Finally, it's back to "...one small step for A man..."

[Blue Fire]

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that an Australian based programmer has found the 'missing "a"' in Neil Armstrong's famous line: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong's first words from the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, now can be confidently recast, according to the research, as, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

It is the more dramatic and grammatically correct phrasing that Armstrong, now 76, has often said was the version he transmitted to NASA's Mission Control for broadcast to worldwide television.

Fascinating article - I remember listening intently to Armstrong's words as he set foot on the moon,... and I remember all the ensuing controversy over what folks heard as opposed to how it was meant to be heard and whether Neil had actually made one of the worst goofs of all time, considering the import of the whole idea of humans first setting foot upon an extraterrestial body.

This programmer downloaded and analyzed the original transmission from the moon to NASA. His conclusions are making Armstrong happier I'll bet since Neil has always insisted that he thought he said it right the first time.

"It was meant for all mankind, and it's important to have it correct," Hansen said of the phrase. "It's a concise, eloquent statement for the ages at a unique milestone for our species."

Can't think of anything that says it better!

[Dragon Star]

Bah, doesn't matter, means the same thing.

[Blue Fire]

I used to think so too. At the time, I figured hey, what's the difference? After all, we all knew what he meant! But "grammar teachers" disagreed, and quite adamantly said that "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" = "one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind" And they are technically correct, even though I would (and did) place a different meaning on "man" as opposed to "mankind". I suspect a lot of other people felt the same way as I did at the time, but I have to admit that I actually just "wanted" it to mean what it should have. If you had actually been around in 1969, you would have remembered the absolutely horrible let down when the tapes were played and replayed and replayed some more as the media storm tried to find an "a" but failed. For such a momentous event, it was just unbelievable to think that Armstrong had made this simple mistake. Watching that moon landing and Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was THE Single Most Important and Grandest event in the whole of human history to the hundreds of millions of people witnessing it at the time. So Believe me, it WAS a big deal to leave out the "a". But of course, over the years, things simmered down and people mostly forgot about it. But I'll betcha there's now a whole generation of folks who were there to watch it live, like me, who now will take great comfort in there actually being evidence that Neil said it right the first time all along. To the younger folk who weren't there in 1969, yeah, I can almost understand the attitude of "it doesn't matter", but I think that is because they simply weren't there to comprehend what it was all about in those days.

I truly mean no offense, Dragon Star, but I respectfully disagree that it doesn't matter. History is forever!