For a brief period in the American saga , the astronaut was the man of the moment . No profession dominate as much awe and admiration . Widely regarded as the personification of all that was best in the country , the first spaceman were blanketed with the adulation commonly accorded star quarterbacks , war heroes , and charismatic flick stars . Yet this was never part of NASA ’s agenda .
In fact , there were concerted former efforts to avoid such famous person . However , the men take to be the first Americans in space were raised in a culture that fear the stoic flyer , and many saw themselves as the latest members of that prime ghostly brotherhood .
celebrate in headlines , fable , and film , the leather - jacketed pilot personified a new aristocracy during the first half of the twentieth century : a young adventurer whose courage and daring bridged Continent and cultivation . Prior to World War I , starter aviators and their early airplanes were frequently depicted on the natural covering of mass - circulation magazine and on advertising posters throughout Europe . Shortly after hostilities commenced in 1914 , nationalistic publications enrapture the public with bring up tales about the most decorated pilots and their bravery in the sky , feats far dispatch from the mechanized horror in the trench below . During the interwar years , escapade cartridge clip and movie theater screen often featured wild-eyed portrayal of the unfrequented fighter pilot , silk scarf menstruate in the wind , engaging his fellow knights of the air in airy combat in the skies over France , while overhead across America , former military pilot light risk their lives by supporting themselves as barnstormers and fly the first airmail routes .
Into this post - war culture rebel aviation ’s first superstar , Charles A. Lindbergh , the story of whose solo transatlantic journeying was cognize to every schoolboy in America during the decennium that followed . The media attention that transformed Lindbergh from a unidentified pilot film from the Midwest into the most famous living mortal on the planet congeal the modelling — and offered a exemplary word of advice — for the American press ’s handling of the astronauts a poop - one C afterward .
The initial mathematical group of seven astronauts gravel a sudden glimpse of their new public persona on April 9 , 1959 , when they were first introduced to the world press in a crowded room in the Dolley Madison House in Washington D.C. The bit when the Mercury Seven first faced a barrage of clicking photographic camera and field unexpected question from the Washington press corps is memorably recapture in a primal view in Tom Wolfe ’s The Right Stuff . The closet ’s insatiable rarity speculate the land ’s fascination and hungriness for hoagy and , in John Glenn , many journalists question if NASA had chance the Lindbergh of the blank years .
“ NASA was n’t out to market place or create heroes , ” recalled Gemini and Apollo veteran Gene Cernan , who was introduce to the public as member of the third chemical group of astronauts in 1963 . “ The hero condition was create by the nature of what we did , and by the public ’s response to what we were doing . ” Yet , as Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham wrote a few years after his mission , “ In the glory years of manned space flight of stairs , what the country kept forget was that we were hoi polloi . The only thing we did not see ourselves as was heroes . . . that was something the world craved , and the medium had created — not that we did n’t enjoy the myth , we just never in full understood it . ”
ab initio limn as both warrior in the fight to dominate outer space and modern - day exemplars of the idealized trait of the American pioneering spirit , the first astronauts quickly realized that their public images were largely a origination hurtle upon them by an adoring press . This public portrait was further honed and developed as a final result of the exclusive Life magazine profile orchestrated — and , indeed , molded — by NASA ’s Public Affairs Office . At the same time , NASA tried to avoid making any one astronaut dwarf his companion . There was a concerted effort to define them as members of a merged squad of pilot and technician . Indeed , Leo Braudy in his substantive chronicle of celebrity , suggest that NASA ’s insistence on a heroic squad of astronaut and technicians was directly informed by knowledge of the disastrous political fate of Lindbergh , who in his extremely public role as a private citizen urged accommodation with Hitler ’s Germany on the eve of World War II .
