{"id":29380753,"date":"2026-10-24T16:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T14:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=29380753"},"modified":"2026-10-24T16:40:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T14:40:40","slug":"neil-armstrong-close-calls-korea-gemini-8-llrv-apollo-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/neil-armstrong-close-calls-korea-gemini-8-llrv-apollo-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Armstrong&rsquo;s Four Close Calls: Korea, Gemini 8, the Flying Bedstead and the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background 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Two ejections, a spacecraft tumbling out of control in orbit, and a landing that ended with the fuel warnings lit. Each time he was described in almost the same way: calm, methodical, and back at work almost immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Born:<\/strong> 5 August 1930, Wapakoneta, Ohio<\/li><li><strong>Korea:<\/strong> 78 combat missions with VF-51 from USS Essex, 1951 to 1952<\/li><li><strong>First ejection:<\/strong> 3 September 1951, F9F-2 Panther, aged 21<\/li><li><strong>Gemini 8:<\/strong> 16 March 1966: first docking in space, then a spin of about one revolution per second<\/li><li><strong>Second ejection:<\/strong> 6 May 1968, Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, Ellington Air Force Base, Texas<\/li><li><strong>Apollo 11:<\/strong> Landed 20 July 1969 after computer alarms and a boulder field<\/li><li><strong>Died:<\/strong> 25 August 2012, aged 82<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">1951: A Cable Over Korea<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Armstrong went to war as a 21-year-old Navy ensign, flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther with Fighter Squadron 51 from the carrier USS Essex. On 3 September 1951, on his seventh combat mission, his group attacked targets in a valley in North Korea. As he pulled out of a low pass at about 350 knots, roughly 500 feet above the ground, something sliced off the outer part of his right wing. According to his biographer Jay Barbree, it was a cable strung across the valley, and it took six to eight feet off the wing and much of the aileron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/vf-51-f9f-2-panthers-over-korea-1951-1024x592.jpg\" alt=\"VF-51 F9F-2 Panthers over Korea in 1951\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">F9F-2 Panthers of VF-51, Armstrong&rsquo;s squadron, over Korea in 1951. Photo: John Moore, US Navy, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Armstrong held the damaged jet level with heavy control input, climbed out, and headed for the Marine airfield at Pohang. Unable to land a jet with that much wing missing, he ejected for the first time in his life and came down in a rice paddy near the field. The Marine who found him in a jeep turned out to be one of his roommates from flight school. Armstrong went on to fly 78 combat missions in Korea. Our post on the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/grumman-f9f-panther-korean-war\/\">F9F Panther<\/a> tells the story of the jet he flew.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">1966: Gemini 8 Spins Out of Control<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 16 March 1966, Armstrong and David Scott launched on Gemini 8 and achieved the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, with an unmanned Agena target. Shortly afterwards, the docked combination began to roll. Thinking the Agena was at fault, the crew undocked, and the Gemini spun faster. Post-flight analysis found that an electrical short had stuck thruster number 8 open. The spacecraft reached a roll rate of about one rotation per second, close to the point where the crew could lose consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/gemini-8-agena-target-vehicle-1966-1024x994.jpg\" alt=\"The Agena target vehicle photographed from Gemini 8, March 1966\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Agena target vehicle, photographed from Gemini 8 before the first docking in space. Photo: NASA, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Armstrong shut down the main manoeuvring thrusters and switched to the separate re-entry control system, which stopped the spin. Using that system meant mission rules required a landing at the next opportunity. The planned three-day mission, including Scott&rsquo;s spacewalk, ended after 10 hours and 41 minutes with a splashdown in the western Pacific, about 500 miles east of Okinawa.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">1968: Ejecting From the Flying Bedstead<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To practise the final descent to the Moon, NASA built the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, a jet-supported frame that cancelled five-sixths of its weight to mimic lunar gravity. On 6 May 1968, flying LLRV-1 at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, Armstrong lost control when a loss of helium pressure starved the attitude thrusters. He ejected at about 200 feet, seconds before the vehicle hit the ground and burned, and parachuted down unhurt. He was reportedly back at his desk the same day. We tell this story in detail in <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/neil-armstrong-llrv-flying-bedstead-ejection-1968\/\">The Flying Bedstead That Nearly Killed Armstrong<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;It was a contrary machine, and a risky machine, but a very useful one.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Neil Armstrong<\/strong> &mdash; on the lunar landing training vehicles, as quoted by NASA<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">1969: Alarms and Boulders<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 20 July 1969, as Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended towards the Sea of Tranquillity in the lunar module Eagle, the guidance computer flashed a series of 1202 and 1201 program alarms. Mission Control judged it safe to continue. Then, as the automatic system steered towards a landing area strewn with boulders around a crater, Armstrong took over semi-manual control, flew on beyond it and looked for a clear spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The descent ran long. Mission Control called out 60 seconds and then 30 seconds to the point where the crew would have had to land or abort, and Eagle touched down shortly after the 30-second call. That is the origin of the famous claim that Apollo 11 landed with only about 20 to 25 seconds of fuel left. Later analysis, including a NASA study of propellant slosh in the descent stage tanks, found that sloshing had triggered the low-fuel warning early, so the real margin was larger, though nobody could know that at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few hours later Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon. He was 38.