Kelly

1y

ENFP

This is interesting so I actually went and looked it up. Apparently Buzz did a Reddit AMA ("ask me anthing" post) in 2014 and answered this question. Here's what I could find: "Most people assume that NASA always planned for Armstrong to be the first person to step out onto the moon because of his seniority. Armstrong was commander of Apollo 11 and Aldrin was the lunar module pilot. Michael Collins stayed behind in lunar orbit as command module pilot. "Typically the junior person — Aldrin in this case — would step outside so that the more senior person — Armstrong — would be left safely behind the controls and in a better position to take action in an emergency. "In all previous missions, if someone, a crew member, was to spacewalk, it was always the junior person, not the space commander who would stay inside," Aldrin wrote. "At least one team at NASA thought the junior person should go out first, Aldrin wrote, "but many people felt the great symbology of the commander [taking that responsibility]." "So Armstrong climbed down the ladder onto the moon's surface, shortly followed by his now-famous "one small step" line. "The decision that was made was absolutely correct as far as who went out first, symbolically," Aldrin wrote in his 2014 AMA. Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-was-neil-armstrong-the-first-person-on-the-moon-2014-7