Promising The Moon The women behind Neil, Mike & Buzz

Why They Didn’t Fear For Their Spacemen.

In our August 4, 1969 issue, the Weekly ran a story by Janet Chusmir that featured exclusive interviews with the wives of Apollo 11’s history-making astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

To mark 50 years since the historic moon landing, here is an edited extract of what Jan Armstrong, Pat Collins and Joan Aldrin thought about their husbands’ mission!

JAN ARMSTRONG

“To Jan Armstrong, the most important thing in life is for a person to be content with his work. On July 16, her husband, civilian astronaut Neil, went to work. He blasted off into space in Apollo 11, and became the first man to step on the surface of the moon on July 20.

She didn’t think of telling him not to; that’s what he always wanted to do. ‘Because I understand his love for his work, I have never doubted his capabilities, nor feared his flight,’ she says. ‘Certainly, he must occasionally face danger, but so do many husbands, and all of us, as wives, have the same responsibilities.’

If Jan had any fears, any doubts, any weaknesses, they didn’t show. She looked pert and relaxed when I visited her on a hot Houston night while she was serving dinner to their sons, Ricky (12) and Mark (6). Tall, dark-haired and dark-eyed, she is wholesome looking, but she’s a woman who lets you know where you stand and who looks life square in the eye.

‘There are no reservations in my mind,’ she says. Just as there were none when she and Neil were married in 1956. ‘I felt then that Neil could handle any situation,’ she says.