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It's a Good Life
The Best Interview of My Life with Neil Armstrong #164
Ep. 164
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“You want to make a mark - you’d like to leave the world a little better than when you came. That’s my goal.” – Neil Armstrong
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. In this very special episode, a live recording from a 2002 Buffini & Company MasterMind Summit, Brian interviews world-famous astronaut Neil Armstrong. By turns deeply moving, profound and hilarious, this rare interview is an extraordinary insight into the life and mindset of the first man to walk on the moon.
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Inspirational quotes from today’s podcast:
On the reasons for the success of the lunar program:
“We loved our work.” – Neil Armstrong
“Communication was substantially responsible for our success.” – Neil Armstrong
“We all depend on other people to some extent for our successes...It’s also true that you can’t depend on teamwork to do everything.” – Neil Armstrong
“Some things, when it gets down to it, you have to do yourself.” – Neil Armstrong
“You don’t want to be the weak link in the chain.” – Neil Armstrong
On the first stage of the flight:
“It was like going on a very bad railroad track that rattles in all three directions!” – Neil Armstrong
On the second stage of the flight:
“It was so smooth and so quiet...we couldn’t even be sure that the engine was running.” – Neil Armstrong
On the sights from Apollo 11:
“Every sight in space is spectacular.” – Neil Armstrong
“I hope technology will allow more and more people to go and see those sights.” – Neil Armstrong
“Our planet is a beautiful place, particularly when you see it from a distance... it’s a magnificent sight.” – Neil Armstrong
On conspiracy theories:
“The world loves conspiracies. Conspiracy theories are always very popular.” – Neil Armstrong
“The only thing harder to do than fly to the moon would have been fake it!” – Neil Armstrong
On planet earth:
“The striking part to me is how little we know about it yet...We’ve only explored a teeny tiny fraction of this place. There’s a lot more questions than there are answers.” – Neil Armstrong
On the space program goal:
“The nice thing about that goal was that it was so simple and understandable: send a man to the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade.” – Neil Armstrong
“It’s a great advantage when goals can be stated in such a way that they’re not ambiguous and you know exactly what it is that you’re trying to do.” – Neil Armstrong
On personal goals:
“You want to make a mark - you’d like to leave the world a little better than when you came. That’s my goal.” – Neil Armstrong
“Every person that’s been into space has thought of the fragility of our planet and how important it was to find ways to protect it.” – Neil Armstrong
“My great hope is that this 21st century will be the century in which 1. We really start to understand our own planet and 2. We really start to understand ourselves.” – Neil Armstrong
On his famous line, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”:
“It was kind of a simple statement, just stepping off, and it seemed right.” – Neil Armstrong
Mentioned in this episode:
Armstrong documentary
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