Thomas Mallon’s Moon Walker looks at Armstrong’s moon landing — which wasn’t guaranteed to work:
The Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous option had been selected because of its relative cheapness and, it was hoped, Soviet-beating speed of development. The method’s drawback, as Hansen notes, was the “specter of dead astronauts sailing around the Moon” in the event of mission failure; Earth-Orbit Rendezvous, which was more expensive, would allow for their retrieval if not their rescue.
Armstrong never really got along with his partner on the moon walk, Buzz Aldrin:
The two astronauts managed to “pat each other on the shoulder” when the L.M. touched down, but once they were outside Aldrin didn’t take any real pictures of the mission’s leader. The only decent still photograph of Armstrong on the moon was taken by Armstrong himself: he appears as a reflection in Aldrin’s visor.