On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person ever to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment.

Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was honored and celebrated for his monumental achievement. He was also -- as James R. Hansen reveals in this fascinating and important authorized biography -- misunderstood. Armstrong's accomplishments as an engineer, a test pilot, and an astronaut have long been a matter of record, but Hansen's unprecedented access to private documents and unpublished sources and his interviews with more than 125 subjects (including more than fifty hours with Armstrong himself) yield this first in-depth analysis of an elusive American celebrity still renowned the world over.

In a riveting narrative filled with revelations, Hansen vividly re-creates Armstrong's career in flying, from his seventy-eight combat missions as a naval aviator flying over North Korea to his formative transatmospheric flights in the rocket-powered X-15 to his piloting Gemini VIII to the first-ever docking in space. These milestones made it seem, as Armstrong's mother, Viola, memorably put it, "as if from the very moment he was born -- farther back still -- that our son was somehow destined for the Apollo 11 mission."

For a pilot who cared more about flying to the Moon than he did about walking on it, Hansen asserts, Armstrong's storied vocation exacted a dear personal toll, paid in kind by his wife and children. For the thirty-six years since the Moon landing, rumors have swirled around Armstrong concerning his dreams of space travel, his religious beliefs, and his private life.

In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and as an individual. In First Man, the personal, technological, epic, and iconic blend to form the portrait of a great but reluctant hero who will forever be known as history's most famous space traveler.

【美】詹姆斯·漢森（James R. Hansen）

美國宇航局前曆史學傢，科學與技術史專傢，奧本大學榮譽曆史學教授。創作瞭12本航空航天史專著，兩次被提名普利策奬曆史類著作奬，榮獲美國國傢太空俱樂部授予的羅伯特·戈達德奬、美國空軍曆史基金會頒發的傑齣證書、技術史學會頒發的尤金·弗格森傑齣參考著作奬等。

1995年創作的《航天革命》被美國宇航局提名普利策奬，這是美國宇航局唯一一次提名一本書。另著有《起飛》《風與遠方》等曆史著作。

《登月第一人》是他的代錶作品，2018年被導演達米恩·查澤雷改編並拍成同名電影，榮獲金獅奬提名、奧斯卡金像奬最佳視覺效果等多項大奬。