The first man has changed a key historical moment, according to the author of the book

What follows contains spoilers for First man.

First man claims to be a true story, but at least one moment in the film was probably not true to reality. James Hanson was Neil Armstrong's biographer and the author of the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, on which is based the new film of Damian Chazelle. The author has now confirmed that a key moment towards the end of the film is entirely invented. In the film's finale, once Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin arrive on the moon, we see Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling, leave a bracelet that once belonged to his dead daughter on the surface. It turns out that there is no evidence that it actually happened. According to Hansen …

The truth is not that we know that the moment has never happened. Instead, the truth is simply that we do not know. While James Hanson interviewed Neil Armstrong himself about his life for the book that would become the film First man, what personal belongings Armstrong brought with him is apparently a subject of speculation. Hansen told NBC that each astronaut brought with him a kit containing personal items he wanted to take to the moon, either for himself or for others. Although Armstrong apparently had one, the story of what it contained was lost by the story. The astronaut was going to delve into his own archives to find him for his biographer at one point, but Armstrong died in 2012 without having done so.

However, it turns out that information gives credibility to the scene as described in First man. It seems that even though the bracelet itself is not a historical reality, the time that Neil Armstrong spent alone at Little West Crater, the place where he let the wristband disappear, is actually known for to be produced. Nobody knows why he went there or what he did, so maybe something like the events of First man actually occurred.

Although the moment has never really arrived, Neil Armstrong's biographer does not seem to worry about the fact that it has been included. He found that it was a powerful moment worthy of the man and the occasion.