Upon becoming the first man to step foot on the Moon, Neil Armstrong uttered perhaps the most famous line in American science history. And, well, he hasn’t said much since. Armstrong is notoriously hard to interview, and compared to fellow Apollo 11 member Buzz Aldrin’s regular appearances in the limelight, Armstrong has been something of a recluse. So it came as a big, wonderful surprise last night when it came out that he’d recently given a fresh half-hour interview discussing the mission and the future of space.But who did he give the interview to? Why, Alex Malley, chief executive of Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia, of course. Wait, what?In one of the most hilariously awesome understatements of a scoop ever, Malley explained how he scored an audience with Armstrong. "I know something not a lot of people know about Neil Armstrong – his dad was an auditor," he told News Limited.Really? That’s all it took? Holy hell.Apparently Malley posed the idea while Armstrong was in Australia last year helping the CPA celebrate its 125th anniversary. Who knew that Armstrong, the most famous astronaut ever, was such an accounting geek? Malley was obviously stoked to have such an inspirational figure to chat with. "For people who are leaders or aspire to be leaders, listening to Neil Armstrong is far better than doing any educational MBA programme that exists in the world today," he said.The interview itself is truly excellent, with Armstrong coming across as refreshingly candid and humble. (Not discussed: it was in Australia that the original moon footage was lost.) Armstrong confirmed just how big a gamble it was to shoot a group of men at the moon in the analog days."A month before the launch of Apollo 11, we decided we were confident enough we could try and attempt on a descent to the surface," Armstrong said. "I thought we had a 90% chance of getting back safely to Earth on that flight but only a 50-50 chance of making a landing on that first attempt. There are so many unknowns on that descent from lunar orbit down to the surface that had not been demonstrated yet by testing and there was a big chance that there was something in there we didn't understand properly and we had to abort and come back to Earth without landing."And while you take your GPS and Google Maps for granted, know that Apollo 11’s positioning systems weren’t exactly precise. During Armstrong and Aldrin’s descent in the Eagle module, the on-board computer decided to drop them on the side of a crater covered with boulders."Not a good place to land at all," Armstrong said. "I took it over manually and flew it like a helicopter out to the west direction, took it to a smoother area without so many rocks and found a level area and was able to get it down there before we ran out of fuel. There was something like 20 seconds of fuel left."That kind of makes you feel like a wimp, doesn’t it? Here we are in 2012 dreaming of self-driving cars and there’s Armstrong in 1968, wrangling a lunar lander in manual mode like a boss.Still, considering Armstrong’s long silence, the most interesting part of the interview for me was when he talked about NASA’s future."NASA has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve," he said. "It's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people."And yes, he didn’t hold back on taking the current deadlock in Washington to task."I'm substantially concerned about the policy directions of the space agency, which are directed by the administration," he said. "We have a situation in the states where the White House and the Congress are at odds over what the future direction should be and they're playing a game and NASA is the shuttlecock they're hitting back and forth as both sides try to get NASA on the proper path."Hey Washington: when the biggest rockstar in the space game comes out of silence to tell you you’re wrecking the future of innovation in our country, you need to take notice. Armstrong is right, too: NASA has long been one of the biggest reasons for kids and adults alike to get excited about science and technology. We’re still using the phrase “If we can put a man on the moon…” and that happened nearly 50 years ago. That’s not to discount the incredible achievements of the Apollo 11 crew; it stands as a testament that the space program was one of the most successful programs we could ever ask for. But it’s not all bad: now that we’ve entered the private space era, here’s hoping that the space industry can continue to inspire.Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.
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