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Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 15:30:01 EST
From: Will Wheeler <WJW2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: One small step for (a) man...

>In article <DLnFzD.4EM@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
>Bo Bradham <flb3c@jm.acs.Virginia.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>Wait a minute. I'd always thought part of the controversy is that
>>Armstrong insists he said "a man" and that the "a" got
>>swallowed up by the vox switch or whatever. Nearly everyone who has
>>heard the tape insists he didn't say the "a" in the first place,
>>and that it must have been a scripted line that he muffed,
>>rather than the brilliant ad lib NASA wanted people to
>>believe that Armstrong had come up with.
>>

Armstrong admits in the newspaper article "Mystery of the Absent 'A'" that Bo cited, that he flubbed the line. However, it does appear that NASA and/or Amrstrong tried to make it look like he said "a man."

However, the same article quotes a 1971 interview in which Armstrong is asked if the 'a' had been lost in transmission. His reply "we'll never know" seems unnecessarily obtuse.

In "The First Lunar Landing: As Told by the Astronauts," which is a transcript of the post-flight press conference on August 12, 1969, the introduction has the following passage:

"And at 10:56 p.m., Armstrong, descending from Eagle's ladder and touching one foot to the Moon's surface, announced: 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' "

In the press conference, the following exchange took place:

Reporter: I'd like to ask Neil Armstrong when he began to think of

             what he would say when he put his foot down on the lunar
             surface and how long he pondered this--this statement about
             a small step for man, gigantic leap for mankind.

Armstrong: Yes, I did think about it. It was not extemporaneous, neither

              was it planned. It evolved during the conduct of the flight
              and I decided what the words would be while we were on the
              lunar surface just prior to leaving the LM.

This is one official document that says "a man," although the reporter didn't. Since the reporter didn't say "one gigantic leap," I'm not sure that it's such a big deal. Armstrong does state that he decided what to say all by himself.

In _Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions_, (NASA SP-4214), 1989, by William David Compton, p. 144:

"[Armstrong] stepped onto the Moon's surface, proclaiming 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'--inadvertently changing the meaning he intended to convey."

We are then referred to endnote 32, on pg. 294:

"...After the crew had returned to Houston, press representatives repeatedly asked what Armstrong had actually said. The Apollo news center at MSC issued the following release (copy in box 078-56, JSC History Office Files) on July 30, 1989: 'Armstrong said that his words when he first stepped on the moon were: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" not "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" as originally transcribed.' "

Which brings us two official documents that state he said "a man" in 1969. It looks to me like that was the official line back then.

Will "but I agree with Em, and think 'man' sound better" Wheeler

Penn State University       Besides, the lab can't afford a dominatrix
wjw2@psuvm.psu.edu          for public use. Users are just going to
wheeler@po.aers.psu.edu     have to get their own.--Jen Mullen