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Popular Version Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story as it is usually told is accurate in its outline: the seventh mission in Korea, the cable, the 350 knots, the rice paddy and the flight school roommate, the 78 missions, Gemini 8&rsquo;s stuck thruster and once-a-second spin, the LLRV ejection at about 200 feet and his return to work the same day, the computer alarms and boulder field on Apollo 11. Two details need care. The claim that half a second more would have killed him in the LLRV is a common retelling; NASA says only that he ejected seconds before the crash. And the often-repeated 25 seconds of fuel at touchdown reflects the warnings at the time, not the real margin, which later analysis showed was larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: Jay Barbree, Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight (2014), excerpted by HistoryNet; NASA History Office, &ldquo;55 Years Ago: Gemini VIII, the First Docking in Space&rdquo; and &ldquo;Astronaut Armstrong Survives LLRV Crash&rdquo;; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, &ldquo;Neil Armstrong&rsquo;s Apollo 11 Close Call&rdquo; (2019); NASA TM X-2362, Investigation of Slosh Anomaly in Apollo Lunar Module Propellant Gage; Paul Fjeld, AIAA Houston Horizons (2013).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Did Neil Armstrong fly in the Korean War?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Neil Armstrong flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War as a US Navy pilot with Fighter Squadron 51 from USS Essex, flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther. On 3 September 1951, aged 21, he ejected after losing part of a wing on a low-level attack.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What happened on Gemini 8?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 16 March 1966 Neil Armstrong and David Scott made the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. A thruster then stuck open because of an electrical short, spinning Gemini 8 to about one rotation per second. Armstrong stopped the spin with the re-entry thrusters and the mission ended early in the western Pacific.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Neil Armstrong survive the LLRV crash?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 6 May 1968 Neil Armstrong lost control of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle at Ellington Air Force Base when its attitude thrusters failed. He ejected at about 200 feet, seconds before the vehicle crashed and burned, and parachuted to safety unhurt.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How much fuel did Apollo 11 have left when it landed?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">At the time, Apollo 11 appeared to land with only about 20 to 25 seconds of fuel to spare, because Mission Control had just called 30 seconds to the land-or-abort point. Later analysis found that propellant sloshing had triggered the low-fuel warning early, so the real margin was larger.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Armstrong take manual control of the Apollo 11 lunar module?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">As the lunar module Eagle descended, the automatic guidance was heading for an area of boulders around a crater. Neil Armstrong took semi-manual control, flew beyond it and landed on a clearer spot in the Sea of Tranquillity.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How old was Neil Armstrong when he walked on the Moon?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Neil Armstrong was 38 years old when he became the first person to walk on the Moon on 20 July 1969. He was born on 5 August 1930.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Neil Armstrong fly in the Korean War?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Neil Armstrong flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War as a US Navy pilot with Fighter Squadron 51 from USS Essex, flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther. On 3 September 1951, aged 21, he ejected after losing part of a wing on a low-level attack.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What happened on Gemini 8?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 16 March 1966 Neil Armstrong and David Scott made the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. A thruster then stuck open because of an electrical short, spinning Gemini 8 to about one rotation per second. Armstrong stopped the spin with the re-entry thrusters and the mission ended early in the western Pacific.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Neil Armstrong survive the LLRV crash?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 6 May 1968 Neil Armstrong lost control of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle at Ellington Air Force Base when its attitude thrusters failed. He ejected at about 200 feet, seconds before the vehicle crashed and burned, and parachuted to safety unhurt.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How much fuel did Apollo 11 have left when it landed?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"At the time, Apollo 11 appeared to land with only about 20 to 25 seconds of fuel to spare, because Mission Control had just called 30 seconds to the land-or-abort point. Later analysis found that propellant sloshing had triggered the low-fuel warning early, so the real margin was larger.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Armstrong take manual control of the Apollo 11 lunar module?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"As the lunar module Eagle descended, the automatic guidance was heading for an area of boulders around a crater. Neil Armstrong took semi-manual control, flew beyond it and landed on a clearer spot in the Sea of Tranquillity.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How old was Neil Armstrong when he walked on the Moon?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Neil Armstrong was 38 years old when he became the first person to walk on the Moon on 20 July 1969. He was born on 5 August 1930.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/neil-armstrong-llrv-flying-bedstead-ejection-1968\/\">The Flying Bedstead That Nearly Killed Armstrong<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/grumman-f9f-panther-korean-war\/\">F9F Panther: Grumman&#8217;s Korean War Jet Cat<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/douglas-f5d-skylancer-cancelled-nasa-neil-armstrong\/\">Douglas F5D Skylancer: The Fighter Too Good to Build<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before he stepped onto the Moon, Neil Armstrong had ejected over Korea, saved a spacecraft spinning once a second, and ejected again from a lunar training vehicle seconds before it crashed. Here are his four closest calls, checked against NASA and the record.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":29380617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29380753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Neil Armstrong\u2019s Four Close Calls, From Korea to the Moon | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A cable over Korea, a spinning Gemini 8, a burning lunar trainer and a boulder field on the Moon: how Neil Armstrong survived four close calls in 18 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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