One small misstep for a man ... ?

[stephend]

Am I right or wrong?

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon, speaking the words of a script written by some unknown individual back at NASA.

This writer had chosen to use the rhetorical device of antithesis, dramatically contrasting little with big:
"one small step" with "one giant leap",
and
"a man" with "mankind".

However, Neil, understandably distracted, said "That's one small step for Man ... one giant leap for mankind", and since Man and mankind are synonymous we can imagine the writer back on earth hitting his forehead with his open palm.

Without "a man" the sentence lacks not only rhetorical oomph but loses most of its meaning. Armstrong realised his mistake instantly and stammered slightly after saying "Man" - or perhaps tried to insert the "a" retrospectively.

However, it's clear what Armstrong was meant to say, and we all agree with the sentiment. The main outcome was that it revealed to the world that there was a script.

I take this as further evidence (not that any is needed) that the moon landing was not filmed in a movie set. If an actor fluffs his lines at a really crucial moment, doesn't someone yell "Cut" and don't they just do it again?

[Clarry (Clayton)]

I was always lead to believe he meant to say "one giant leap forward for mankind", but he forgot the forward bit, hence the hesitation in the statement.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Check out this thread here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=45791 where it was also discussed.

Originally Posted by glenluceskies

There have been rumours that part of the One Small Step statement came from a memo from William Shapley, Associate Deputy Administrator at NASA to Dr. Geo. Mueller, head of the Manned Space Flight Centre. This memo passed Deke Slayton's desk to pass onto Neil. Or so the story goes. It is just one of many stories about the origins of the One Small Step statement.

But in my opinion, that's all they are, stories. Legends lost in time.

Neil has absolutely no recollection of it, and Deke is not alive today to confirm or refute it.

Even Walter Cronkite made a comment on live television on the morning of the landing referring to "a giant leap".

Neil sums it up by saying,

"... you never know subliminally in you brain where things come from. Bit it certainly wasn't conscious. "

In regards to the missing "a". Neil says,

"For people who have listened to me for hours on the radio communications tapes, they know I left a lot of syllables out. It was not unusual for me to do that. I'm not particularly articulate. Perhaps it was a suppressed sound that was not picked up by the voice mike. As I have listened to it, it doesn't sound like there was time there for the word (the letter "a") to be there. On the other hand, I think that reasonable people realise that I "a" was intended, because that's the only way the statement makes sense.

So I 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 actually might have been".

Finally, asked how historians should quote his One Small Step statement, Neil answers only somewhat facetiously, "They can put it in parentheses".

That's enough for me. I'm convinced.

After reading Neil's authorised biography many times, plus the autobiographies of Gene Cernan, Deke Slayton, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke, Gene Krantz, and a host of other publications, I have not doubt in my mind that Neil's "One small step" phrase came from Neil and Neil only. In my opinion, there was not author to this phrase.

[renormalised (Carl)]

It did....Neil had been mulling over what to say for quite some time before they left for the Moon. But even if the final words came in a memo or not, it's still the most famous phrase ever uttered by anyone in history, at the time of our greatest achievement.

[Octane (Humayun)]

I don't really care where the words came from. They have brought tears to my eyes many a time, therefore fulfilling their intended purpose.

Savour it folks; we're unlikely to witness anything so monumental, again, in our lives.

Regards,
Humayun

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by Octane

I don't really care where the words came from. They have brought tears to my eyes many a time, therefore fulfilling their intended purpose.

Savour it folks; we're unlikely to witness anything so monumental, again, in our lives.

Regards,
Humayun

Agree 100%, Humayun.

[mojo (Terry)]

True, it's grammatically incorrect. But let's face it, he was understandably excited while standing on the moon when he said it. It's one of the best lines in history. If we could turn back time, what phrase would better sum up the moment better than that line?

It could have been worse. He could have said, "meh. It looks pretty much what we thought it would look like. Don't bother getting out Buzz, we're going home."

[aerobrake (Michael)]

Agreed Octane. Wander what the next human achievement is gonna be that will have the same weight, maybe nothing will ever compare.

