Neil Armstrong screwed up

[kestasjk]

No-one talks about this.. Am I crazy or did Neil Armstrong screw up the most important 2 scripted lines ever recorded; the first words man said on another celestial object?

He said “That’s one small step for man, .. [pause] .. one giant leap for mankind.”

Is it just me or does that statement not make sense? One small step for man? You could argue that he was talking about the moon mission being a small step for man, but isn’t mankind the same as man in this context? How is it a small step and giant leap?


What he meant to say is “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” right? I will try and find a link to the interview where Neil basically admitted it was a mistake..

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... trong-moon

According to the authors of the 1986 book Chariots for Fire, the astronaut tried to argue it omitted the word "a" but after hearing a recording of the flight he admitted:

"Damn I really did it. I blew the first words on the moon, didn't I?”

There are other theories, but I don’t find them very convincing. What’s also weird is that so many people go along with it as it was heard, which doesn’t make sense.


Of course what he did was incredible, and he seems like he was a great guy, I just think it’s weird how it didn’t register.

[cdngooner]

I remember hearing the explanation that there was radio static that covered up the word "a". I'd have to listen to it again to see if that was convincing, especially if its true that Armstrong himself admitted screwing up.

[Octavious]

None of it makes sense if you think about it too much about it. In what sense is Neil stepping off the spacecraft a giant leap for mankind. The giant leaps all occurred some time before back on earth and in testing. There was apparently quite a lot of impressive flying on the way down. Successfully climbing down a ladder... that's very much the lesser of the achievements of the mission.

Still, better that than "Gosh... It's really grey..."

[Jamiet99uk]

"Hello, I am on the moon" doesn't have the right ring to it either.

[PRINCE WILLIAM]

I think it is logical that he meant a small step for a man (the one left to land from the ladder on the moon) a giant leap for mankind (to at last get to the nearest celestial body). I think that the matter of what he'd say was in his mind since the day he knew he'd be the first man to step on the moon so he couldn't mess it up or lost it. The static was really heavy and distorted the message.

[Bonatogether]

Well, it's better than what Micheal Collins, the pilot, supposedly dared him to do:
"What's that? It's moving!" *scream* *cut mic*

[e.m.c^42]

Oh, this is cool, I never knew there was a poll feature for the forum. Is there any chance that this be rolled out as an option for regular users? :D

[Longneck]

Could've been a technical glitch. Those radio recordings are hard to understand and even that line degrades into static while he's saying "mankind".
https://www.space.com/17307-neil-armstr ... quote.html

And it could've been his Ohio "accent," but being from Indiana I can confirm others have accents, we Midwesterners do not. The theory is plausible, though.
https://www.space.com/21403-neil-armstr ... ccent.html

But above all, he went to Purdue University and is,therefore, infallible.

[MajorMitchell]

Well as many of you would be aware the images and sound messages from the Apollo 11 moon landing that were broadcast were initially received at a tracking station in Australia then sent to NASA in America. It's possible that a goanna (type of lizard) may have scurried across the antenna dish and caused the "a" to not be received properly.
I can remember watching the moon landing on tv at home because we were given a day off school. I was most disappointed that there were no pictures of the moon kangaroos my father told me lived on the moon or the missing WW2 USAAF 8th Airforce B-17.that got lost on it's way to Berlin and landed on the moon.
Once I'd seen the grainy black and white TV images of Niel Armstrong finally step on the moon I ran off outside to play backyard cricket

[Wintogreen]

To be fair, he is kind of the coolest human being to ever live, so I'm willing to overlook this particular mistake.

[TommyJ]

Hi! I think Neil Armstrong is like a frontman of some cool rockband. He just did what others said. And that small phrase was his minute of glory. So obviously Neil was nervous about what he saw and what he did.
To my mind his “That’s one small step for man, .. [pause] .. one giant leap for mankind.” will be legendary no matter what it means.
P.S.
I would be very grateful to just thank this person for his courage.
It's not like flying to a neighboring continent.

[Matticus13]

None of it makes sense if you think about it too much about it. In what sense is Neil stepping off the spacecraft a giant leap for mankind. The giant leaps all occurred some time before back on earth and in testing. There was apparently quite a lot of impressive flying on the way down. Successfully climbing down a ladder... that's very much the lesser of the achievements of the mission.

Still, better that than "Gosh... It's really grey..."

I'm not so sure. How 'bout "Look at all the fuckin' grey, Buzz."

[TommyJ]

None of it makes sense if you think too much about it. In what sense is Neil stepping off the spacecraft a giant leap for mankind. The giant leaps all occurred sometime before backing on earth and in testing. There was apparently quite a lot of impressive flying on the way down. Successfully climbing down a ladder... that's very much the lesser of the achievements of the mission.

Still, better that than "Gosh... It's really grey..."

I'm not so sure. How 'bout "Look at all the fuckin' grey, Buzz."

Hmm...

When you are part of what is considered great by many, then whatever you say, everything will be criticized in one way or another. If you think about how you say, then many of us would say simply: Fuck!
Are you curious about what the future first colonizers of Mars will say or people who will achieve any new space goal for the first time?
Why discuss the past when you can judge the future.
Development of technologies, reduction of the cost of launching small satellites. We live in such a time that soon it will not be necessary to participate in national selections and so on to become involved in something cosmic. Private space companies are developing so quickly that in a few years any person who makes a good living will be able to have their own satellite in orbit. See how Britain tried to do it https://www.skyrora.com/blog/satellites