Astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11. Picture: File Source: Supplied
- CPA Australia scores Armstrong interview�
- First 15-minute spot appears today�
- Happy to discuss hoax theories�
IT took him 30 years to agree to a television interview.
And since then, you could count his meaningful appearances on half a hand.
The people who scored the interview say it's possible he'll never be interviewed again.
So how did an Australian company get to shoot the breeze in a 40-minute one-on-one with one of the most in-demand, yet seldom heard heroes of modern history, Neil Armstrong?
And not just any company - accounting body CPA Australia.
The first in the four-part series - Space Race - went to air online today at The Bottom Line, hosted by evoTV.
It's introduced by CPA Australia CEO Alex Malley, who explains that "he knew something that a lot of people didn't know about Neil Armstrong".
"His dad was an auditor."
Watch the first 15-minute interview with Neil Armstrong at The Bottom Line
Described as "an intimate look into what shapes, defines and drives our most influential leaders and thinkers", it's as much a tribute to Mr Malley's desire to make it happen as it is to the man who stopped the world back in 1969.
In an admission that will have every living journalist scoff in disbelief, Mr Malley says he basically flew to the US, had lunch with Commander Armstrong, and "talked him into it".
"I have an inherent view that every person that evades the world is a person first," Mr Malley told news.com.au
"When I raised the issue of approaching Neil and speaking with him, it became immediately clear how many people thought it couldn't be done.
"I very much feel my form of leadership is to show people you can do things. CPA Australia talking to Neil Armstrong, I think should be a clear message that anyone to do it."
Cmdr Armstrong made the series late last year when he was in Australia helping CPA Australia prep its 125th year celebrations.
The first episode sees him looking relaxed and happy to chat about�his love for flight, from his first airshow at two to his determination to get a pilot's licence at 15.
Later in the series, Mr Malley is even comfortable enough to raise the Apollo 11 conspiracy theories.
"We discuss the naysayers and about how it never happened and he responds wonderfully to that," Mr Malley said.
"The most compelling thing I felt about him was his humility - his committment to his team, his deference to everyone except himself, his respect for the Russians - I found that quite extraordinary."
Mr Malley said a highlight was when Cmdr Armstrong talks to footage that aligns Google moon footage alongside actual footage from the window of Apollo 11.
"He effectively shows you landing of the craft," Mr Malley said. "He got to see his own landing again with the clarity of modern technology."
The next three episodes will be aired weekly at evoTV from today.
Next week's episode covers the deaths of Armstrong's Apollo 1 colleagues and how he was given just a month to prepare for his Apollo 11 moonwalk.
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