When Neil Armstrong visited India, & Bobby Deol facts | #140

Meet the Curry King 🍲👉

Jan 28, 2023

Hello friends,

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, turned 93 in 2023. He decided to celebrate the special occasion by marrying for the 4th time. We wish the couple a happy married life. This got us thinking about the space race, and how Neil Armstrong achieved immortality. Thus, this week’s newsletter is dedicated to the first man on the moon.

Things we learnt this week 🤓

The Apollo mission wasn’t Neil Armstrong’s first foray into space. He was the first American civilian in space aboard the Gemini 8. The Gemini mission was a complicated mission which aimed to dock between 2 spacecrafts. However, there was a problem with the docking and Armstrong had to abort the mission and make a swift entry back to earth. If you work for NASA and do not go to space, are you an Astro-not?
Armstrong (right) returning to earth after a failed Gemini 8 mission
Jacqueline Onasis paid over 300,000$ to Michael Jackson for his autobiography. The first version written by a ghost writer was rejected as it didn’t contain juicy nuggets. The second version was rejected by Jackson (he asked the publishers to beat it) and he decided to write the third version himself. The publication of the book was top secret and the code name used was ‘Neil Armstrong’. Why? Because he was the first moonwalker.
No, really!

After the moon mission, Armstrong and the others went on a whirlwind world tour to many countries called the ‘Giant Step Apollo tour’ and one of the stops was ~~Moonbai~~ Bombay. Over 20,000 greeted the American visitors when they landed at the Santa Cruz airport. They were then driven in an open car along the Western Express highway to attend a reception hosted by the Governor. Famous Indian scientist Raja Ramanna met the trio at the Tata Institute of Fundamental research, before they were taken to a public reception at the Azad Maidan. Vikram Sarabahi, conforming to stereotypes, gave the Astronauts a carved elephant as a souvenir.
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins in Bombay.

“they put a man on the moon, a man on the moon..”

The Avengers might be the most ambitious crossover, but professional expedition leader Mike Dunn says ‘hold my beer’. The man wanted to assemble the greatest explorers together for a trip to the North Pole. So the touring party included:
- Sir Edmund Hilary - first man on top of Mount Everest
- Steve Fossett - the first man to fly a balloon around the world
- Patrick Morrow - the first man to climb the highest peaks in all continents and…
- Neil Armstrong.
When the group touched down on the North Pole, they popped open a bottle of champagne which froze before two glasses could be poured. While trying to return, they encountered bad weather and were holed up in a hut for three days.. What would Netflix pay for that footage we wonder.

Edmund Hilary (second from left) and Neil Armstrong (extreme right, looking spaced out)

From IWTK, with love 💌

Bobby Deol was born in 1969, the year man landed on the moon. His mother wanted to name him Indraneel after Neil Armstrong. More interesting facts about the cool Deol here.
iwtkquiz
A post shared by India Wants To Know (@iwtkquiz)
The lesser known story about Gulam Noon - the curry King.
iwtkquiz
A post shared by India Wants To Know (@iwtkquiz)