As Commander of the entire mission and of the Lunar Excursion Module, 'Eagle,' Armstrong was required to be cool under pressure in a situation where "getting the job done" was the only acceptable outcome.

Interestingly, Armstrong only ever flew two space missions, both as a civilian - Gemini 8 in 1966 where, as commander, he performed the first ever manned docking of two space craft and in 1969, as the commander of the Apollo 11 mission.  He has logged a total of a little over 8.5 days in space.

Probably most famous for his two pre-prepared lines, "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed," and the much maligned "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (listen to the recording people, the "a man" is definitely there, albeit very brief) Armstrong is widely regarded as a man of few words.

Following his official duties, Armstrong rather quickly retired from NASA to become Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

Very much the personal person, Armstrong has rarely shared his thoughts on the mission, however, on a recent tour to Australia he agreed to a long interview with CPA Australia's CEO Alex Malley.  This is presented in four parts on the CPA web site.

In the first Part, Armstrong discusses his times in the Korean conflict and his test pilot career.  The episode ends with President John F. Kennedy's exhortion to successfully go to the moon and return before the end of the decade, which Armstrong describes, "this is a new ocean, and we must sail upon it."

The next three episodes will be released weekly during May 2012; part 2 deals with the launch, part 3 the landing and part 4 the aftermath.

Enjoy.