Astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission, with his family on August 26, 1963.
(CNN) -- It was one small interview for astronaut Neil Armstrong ... and one giant scoop for an Australian accountant, of all people.
In the year's most out-of-this-world get, the first man to step foot on the moon sat down with CPA (Certified Practicing Account) Australia's Alex Malley to narrate his historic lunar landing in an extremely rare interview.
Armstrong was the commander of NASA's three-man Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin spent about two hours on the surface before returning to the Eagle lunar module.
The 81-year old American is famously reluctant to discuss the moon landing and has granted very few interviews in the last 40 years -- so why choose to open up to CPA Australia? Malley thinks he knows the answer.
"I knew something a lot of people didn't know about Neil Armstrong -- his dad was an auditor," said Malley in the first of the four part interview with Armstrong posted on the CPA website.
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In the 45-minute interview Commander Armstrong discussed his childhood in Ohio, walking on the moon, and what it's like to sleep on a spaceship.
Armstrong also recounts the moment he got the call to ask him if his crew were ready to land on the moon.
"The bosses asked, 'Do you think you and your guys are ready?" Armstrong recalled. "I said it'd be nice to have another month, but we're in a race here and we had to take the opportunity when we had it. I had to say we are ready, we are ready to go."
"I thought we had a 90% chance of getting back safely to Earth on that flight, but only a 50-50 chance of making a successful landing on the first attempt."
Armstrong also details the crew's harrowing 12-minute descent to the moon, when he realized that the Eagle lunar module's auto-pilot was preparing to land the crew on the slope of a huge moon crater.
"The computer showed us where it intended to land, and it was a very bad location, on the side of a large crater about 100-150m in diameter with very steep slopes covered with very large boulders -- not a good place to land at all," he said.
Armstrong took over the craft manually and managed to land it like a helicopter in a smoother area to the west with just 20 seconds of fuel left. "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed," were Armstrong's words to mission control on earth.
As for "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong says he didn't think of those immortal words until after they'd landed safely.
The first few moments when Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the Eagle and onto the surface of the moon were tender, he remembers.
"We recognized that we wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for our competitors in the Soviet Union -- it was a competition that made both of our programs able to do what we achieved. We put medallions for our fallen colleagues on both sides, and that was a tender moment."
Armstrong laughed off the conspiracy theorists who believe the 1969 moon landing was faked, telling CPA Australia's Malley that "800,000 staff at NASA couldn't possibly keep a secret."
"People love conspiracy theories, but it was never a concern to me -- because I know one day someone's going to go fly back up there and pick up that camera I left," he said.
As for the future direction of space travel, Armstrong worries about cuts to NASA's budget, and says the space program remains an important source of motivation for young Americans.
NASA's 2013 budget for the exploration of Mars was cut by 38%, and the budget for planetary exploration overall was reduced by $300 million -- a major concern, according to Armstrong.
"NASA's been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achive, and it's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation it provides to young people."
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Neil Armstrong at the NASA Training Center on September 1, 1963.
Commander Neil Armstrong, right, and pilot David R. Scott prepare for the launch of Gemini 8 on March 16, 1966. In orbit, Armstrong had to bring the capsule under control when it began to spin out of control after docking with an unmanned target vehicle, and the mission was aborted.
Armstrong poses for a portrait in July 1969.
Armstrong leads crew mates Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins out of the space center on the Apollo 11 space mission to the moon.
Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, was launched on July 16, 1969, with astronauts Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins on board. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first and second men to walk on the moon, on July 20, 1969.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong is seen in the reflection of Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin's helmet during the pair's historic walk on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
Armstrong and Aldrin spent roughly two hours on the moon's surface. The photos of the moonwalk were taken by Armstrong.
Armstrong presents a pair of pizzas in his kitchen in Houston, Texas, on March 1, 1969.
The astronaut crew of the Apollo 11 mission are pictured in May 1969. Left to right are Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, lunar module pilot.
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins wave to crowds at a parade held in August 1969 celebrating their voyage.
A commemorative button from 1969 celebrates the moon landing.
Armstrong receives the first Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Jimmy Carter, right, assisted by Capt. Robert Peterson, on October 1, 1978. Armstrong, one of six astronauts to be presented the medal during ceremonies held in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), was awarded for his performance during the Gemini 8 mission and the Apollo 11 mission.
President Richard Nixon applauds the Apollo 11 astronauts, who were confined in a quarantine trailer after their flight, on July 25, 1969.
Neil Armstrong talks about the space program during an appearance before a U.S. House committee in 1986.
Former Apollo astronauts meet with the media at the Apollo/Saturn V Center prior to a 30th anniversary banquet highlighting the contributions of aerospace employees who made the Apollo program possible on July 16, 1999. From left to right: Armstrong; Aldrin; Gene Cernan, who flew on Apollo10 and Apollo 17; and Walt Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7.
Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin are honored on Capitol Hill in July 2009 on the 40th anniversary of their mission.
President Barack Obama poses for photographs with Armstrong in the Oval Office at the White House in 2009.
Armstrong testifies before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee about human space flight on Capitol Hill in September 2011.
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