As the infinite race progressed , and NASA executed a number of “ distance first ” during the Gemini program , the names of the second and third chemical group of astronauts became nearly as well known . As puzzling as it was for the astronauts , peculiarly the new members of the team , it was part of the chore — an occupational hazard that would follow them the rest of their biography . “ No one could have predicted the public enchantment with astronauts from the first unveiling of the Mercury Seven in 1959 , through undertaking Apollo , ” wrote Roger D. Launius , a NASA Historian and Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Senior Curator for Human Spaceflight . “ The spaceman as a celebrity and what that has think of in American life never dawned on anyone before . To the surprisal and ultimate consternation of some NASA leader , they immediately became interior heroes and leading symbolisation of the fledgling space curriculum . ”
Wearing the mantle of instant celebrities — even if they had n’t yet flown in place — the astronauts were often confronted by situations in which well - wishers desire an John Hancock or a exposure or a handshake . Mindful of their home as prescribed illustration of NASA and the American place program , they invariably hear to accommodate
the public . “ You had to give them a little something — you had to examine , ” read Cernan . “ You could n’t turn over your back and take the air off . Everything depended on how you related to people . ” But sometimes the effort resulted in foresighted pipeline and huge crowds , which easily destroy the best of organized schedules of the Public Affairs Office . As the highest - visibility figures in a space program being sold to the populace , the astronauts could not open to be go out in a negative light or get a report for rudeness . Therefore , the Public Affairs officer assign to an cosmonaut was often required to play hitch . He could put a terminal point on the available time an astronaut had to support and commix , informing the gang that he had only five , ten , or fifteen minutes left — and thereby giving the hoagy a graceful way out . “ They could hustle you in and out sometimes , ” Cernan recalled . “ Sometimes you ’d get people start to form a business for John Hancock — even before you had flown a mission — like a rookie baseball card kind of thing . And so , the Public Affairs Office guy would hustle you through . ”
During the early days of the man space program , Shorty Powers and NASA ’s Public Affairs Office carefully craft the prototype of the first Mercury astronauts , mainly through the Life / World Book contract bridge . But by the metre the Gemini computer programme was underway during the mid-1960s , a change had occurred . The military control over immediate selective information and the cosmonaut ’ personal stories during the Mercury era vanish with Powers ’s exit in 1963 . Even though the Life / World Book contracts were still active , the increase influence of Julian Scheer and Paul Haney signaled a pronounced difference in Public Affairs management , and with it few restrictions on data given to the media . During Mercury and some early Gemini missionary post , mission audio recording transcript were commonly edited and clean for language and clarity . In line , Apollo was provided to the world unedited and gauche . As Cernan described it , “ We did n’t doctor up the movie , did n’t edit anything out . What was said , was said . ”
The instant and uncensored loss of information to the insistency pose severe limitation on anyone attempt to carefully craft a public paradigm . And for the astronauts bring under nerve-wracking conditions , in a new ballistic capsule and in situations that were both unscripted and often prone to unforeseen challenge , the Apollo broadcast revealed how greatly things had modify as ahead of time as the first man mission . During the Apollo 7 flying in October 1968 , the world get word the cranky and cantankerous articulation of seasoned astronaut Wally Schirra overlook his last mission . He battled not only a head inhuman and a flight plan he thought was littered with too many extra experimentation and frivolous activities , but he also battle openly with his colleagues down at Mission Control . The result was damage , not only to his image but also to his work party in the eyes of the medium and NASA ’s management . “ The heavy workload at the outset of the mission , meld with his uncomfortableness , made Wally more choleric by the twenty-four hour period , ” write Cunningham in his 1977 memoir . “ He did n’t miss an opportunity to breeze through Mission Control to the wall . Donn and I were amazed at the patience of those in the command center with some of the outburst that came their way . On the flat coat , they were well cognizant that every intelligence of the air - to - soil communications was being fed directly to the press mall , a fact of which we had not been informed . So Wally ’s bad temper was making big news back home . ” By piercing the veil on the earlier range of the astronaut as unagitated , cool , fun - know explorer , Schirra made the mistake of reminding everyone that he was n’t superhuman .
Even when the spaceman were not performing their job before the eyes and ear of human beings ’s media , they were still in the limelight . “ As spaceman , we were usually the biggest dude in the crowd , ” wrote Cunningham . “ And frequently the only ones who could n’t really pay off their own way . ” There were unremitting invitations wherever they trip from businessmen , politician , entertainers , and average citizens — to hang parties , open houses , bootleg - tie function , and the like . While the astronauts could not possibly accept all the invitations , they sure accepted a good number of them . “ In a Byzantine fashion , NASA encouraged our socializing . We were mixing with the residential district and selling the programme . ” But the invitations usually had a haul — a favour , or the opportunity to use the astronaut ’s celebrity to the benefit of the evening ’s helper . Sometimes it was n’t open , but often it was , especially in the epicenters of Houston and the Cape . “ There was the clock time we and the Schirras were assist a concert at the Houston Music Theater — on passes , ” Cunningham call back . “ We were introduced just before the show started and as we sit down , Wally smiled and whisper , ‘ We just pay for our tag . ' ”
In retrospect , it may seem astonishing that access to the astronauts — among the biggest celebrities of the ’ LX and former ’ 70s — reflected a bifurcated man : there was unfettered admission down at the Cape or in Houston at social event , on the street or in a bar , while , at the same clock time , NASA Public Affairs and the Astronaut Office allowed only extremely limited approach for official consultation requests , especially in conjunction with a delegacy . “ Access to the astronauts before a delegation was extremely restrain due to their training , ” vet NASA Public Affairs police officer Doug Ward recalled . “ At that meter , media interactions were unremarkably during press conferences at the Manned Spacecraft Center and the Cape . Only a very select few might get a one - on - one interview . ”
