The first thing Neil Armstrong did after setting foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, was defy orders. The entire point of the Apollo 11 mission was to collect lunar material. Mike Mallory, a member of the Apollo 11 Navy frogman recovery team, remembers being instructed to “save the moon rocks first. We only have one bag of rocks. We have lots of astronauts.” But seven minutes after stepping onto the moon, Armstrong was busy taking panoramic photos. “Neil, this is Houston. Did you copy about the contingency sample?…