Would love to see "warp drive" in my lifetime. Ha ha ha. Would make my job way faster tho.

Cheers
Mike

[bloodhound31]

I never really thought to correct the words. They meant a lot to me and still do. I got the point.

Why do we have to pick everything to bits?

Baz.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by aerobrake

Agreed Octane. Wander what the next human achievement is gonna be that will have the same weight, maybe nothing will ever compare.

Would love to see "warp drive" in my lifetime. Ha ha ha. Would make my job way faster tho.

Cheers
Mike

Landing on Mars will come pretty close...but what would be BIG, would be the first footsteps on a planet in a different solar system entirely, especially if it came within the next 100 years. That would be as BIG as SETI actually detecting a signal, because instead of just picking up a signal, we'd actually be there (or at least on some Earthlike planet, somewhere).

Therefore our 3 greatest achievements would be....1. Landing on the Moon, 2. Warp Drive (thereby kicking the grand pedestal Einstein has been put on, from out under him), and 3. Stepping onto a completely alien world, light years from Earth, for the first time.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Oooo! Oooo!
Here is something I actually know for a fact - as opposed to most of the stuff I make-up or confabulate. Neil Armstrong came to our high school in 1973 cuz he is the 2nd cousin 8 times removed of somebody I didn't know and had agreed to give a motivational speech.
Anyway HE said what he meant to say was "one small step for A man, etc etc." But the moment got the better of him.
I can't understand the all the fuss! How many of us would have maintained Armstrong's composure? To be the first human to set foot on another world and remember your lines?
In the film "In the shadow of the moon" Buzz Aldrin recounts that Armstrong was absolutrly the right person to command the mission. Of all of those with the "right stuff" he had the most of all.
I think we should forgive him a missing vowel.
Most people's first words would have been something on the order of: "I'm on the freakin' moon and you can all kiss my #*%"

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Oooo! Oooo!
Here is something I actually know for a fact - as opposed to most of the stuff I make-up or confabulate. Neil Armstrong came to our high school in 1973 cuz he is the 2nd cousin 8 times removed of somebody I didn't know and had agreed to give a motivational speech.
Anyway HE said what he meant to say was "one small step for A man, etc etc." But the moment got the better of him.
I can't understand the all the fuss! How many of us would have maintained Armstrong's composure? To be the first human to set foot on another world and remember your lines?
In the film "In the shadow of the moon" Buzz Aldrin recounts that Armstrong was absolutrly the right person to command the mission. Of all of those with the "right stuff" he had the most of all.
I think we should forgive him a missing vowel.
Most people's first words would have been something on the order of: "I'm on the freakin' moon and you can all kiss my #*%"

Knowing what would happen if it had've been me, I'd have gotten a foot caught in the ladder rungs, twisted it, fell "a over h" and then mentioned about half a dozen expletives on the way down!!!
It would've been the first censored, extraterrestrial live TV broadcast!!!

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Off topic just slightly, a beautiful quote from the prologue of First Man, in reference to the television broadcast and the unprecedented world wide audience:

After the Moon mission was over and the Apollo 11 astronauts were back on Earth, Buzz Aldrin remarked to Neil Armstrong,

"Neil, we missed the whole thing."

It makes me chuckle every time I read it.

[Outbackmanyep]

I reckon Neil DID say "For A man".....in a similar way you'd "im goin for a walk" you sort of blend in the "for" and "a" together so it all sounds like one word ie: "forra", don't just "hear" what Neil says but try and "listen" !
I have no problem and i don't think it's a stuff up on Neils part, he knows what he was supposed to say and he said it, because of the fact he didn't make "clear" there's nothing to suggest in my opinion that "one small step for a man..." wasn't said!

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

Originally Posted by renormalised

.....but what would be BIG, would be the first footsteps on a planet in a different solar system entirely, especially if it came within the next 100 years. ...... Stepping onto a completely alien world, light years from Earth, for the first time.

that's some serious drugs your on for sure