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Computer Analysis Sets NASA History Straight

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the darn-it-i-said-it-right dept.

Ellis D. Tripp writes, "A computer analysis has upheld Neil Armstrong's version of the first words spoken on the lunar surface. The word 'a' was dropped due to a communications glitch, and Armstrong has been accused of flubbing his words since the historic 1969 landing. The corrected statement was 'That's one small step for *A* man, One giant leap for mankind.'"

1 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    In this context, man would be short for mankind, so in effect Neil would have been saying "That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind". Which is totally stupid. What he thought he was saying was: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", which means that Neil (personally, aka: A man) took one small (1 ft or so off the ladder) step to reach the moon, but it took a giant leap in mankind (Engineering: physical and social) to put a man on the moon.