armstrong was an excellent pilot but led an unassuming private life he and his family lived in a home in the mountains of southern california with no electricity or hot water. his colleagues described him as friendly but reserved he preferred to let his talents as a pilot speak for themselves. in the early 1960 s. few thought that a manned spacecraft to the moon was possible and the u.s. space program was about to be outdone again by the soviet union. and april 1961 yuri gagarin became the 1st human to journey into outer space. capsule made a single orbit around the earth and then returned. but his good garden was being celebrated worldwide as the 1st man in space the u.s. was putting the final touches to its own inaugural spaceflight.