Voices

One Small Step for Neil Armstrong: Addressing an Australian Accounting Group

Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, has conquered another new frontier: giving an interview to an Australian accounting organization.

Armstrong, who rarely grants interviews, gave a fascinating one to CPA Australia CEO Alex Malley for a four-part series on the organization’s Web site.

Malley explained in the first part of the series how he managed to score an interview with Armstrong. “I thought there was an element of risk in pinning my hopes that we’d get Neil Armstrong to do this,” he said. “So when we eventually caught up, it really was amazing. I knew something a lot of people didn’t know about Neil Armstrong and that is his dad was an auditor.”

Armstrong confirmed in the interview about his father’s background. His father Stephen took him to an air show as a youngster and flew with him. The young Armstrong became fascinated with the concept of flight. “My father was an auditor and he audited the books of county governments across the state where we lived, the state of Ohio,” said Armstrong. “So we were transient. My father moved the family along with him as he moved around the state while we were young. They were accommodating. They allowed me to pursue my own interests.”

Armstrong learned to fly a plane, became a combat pilot and test pilot, and eventually joined the space program, learning to become an astronaut.

In the video, he describes how he used his piloting skills to take manual control of the Eagle space capsule and steer it over large craters while the fuel was running low so he could land it safely on the surface of the moon. As for skeptics and conspiracy theorists who continue to insist that the Apollo astronauts never landed on the moon, Armstrong is secure in the knowledge that one day future astronauts will return to the moon and retrieve the camera and other equipment he left behind.

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