There was scandal attached to Neil Armstrong. Despite this scandal being common knowledge at JSC, NASA did an effective job of covering it up. Because I knew Mark Armstrong, I won't say anymore. However there were good reasons for Neil Armstrong to maintain a low profile.

The real tragedy concerning the public relations impact of Apollo 11 was that Buzz Aldrin did not first walk on the lunar surface. Buzz Aldrin was/is super human and a genuine believer in mankind's outreach into Space. He would have made a willing and excellent spoksman for Space Exploration. As is common knowledge, Buzz Aldrin became an alcoholic after he left NASA. This was more a consequence of his being known as the second man to walk on the moon (prior to Apollo 11, he was always Number One). Under mission rules, the Lunar Module pilot (Aldrin) should have been the first to walk on the moon. However Neil Armstrong invoked his authority as mission commander to be the first to walk on the moon. That fact more than anything else drove Aldrin to the bottle.

Gary