A former curator of aeronautics at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has written the only authorized biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong.
James R. Hansen, who was also a NASA historian, said it was his students at Auburn University who urged him to continue to seek the cooperation of the man who first stepped on the moon to participate in the biography after he initially refused, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Friday.
"He offered comments to correct facts and to make sure I got technical things explained as clearly as possible," Hansen told the Enquirer. "But he did not try to change any interpretations or analysis."
The death of 2-year-old Karen Armstrong from a brain tumor might have had a bearing in Armstrong's decision to throw his name into astronaut selection, Hansen said.
In the many books written about the 75-year-old former astronaut, it's been said that Armstrong had been thinking of going to the moon since he was a boy, but Hansen said that's not true.
"Neil was all about airplanes," he said.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
Related stories:
Graduate student discovers, names bacterium linked to psyllid yellows
To make a discovery and get to name it is just about every scientist's dream. For one graduate student at UC Riverside that dream already has come true.
Google 'gadgets' called gateways for hackers
Hackers turned computer security specialists accuse Google of setting users up for online disasters by letting them personalize home pages with applications that could be tainted.
NASA data show some African drought linked to warmer Indian Ocean
A new study, co-funded by NASA, has identified a link between a warming Indian Ocean and less rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. Computer models and observations show a decline in rainfall, with implications for the region's food security.
Nanotechnology: Learning from past mistakes
A new expert analysis in
Nature Nanotechnology questions whether industry, government and scientists are successfully applying lessons learned from past technologies to ensure the safe and responsible development of emerging nanotechnologies.
Seeing the universe through gamma-ray eyes
The scientists have stopped holding their breath. Three weeks after the launch of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), researchers from Stanford University, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and elsewhere have shaken awake the scientific instruments aboard their $690 million satellite, 350 miles above Earth, for the first time. And everything's working.
Bird watchers, space technology come together in Montana State University study
Almost every June for 30 years, Terry McEneaney drove around Yellowstone National Park and listed every bird he heard along three routes. Park ornithologist at the time, he would drive to a designated spot and identify the birds there. Then he'd drive another half mile, repeat the process and continue until he had stopped 50 times in 24.5 miles for the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Trying to finish before the birds quit singing, he'd ignore the scenery as best he could and try not to let the traffic bother him.
Satellites illuminate pollution's influence on clouds
Clouds have typically posed a problem to scientists using satellites to observe the lowest part of the atmosphere, where humans live and breathe, because they block the satellite's ability to capture a clear, unobstructed view of Earth's surface. It turns out, however, that these "obstructions" are worth a closer look, as clouds and their characteristics actually serve a valuable role in Earth's climate. That closer look is now available by satellites comprising the Afternoon Constellation, or A-Train.
Seed dispersal in mauritius -- dead as a dodo?
Walking through the last rainforests on the volcanic island of Mauritius, located some 800 km east of Madagascar, one is surrounded by ghosts. Since human colonisation in the 17th century, the island has lost most of its unique animals. The litany includes the famous flightless dodo, giant tortoises, parrots, pigeons, fruitbats, and giant lizards. It is comparatively easy to notice the loss of a species, but much more difficult to realise how many interactions have been lost as a result.