First Man True Story
The Wild, Tragic, and True Events Behind Damien Chazelle's First Man
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Before the moon landing, tragedy would strike on Jan. 27, 1967, during a preflight test for Apollo 1, which was to be the first Apollo-manned mission to the moon. The crew, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, all died when a fire spread through the command module of the space vehicle.
Armstrong himself would narrowly escape death a year later. On his 22nd test flight for Apollo 9, the astronaut lost control, ejecting safely by parachute at 200 feet in the air before the vehicle crashed and burned.
In July 1969, the moon landing mission went off without a hitch. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would pilot Apollo 11 to the moon, where they spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft as Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. A year later, Armstrong retired from NASA. This would be his last mission into space, but its impact would leave a mark on his career and the legacy of humankind.