A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon died; technical difficulties experienced in the 1950s and 1960s; and the problems of traversing the Van Allen radiation belts. Sibrel proposes that the most condemning evidence is a piece of footage that was inadvertently sent to him by NASA when requesting photographs and video of the Apollo 11 mission. Sibrel believes that the footage shows Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins attempting to create the illusion that they were from Earth (or roughly halfway to the Moon) when, he claims, they were only in a low Earth orbit. Sibrel views this clip as "smoking gun" proof that
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong to that airport." The young Armstrong becomes a naval aviator. Management of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) takes an interest in Armstrong's combination of calmness and personal skill coupled with his above-average intellect. Although contrasting somewhat with many of his colleagues, the Apollo 11 crew winding up as "amiable strangers", he attracts widespread respect. The fact that Armstrong gets chosen to be "first down" on the lunar surface is a surprise, with astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. being expected to get priority. The mission itself proceeds spectacularly well, and Armstrong gives his famous line: "That's one small step