One Small Step for a Man....

I made mention in a recent thread about the confusion about what Neil Armstrong actually said when stepping off the Eagle lander. Did he say "a man..." Like he claims to have intended? Was he just nervous and fumbled his historic moment?

CNN has the latest:

www.cnn.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Armstrong

Interesting. I did a search and didn't see this new study mentioned.

Hey, when you're 238,900 miles from home and don't know if you'll actually make it back, it's alright to be nervous!

Originally posted by 35Foxtrot
I made mention in a recent thread about the confusion about what Neil Armstrong actually said when stepping off the Eagle lander. Did he say "a man..." Like he claims to have intended? Was he just nervous and fumbled his historic moment?

CNN has the latest:

www.cnn.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Armstrong

Interesting. I did a search and didn't see this new study mentioned.

Foxtrot -- Your link did not work (at least not for me), so I fixed it for you here:

Armstrong (fixed OP's link)


As for what Armstrong actually said: there does seem to be a bit of a garble on the audio. To my ears, it does certainly seem possible that he could have slipped an "a" in there, just like he claimed.

Originally posted by DeReK DaRkLy

Hey, when you're 238,900 miles from home and don't know if you'll actually make it back, it's alright to be nervous!

Yes.
And compared to today, the technology that they used and the testing of the lander (with some scary results) I would have been scared crapless.

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by DeReK DaRkLy

Hey, when you're 238,900 miles from home and don't know if you'll actually make it back, it's alright to be nervous!

Yes.
And compared to today, the technology that they used and the testing of the lander (with some scary results) I would have been scared crapless.

Ignorance is bliss.

"One small step for man" would be a very British thing to say. Since Armstrong was American, I'm very certain he said "for a man".

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People

Originally posted by 35Foxtrot
I made mention in a recent thread about the confusion about what Neil Armstrong actually said when stepping off the Eagle lander. Did he say "a man..." Like he claims to have intended? Was he just nervous and fumbled his historic moment?

CNN has the latest:

www.cnn.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Armstrong

Interesting. I did a search and didn't see this new study mentioned.

Foxtrot -- Your link did not work (at least not for me), so I fixed it for you here:

Armstrong (fixed OP's link)


As for what Armstrong actually said: there does seem to be a bit of a garble on the audio. To my ears, it does certainly seem possible that he could have slipped an "a" in there, just like he claimed.

edit on 6/7/2013 by Soylent Green Is People because: (no reason given)

Thanks.

That's why the original line works better in french. There's no ambiguity:

« C'est un petit pas pour un homme, mais un bond de géant pour l'humanité »

Originally posted by Saint Exupery
That's why the original line works better in french. There's no ambiguity:

« C'est un petit pas pour un homme, mais un bond de géant pour l'humanité »

I would think that would be true for many languages (other than English).
In what other languages can the terms "Man" and "A Man" have such different meanings?

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Interestingly, that does shift the meaning a little on the other end to be "a giant's leap for mankind". So... not a description of the size of the leap, but the size of the creature making it.

Perhaps I've always been delusional... I haven't listened to the recording again, but I always thought the "a" was audible.