If you’ve seen the fantastic documentary In The Shadow of the Moon, which tells the story of NASA’s Apollo missions in the words of the very people who lived it, you may have noticed one of the few missing pieces of the movie is the involvement of the most famous astronaut of all, Neil Armstrong. While many of the people who were in the movie talk fondly of him, Armstrong himself declined to be interviewed, and in fact, ever since he returned from his walk on the moon he has become an intensely private man, preferring to keep to himself and his family.

In 2005, however, there was an authorized biography published called First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, written by James R. Hansen, which finally pulled back some of the mystery surrounding the man. Now it looks like this book has been optioned for the big screen, courtesy of Universal. They have hired Nicole Perlman to write the script, who is also currently writing a biopic about the Wright Brothers, and who previously wrote Challenger, a movie about the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster to be directed by Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect).

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been a big fan of space travel, and this movie sounds pretty intriguing to me. Armstrong is seen by so many as a hero, but I think there’s a deeper story to tell here. We’ll have more on this flick as it develops.