An Evening with James Hansen

The 50^th Anniversary Committee of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum Association will host the presentation, “An Evening with James Hansen,” on Monday, June 13, 7 pm, at Wapakoneta Middle School, 400 West Harrison Street. Dr. Hansen is the author of the New York Times bestseller First Man: The Life of Neil A Armstrong.  The event will also include an appearance by Dr. Kotcho Solacoff, Neil Armstrong’s childhood friend from Upper Sandusky.  The event is free and open to the public. Dr. Hansen’s books will be available for purchase the evening of the program.

States anniversary committee member Rachel Barber, “We are thrilled that Dr. Hansen will speak in Wapakoneta as part of our special museum anniversary celebration. James Hansen is the undisputed authority about our own Neil Armstrong, and we look forward to what promises to be a fascinating presentation. Dr. Solacoff’s remarks will be a special addition. Thanks to Principal Snyder and the Middle School for making this venue possible.”

Dr. James R. Hansen is Emeritus Professor of History at Auburn University in Alabama. An expert in aerospace history and the history of science and technology, Hansen has published a dozen books and numerous articles covering a wide variety of topics, including the early days of aviation, the history of aerospace engineering, NASA, the moon landings, the Space Shuttle program, and China’s role in space.

Hansen’s First Man (Simon & Schuster, 2005, 2012) is the only authorized biography of Neil Armstrong. The book has twice spent three weeks as a New York Times Bestseller and has garnered major book awards including the AIAA’s Eugene E. Emme Astronautical Prize, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Gardner-Lasser Literature Award, and CHOICE magazine’s Outstanding Academic Book.

A film adaptation of First Man, starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, which premiered in October 2018, earned 25 major awards, including an Academy Award as well as 162 award nominations. Purdue University Press published Dear Neil Armstrong: Letters to the First Man on the Moon from All Mankind in October 2019, which featured a sampling of hundreds of letters written to Armstrong in the years following the moon landing.

A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Hansen graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University, and earned a doctorate at The Ohio State University (1981). Hansen taught history at Auburn University from 1986 until his retirement in May 2017.