A Tale Of Apollo 11

It may be apocryphal, nobody knows
But was widely reported, and so here goes
The tale begins early in '67
Concerning the crew for Apollo 11
Someone at NASA has dropped a bombshell
That maybe this team is unlikely to gel
So, though it was hardly according to plan
An in-depth analysis quickly began
Specialists required to report and peruse
Unholstered their clipboards and ran interviews

"A tropical island, and you're cast ashore
With a question that many have pondered before
So what we'll be asking of you two today
Is who you might choose as a co-castaway?"
With clear-cut conviction, the first man said Mike
The most intellectual and least business-like
Whose sparkling exchanges will always enshrine
Discussion on roses and books and on wine
"A scholar who knows his van Gogh from van Dyck
There can be no better companion than Mike!"

The second response brought a different view
"Michael's entertaining to give him his due
But Buzz is the guy who'd be getting my vote
No matter how out-of-the-way or remote
I reckon he'd meet every challenge we'd face
With both ingenuity and with good grace
So yes, if you're asking me who I'd elect
It has to be Buzz, who I always respect
As a problem-attacker par excellence
You can put that down as my final response"

Conclusions were logged, and each box got its tick
Yet something remained to resolve and unpick
A detail that NASA had asked them to broach
Their questioner tacked to a different approach
"If you couldn't choose who your shipmate might be
Who'd be the crewman you would hope that you'd see?"
Without hesitation, both men chorused, "Neil!"
"It is," said the first, "no surprise to reveal
With all due respect to both Michael and Buzz
Neil gets you back home; it's the thing that he does"

When Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon
July '69 in the late afternoon
Columbia was beckoning far out in space
The Eagle returned to its mothership base
And then they set course for their planet of birth
That quarter of a million miles back to Earth
Apollo 11 had changed in eight days
So much for so many in so many ways
And Neil Armstrong knew, when unlatching the lid
He'd got them back home. It's the thing that he did