For Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, the truly emotional moment came when the lunar module touched down. "That was human contact with the moon, the landing," he told Chaikin. "It was at the time when we landed that we were there, we were in the lunar environment, the lunar gravity. That, in my view was the... emotional high. And the business of getting down the ladder to me was much less significant."