Editing Neil Armstrong (section)

==== Apollo 11 ====
{{Main|Apollo 11}}
[[File:Ap11-s69-31740.jpg|thumb|alt=Three astronauts in white space suits. They are holding their helmets. All are light-skinned. Armstrong is smiling widely and wears his hair parted to the right. Collins has dark hair and looks the most serious. Aldrin's hair is very short. Behind them is a large photo of the Moon.|The [[Apollo 11]] crew: Armstrong, [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]], and [[Buzz Aldrin]].]]
After Armstrong served as backup commander for Apollo{{nbsp}}8, Slayton offered him the post of commander of Apollo 11 on December 23, 1968, as Apollo{{nbsp}}8 orbited the Moon.{{sfn|Nelson|2009|p=17}} According to Armstrong's 2005 biography, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Commander Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, he was offering Armstrong the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the lunar module pilot, unofficially the lowest ranked member, and Armstrong could not justify placing Lovell, the commander of Gemini 12, in the number{{nbsp}}3 position of the crew.{{sfn|Hansen|2005|p=338}} The crew of Apollo 11 was assigned on January 9, 1969, as Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, with Lovell, Anders, and [[Fred Haise]] as the backup crew.{{sfn|Collins|2001|pp=312–313}}

According to [[Chris Kraft]], a March 1969 meeting among Slayton, George Low, [[Bob Gilruth]], and Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon, in part because NASA management saw him as a person who did not have a large ego. A press conference on April 14, 1969, gave the design of the LM cabin as the reason for Armstrong's being first; the hatch opened inwards and to the right, making it difficult for the LM pilot, on the right-hand side, to exit first. At the time of their meeting, the four men did not know about the hatch consideration. The first knowledge of the meeting outside the small group came when Kraft wrote his book.{{sfn|Kraft|2001|pp=323–324}}{{sfn|Hansen|2005|pp=365–373}} Methods of circumventing this difficulty existed, but it is not known if these were considered at the time. Slayton added, "Secondly, just on a pure protocol basis, I figured the commander ought to be the first guy out{{nbsp}}... I changed it as soon as I found they had the time line that showed that. Bob Gilruth approved my decision."{{sfn|Cortright|1975|p=160}}