by Murrel Bland
“First Man,” a movie about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. Directed by Damien Chazelle. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer; 141 minutes as seen at Legends 14 Theaters.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the first man on the moon. The movie does an excellent job of telling the personal details of what it meant to be an astronaut.
Neil Alden Armstrong was born on Aug. 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He was a U.S. Navy pilot during the Korean War. While flying a Grumman F9F aircraft in 1951, he was hit by anti-aircraft fire and had to bail out. After the war, he completed work on his degree at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. He became a test pilot in 1955 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, flying the X-15 among other aircraft.
The movie, filmed in semi-documentary fashion, traces Armstrong’s life from 1961 until the landing on the moon July 20, 1969. Armstrong was the commander of the Gemini 8 space capsule in March of 1966, which was a preliminary venture to the moon shot. He was the first civilian to fly in space.
Armstrong and astronaut David Scott performed the first docking of two spacecraft. That mission is well documented in the film, showing a wild ride in space; the mission had to be aborted after Armstrong was forced to use some of his reentry fuel to prevent a dangerous spin caused by an equipment malfunction.
Ryan Gosling does an excellent job of portraying Armstrong. The film shows the personal sacrifice that his family endured. His son was disappointed that his father would miss his swimming meet. The family is concerned that Armstrong might not come back from space. Claire Foy, a British actress, does an equally good job of portraying the astronaut’s wife, Janet. She and another astronaut’s wife talk about how life would be simpler if they had been married to dentists.
The highlight of the film comes when Armstrong sets foot on the moon and says, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press.