MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Half a century after man first walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin remain household names. Everyone knows about Armstrong's "small step for man," but the myriad other people behind the "giant leap for mankind" remain largely unknown.

One of those is Bill Weppner, a former NASA flight controller who worked on the Apollo missions. Weppner was at the NASA mission control center in Houston when Armstrong took those first steps on the moon. He was there when Apollo 8 became the first manned space mission to leave low Earth orbit and circle the moon. He was there...