seasoned reporters were cognisant of the intense hours of education and preparation demanded of the astronauts in the weeks leading up to a commission , and they would n’t even bother quest an consultation . But for the one C — sometimes thousands — of newsperson on a first trip to cover a mission , there was often bitter dashing hopes . Ward remembers that the Public Affairs Office would always have to turn them down . “ These guys would get a stricken look and say , ‘ Well I sold this to my editor program on the effrontery that I was going to get an astronaut interview . ' ” It just was n’t possible . But that did n’t stop some of the newsman . “ I remember , before Apollo 11 we had a guy come in from South America . He was just heroic and when he found out he could n’t get access code to the astronauts , he staked out their homes . We set about a report from the local sheriff that he ’d been turned in . He climbed up a tree adjacent to one of the spaceman ’s houses and was seek to take characterization through the windowpane . And John McLeish from our situation had to speak to the sheriff and get the guy cable out of slammer . Although there were rare function like that , the regulars who address this affair as a full - time obligation did n’t make those kind of mistakes . ”
Bill Larson , of ABC Radio and a old hand of local Florida reporting , described that period in his career as a lifestyle . “ Back then you could walk into one of the restaurants or bars or whatever , and the chances were you would run into one or two of the astronauts . You could sit and verbalize , have a beer . And it was that variety of a spirit amongst the people here ; the astronauts were like members of the household . ” Gene Cernan agreed . “ I had a lot of good champion in the press . We invited them into our mansion under the condition that , once they ’re in our household , we have a beer or a scotch and soda , you allow the business outside . ”
Naturally , that also made it hard for journalist near to the spaceman to report on the personal side of their lives — the Life / World Book contract aside . “ We got away with things that other people would n’t get off with , whether it was speeding or go places we could n’t otherwise afford , ” Cunningham recalled . “ One affair after another come our way and we did n’t take the high route needfully . We guide advantage of a lot of those things . You could n’t go anyplace without all the women in the place looking at you like , all of a sudden , you were Superman . It was an artificial sort of cosmos because , during those days , we were the celebrities ’ celebrity . ”
The reporters who covered the astronauts were n’t unsighted to what was go on . Like their counterparts in Washington , D.C. , they chose not to report it . There was an discernment among the establishment press of that sentence to respect the limit between personal lives and professional life . “ Of course I jazz about some very shaky marriage ceremony , some womanizing , some drinking , and I never describe it , ” recalled Dora Jane Hamblin , one of the Life cartridge clip reporters . “ The guys would n’t have let me , and neither would NASA . It was common noesis that several marriages hung together only because the men were afraid NASA would disapprove of divorcement and take them off flights . ”
While Life would n’t report these stories , it did n’t stand for that more arresting outlets would n’t . The rumor mill was active and rearing . The astronauts , as renown , were expose to all the temptation of modern day celebrity : groupies , hanger - on , angry party , and handshake business proposition . Celebrity gossip magazine , such as Confidential , commit newsperson to the Cape looking for stories , and some hearsay could n’t escape the ears of the local Florida and Houston gossip columnists . But the mainstream press tend to fend off these stories . They were charge to covering the big account and remained as focussed on the destination of reaching the Moon as NASA and the spaceman .
During the ’ 60s and other ’ 70 , astro - gossip remained on the fringe . “ closely all [ of the medium coverage ] had us squarely on the side of God , country , and family , ” wrote Buzz Aldrin in 1973 . “ To read those accounts was to believe we were the most simon - pure guys there had ever been . This just was not so . We all went to church when we could , but we also celebrate some pretty fantastic nights . ” In his memoir cover the same era , Walt Cunningham tally , “ What was n’t realized at the time was the particular pedestal on which the media had place us . In the years ahead they would impart to protect our reputation in a manner unremarkably reserved only for national political anatomy . ”
“ In those early day , the PR people and the news hoi polloi were very close and worked together , ” added Larson . “ Everybody was so tight knit on one desire : to get to the Moon . It was an amazing feeling . I ’ve never been anywhere before or since with that mother wit of comradeship and a opinion in that you were necessitate in the bang-up geographic expedition in the account of mankind . It was a cooperative effort on everybody ’s part . ”Mark Bloom , veteran newsperson for the New York Daily News and Reuters , coincide . “ It was a large adventure story . We wanted them to make it . I wanted them to make it . We were very well-chosen that they made it . But they were n’t double-dyed . We countenance a raft of the warts go by — I did . I let a flock of the wart go by . ”
Armstrong and NASA management were keenly aware of what had befallen Charles Lindbergh in the years after his 1927 flight — the tragic kidnapping and death of his son , and the aviator ’s controversial statements on the eve of World War II — and it has been widely report that Lindbergh ’s story regulate Armstrong ’s decisiveness to maintain a low public profile . In fact , Armstrong and Lindbergh , two shy Midwesterners with much in common in accession to their sudden fame , struck up a friendship short after the replication of Apollo 11 and became active pen chum .
Equally aware of Lindbergh ’s biography were the American diary keeper who had covered Armstrong ’s years at NASA . Their determination to respect the seclusion of “ The First Man , ” was continued by their successor during the last four decades of Armstrong ’s aliveness . The minor number of news item published about Armstrong ’s last forty days was both a reflection of Lindbergh ’s shadow on the history of celebrity and a lasting testament to the unequaled James Bond that constitute between the press and the cosmonaut during the Apollo era .
market the moonshine : The merchandising of the Apollo Lunar Programis useable on Amazon starting March 27 , 2014 .
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