Neil Armstrong

“Barbree offers an intimate portrait of a man grateful to have spent his life doing what he loved. . . . includes many never-before-seen photos.” —Booklist

Here for the first time is the definitive story of Neil Armstrong's life of flight he shared for five decades with a trusted friend—Jay Barbree.

Working from fifty years of conversations he had with Neil, from notes, interviews, NASA spaceflight transcripts, and remembrances of those Armstrong trusted, Barbree tells the inside story of Neil Armstrong from the time he flew combat missions in the Korean War and then flew a rocket plane called the X-15 to the edge of space, to when he saved his Gemini 8 by flying the first emergency return from Earth orbit and then flew Apollo-Eleven to the moon's Sea of Tranquility. The book is full of never-before-seen photos and personal details written down for the first time, including what Armstrong really felt when he took that first step on the moon, what life in NASA was like, his relationships with the other astronauts, and what he felt the future of space exploration should be.

As the only reporter to have covered all 166 American astronaut flights and moon landing, Barbree brings us the most accurate account of his friend's life of flight.

“Much of Barbree's writing has a “you are there” immediacy, because he was present for many of the book's key events. . . . He is at his best when describing the visceral thrill of rocket flight, the lifeless majesty of the moon, and the visual splendor of Earth from space.” -The Washington Post

“Barbree's book reminds readers of all that led up to that first step.” -Associated Press