What Neil Armstrong Really Said When He Stepped on the Moon
Posted by Alec_Liu on Tuesday, Jul 20, 2010
That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.
A Milestone for our Species
It is one of the most historic and recognizable statements ever made. But Neil Armstrong may have very well flubbed his lines as he made those momentous steps onto the moon.
The original scripted line should have read: “one small step for a man” given that man and mankind in English mean pretty much the same thing. In the heat of the moment, it’s thought that Armstrong unwittingly dropped the article, leaving a potentially smooth sounding yet logically contradictory remark.
Static Scapegoats
In the immediate aftermath, Armstrong and NASA were quick to make a face-saving correction blaming static for the missing word. But many press reporters remained unconvinced. Listening to NASA recordings, Armstrong’s words are certainly audible with little gap between “for” and "man. Moreover, there is a suspicious pause after “man,” with some hypothesizing that Armstrong had, at that point, realized his error.
Armstrong seems to agree in the 2005 book, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. “It doesn’t sound like there was time for the word to be there. On the other hand, I didn’t intentionally make an inane statement, and … certainly the ‘a’ was intended, because that’s the only way the statement makes any sense.”
Given the stress of the moment and lack of sleep in the previous twenty-four hours, Armstrong is himself unsure whether or not he actually included the ‘a’. Instead he pleads for leniency. “I would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it wasn’t said – although it might have been.”
A Long Awaited Vindication?
In 2006, Peter Ford of Control Bionics wanted to do more than just grant the legendary astronaut leniency. Instead he sought vindication. “When they started in talking about the phrase … I thought that was pretty stupid,” recalled Ford. “Later, I thought Armstrong was such a good pilot, so precise, it’s unlikely he would actually screw up a line.”
Using computer software to analyze the speech pattern of Armstrong’s words, Ford claimed to have found a signature for the missing article, stating conclusively that it was both spoken and transmitted.
Critics though were unconvinced citing ambiguous data and confirmation bias. So far Ford’s findings have not been validated by any other audio analysts. NASA’s online transcript recognize that Armstrong probably did leave out the ‘a’.
And while this ongoing conversation probably continues to irk Neil Armstrong, it’s ultimately not that big of a deal. We know what you meant Neil. It’s all good. (And I still think it sounds better anyway.) Of course you could always decide for yourself by analyzing included video which contains newly restored audio.
Further Reading:
This Is How We Walk on the Moon: What The First Lunar Landing Looked Like
Q+A: Space Historian Andrew Chaikin Remembers Apollo 11
Watch: Apollo 11’s Launch in Slo-Mo Feels Like Apollo 22
In Case They Didn’t Come Back From the Moon
More Motherboard NASA Coverage
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