More or less he was. He has a great back story. He was actually chosen to be the leader and go out first becuase they thought he would do just that, and that he wouldn't get a huge ego afterwards. Although the words he spoke were of his own creation. But in the grand scheme of things Apollo 11 had no mission other than to land make a few photo ops, plant a flag, and return. It was strickly to get there first and get back safely. All of the acutal moon research and exploring came in later apollo missions.