable in the spotlight but never sought it.
Armstrong was the same way, whereas Aldrin was known to be more outspoken and colorful — closer, perhaps, in personality to the original Mercury 7 astronauts who put “the right stuff” on display for the public but, in most cases, relished their newfound celebrity.
[…]
By most accounts, Aldrin — as lunar module pilot — wanted very much to take the first step on the moon. He pointed to the protocol of the pilot taking spacewalks while the commander stayed on board, though that was not a consideration when the module was sitting on the moon rather than traveling through space. Aldrin was a West Point graduate and a decorated fighter pilot during the Korean War, while Armstrong was the first civilian chosen to serve as an astronaut.
But Kraft, Gilruth, Low and Slayton, while confident in Aldrin’s abilities as an astronaut, had their concerns.
“There was an egotistical feeling in Aldrin that didn’t seem to be there in Neil,” Kraft said. “That was going to be difficult to overcome.”
[…]
Armstrong turned down many requests from aspiring biographers, but James Hansen persisted and after three years was able to persuade him. “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong” was published in 2005 and later adapted into a 2018 film that won the Academy Award for its visual effects.
Aldrin wrote two autobiographies, “Return to Earth” in 1973 and “Magnificent Desolation” in 2009. He wrote and spoke of his battles with depression and alcoholism, as well as three marriages that ended in divorce.
In this excerpt’s first paragraph, I bolded the words “to handle.” Aldrin vied for number one, but Armstrong could handle it better.
Life sometimes gives you the opposite of what you want.
It gives you what you and others need.
At the end, neither got what they exactly wanted.
NARRATOR: Finally, accepting a lifelong mantle of fame that didn’t always sit well with him.
ANDREW CHAIKIN (Space Historian): We ask a lot of our heroes. We put a burden on them. We put a burden on Neil Armstrong that he didn’t enjoy.
— NOVA episode, First Man on the Moon
Strong people are like a warp in space-time, where opportunities and requests flow to them — even unasked or spontaneously.
Their force of character follows the laws of cause and effect. It’s something I’ve deeply internalized:
If you do the how, the what will come to you.
When I wrote “Don’t be Number One” as the title, what I really meant was “Don’t be Too in Love with Status.” Grow into your character instead, because that’s where anything starts.
Tale of Aldrin
By now you might have realized why I brought Aldrin into the story. He is seriously accomplished in his own right. Yet he faced consequences, due to the unhealthy ego that develops when trying to be number one.
Remember the first scene in the LinkedIn article?
Look deeper and you’ll discover that these well-meaning teachers and parents are encouraging their children to become Aldrin.
To Conclude
Neil Armstrong is not competitive; he is distinctive. He did not strive to be the first; he strove to be himself. He had been following his inclinations, however outlandish they may appear to others, with his level-headed engineering mind since he was five.
I have seen far too many teachers and parents use this historical figure to push children to be the best in academics, chess competitions, and such.
It just blows my mind that such a true pioneer can be repurposed into an icon for the rat race. Then again, how many educational camps have been named after Albert Einstein, who universities would not touch at first until he won accolades later in life?
Neil Armstrong was not about winning in pre-existing competitive standards. He was more self-actualized and lived by his own standards, which made every moment count.
Traditional success is a linear path to the top. While related, personal success is about coming full circle into your maturity.
What does this wondering and nerdy engineer have to say about human character?
“Custom dictates that the commencement speaker give a word of advice to the graduates. I feel a sense of discomfort in that responsibility as it requires more confidence than I possess to assume that my personal convictions deserve your attention.
The single observation I would offer for your consideration is that some things are beyond your control. You can lose your health to illness or accident, you can lose your wealth to all manner of unpredictable sources.
What is not easily stolen from you without your cooperation is your principles and your values. They are your most precious possessions and, if carefully selected and nurtured, will well serve you and your fellow man.
Society’s future will depend on a continuous improvement program on the human character. What will the future bring? I don’t know, but it will be exciting.”
— Neil Armstrong, 2005 USC Commencement Address
