Armstrong Neil - Neil Armstrong and Nat Love, Space Cowboys

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy. For anyone who had to read a history textbook I worked onthis book is my apology! One summer day a spaceship appeared in the sky above Texas. A teenage cowboy named Nat Love gazed up at the craft.

It looked like a giant metal spider, with smoke shooting from its feet. Love rubbed his eyes, sure he was dreaming. The year was 1869. Just to be clear, there were no spaceships in 1869. At least, there werent supposed to be. Nat Love looked up again.

The flying spider was still up there, rocking and tilting as it swooped down toward the plains. Nat was about to call out to the other cowboys, but saw there was no need. They were all staring up, pointing, mouths open in shock. Hundreds of startled longhorn cows started pawing the ground and sniffing loudly. Easy, Nat called to the cattle. Easy there, girls.

Its nothing but a well He had no idea what to tell them. The spaceship landed in the grass, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. The terrified cows took off running in all directions. Nat groaned. It would take half the day to round the herd up again. But first things first.

What was this thing that had just dropped out of the sky? Nat and the other cowboys rode toward the ship. It was about twenty feet high, with four long legs, covered in shiny metal. On one side was an American flag. But with too many stars. The flag Nat was used to seeing had thirty-seven stars. This one hadhe counted them up quicklyfifty.

A CLANK came from inside the spaceship. Then a loud WHOOSH of rushing air. Look out, boys! Nat yelled as a hatch on the side of the ship swung open. Someonesome kind of space alien, Nat figuredbacked out of the hatch. It was wearing a puffy white suit and a huge helmet. It climbed slowly down a ladder attached to one of the ships long legs.

As the alien hopped from the bottom of the ladder to the grass, it said: The alien stopped and looked around. Its face was covered by a gold-tinted visor, but Nat could tell it was surprised by what it was seeing. Cowboys on horses, that is, and grass to the horizon. Houston, it said. Weve got a problem. Looking for Houston, mister? Nat Love said.

Youre about three hundred miles off course. The alien looked right at Nat. Nat saw his own reflection in the aliens visor. Another alien popped its head out of the spaceship. It said, I told you, you should have let me fly. Im not sure that was the problem, the first alien said.

It reached up and started to pull off its helmet. The cowboys yanked their horses back. But inside the aliens helmet was a pretty normal-looking human. Late thirties, blue eyes, brown hair. Sorry to drop in like this, the man said. the second man said, hopping to the ground. the second man said, hopping to the ground.

Were American astronauts, Armstrong said. That meant nothing to the cowboys. Astronauts, you know, Buzz said, pointing up. We fly to space? The cowboys stared at the astronauts. The astronauts stared at the endless plains of grass. Let me take a wild guess, Neil Armstrong said.

This is not the moon.

Okay, guys! Ms. Maybee sang out to her fourth-grade class. Who thinks it sounds like fun to go to the moon? Id rather go to lunch, Doc said. Most of the kids laughed. Even Ms.

Maybee smiled a little. I hear you, Doc, she said, but first were going to do something even better. Were going to read about history! The kids didnt moan and groan, like they usually did when it was time to study history. Reading about space sounded pretty cool. Also, some very strange things had been happening in history lately. Ms.

Maybee held up her copy of the history textbook. Today well read about the first people to walk on the moon, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Kids opened their books. Doc turned to his stepsister, Abby. They both looked worried. So yesterday we read about the liftoff, Ms.

Maybee said. Neil, Buzz, and Michael Collins climbed into Apollo 11, which sat on top of a rocket nearly four hundred feet tall. The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, zooming the astronauts into space at over twenty thousand miles per hour. As each stage of the rocket burned up its fuel, it fell away, splashing into the ocean. And Apollo 11 began its three-day journey to the moon. The moons always moving, Maya said.

Its orbiting Earth. Right! Ms. Maybee said. So the engineers at NASAthats the agency in charge of our space programthey had to figure out exactly where the moon would be in three days. They had to hit a moving target from two hundred forty thousand miles away. Ms. Ms.

Maybee sighed. Seriously? No, its just, theres no gravity in space, Carter said. So how do you keep, um, you know, stuff, from floating around? Okay, I see your point, Ms. Maybee said. Well come back to that. Lets get to the most famous moment of allthe moon landing.

Abby, will you read for us please? Abby read aloud. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin crawled into the lunar module, called the Eagle. Michael Collins stayed behind in the command module, the Columbia. The lunar module separated from Columbia. With Armstrong at the controls, Eagle fired its engines and flew toward the surface of the moon. This part gives me goose bumps every time, Ms. Maybee said. Abby continued. Moments later, an alarm rang.

Warning lights flashed. The computers on Eagle were crashing! Armstrong did not panic. He had years of experience as a pilot and astronaut. He was confident he could still land the ship on the moon. But then, suddenly, the lunar module disappeared. Gone.

Just like that. No Neil. No Buzz. No Eagle. Abby stopped reading. Thats definitely not how I remember the story, Ms. Maybee said.

Whered they go? I meanspoiler alertNeil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did land on the moon. She looked up from her book.

Doc and Abby looked at each other. Docs dad had married Abbys mom about three years before. Doc and Abby spent so much time together, each could usually tell what the other was thinking. Which, in this case, was: