Armstrong, along with Buzz Aldrin and Fred Haise Jr., was named
to the backup crew for Apollo 9, the third manned test of the
new moonship. Soon Apollo 9 was swapped with Apollo 8 -- and
Apollo 8 was then sent to take astronauts around the moon. The
mission was a success. While it was still in progress, chief
astronaut Deke Slayton took Armstrong aside and told him that
he, Aldrin and Mike Collins would fly Apollo 11. So it was
happenstance that made Neil Armstrong one of the most famous
names of the 20th century. If the order of flights had been
different, or if Apollo 9 or 10 had run into trouble, Apollo 11
might very well have been a practice run for the first lunar
landing. But by May 1969 the rehearsals had gone well and Apollo
11 was next up. Reporters swirled around Armstrong. More than a
million people crowded the Florida coast to see the liftoff. "I
think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the
human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep
inner soul," Armstrong sai