Neil Armstrong explains his famous Moonwalk of Apollo 11 (SPACE.com)

Astronauts of Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong can be notoriously private, but the first man on the moon has recently concluded a journalist to share some new details about its famous not on the moon with fellow Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 1969.

It all started with a blog that has been published on Tuesday (7 December) on the website of the National Public Radio (NPR). Post reviewed Armstrong and aldrin's celebrated the first on the moon on July 20, 1969 and asked why the first exploration of the lunar surface covered a small distance.

Robert Krulwich of NPR has looked at a map of NASA which marks all places on the surface of the Moon was visited by Armstrong and Aldrin. He then superimposed this map on a field and regulation soccer baseball diamond.

In so doing, Krulwich determined the pitch on the historic moon took the astronauts less than a hundred metres from his Lunar Lander. Or, in the perspective of a baseball field "walking longer, more daring taken Armstrong on as Joe DiMaggio used for each ? plate on jogging round mid-center field."

The next day, Krulwich posted a follow-up, which featured a response by email Neil Armstrong himself.

In its reply, Armstrong, who was the Commander of the Apollo 11 flight, explained the reasons for a small distance, which includes extremely temperatures on the lunar surface, uncertainties, how combinations of astronauts with their interiors water-cooled could delay and requirements of the NASA, the two astronauts experience in front of a camera fixed.

Armstrong wrote: "we do have not all data to tell us how long in our backpacks small water tank is sufficient. "NASA officials limited our time working surface to 2 and 3/4 hours on this first exploration surface to ensure that expire not hyperthermia.". After return and repressurizing the lunar module, we were able to drain and measure water remains in the bags back to confirm the predicted. »

Armstrong said that if he had more free time, he and Aldrin wanted to explore further the lunar surface.

"It's true that we would have liked to stay on the surface long and busy later lunar module and the TV camera," he wrote. "But we had a number of experiments to install, to document and collect samples and take photographs." The time available has been entirely allocated and we have worked diligently to complete assigned tasks.

Armstrong goes on to say later flights Apollo were able to cover more ground thanks to the addition of the Lunar rovers, but there is still a vast rest world to discover.

Armstrong said "Americans visited and reviewed 6 locations on Luna, varies in size commuter lot in a small township, "Leaving more than 14 million kilometres square yet to explore".