When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon in 1969, everyone knows his famous line, but there's been some debate about what he actually said. Most people hear it as, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." But Armstrong insisted he said, "That's one small step for a man," which makes more sense, since "man" and "mankind" are pretty much the same thing. The tricky part is that the audio from the moon landing was a bit fuzzy, and that tiny "a" may have gotten lost in the static. Some people even analyzed the recordings and think he really did say it! Either way, it's still one of the most famous lines in history. Credit: Apollo 15: By NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details/Apollo%2015%20Never%20Been%20on%20a%20Ride%20like%20this%20Before Nixon and Paine: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6452860 Apollo 11 30th anniversary: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81992583 Neil armstrong 1999: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=525055 Armstrong: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78666355 Neil Armstrong: By NASA/Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31911 Neil Armstrong burial: By Bill Ingalls - https://flic.kr/p/daHRER, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21344630 Neil Armstrong pose: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55244 Pilot Neil Armstrong: By NASA/Great Images - https://flic.kr/p/fq2hZ1, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6448070 Neil Armstrong 1964: By NASA - https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47323993 Neil Armstrong in T-38: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116460583 Neil Armstrong with X-15: By US Air Force, NASA Dryden - https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/neil-armstrong-with-x-15-1-after-flight/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38397762 research pilot Neil Armstrong: By NASA - https://flic.kr/p/cyfeoq, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34778171 The Mercury 7: By NASA - https://flic.kr/p/pfm6ec, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43724030 X-15 Pilots: By NASA - https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/x-15-pilots-2/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6448124 Gemini 8 prime crew: By NASA - https://flic.kr/p/cZWtJ3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20918269 Project Mercury: By NASA - https://flic.kr/p/eFzrjZ, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45863272 Gemini simulator: By NASA Cultural Resources, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79447897 GEMINI-TITAN-8: By NASA - https://archive.org/details/S66-24446, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16180464 Armstrong and Scott: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78644199 David R. Scott: By NASA - https://flic.kr/p/fud5Rg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47462350 LLRV Testing: By NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details/LLRV%20Testing%20Contributed%20to%20Apollo%2011s%20Success Ultimate Saturn V Launch: By NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details/Ultimate%20Saturn%20V%20Launch%20w%20Enhanced%20Sound Neil Armstrong standing: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79447903 New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal: By NASA/Stephanie Schierholz, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20625011 Neil Armstrong 1964 portrait: By NASA - https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47323993 Apollo 13 Service Module: By NASA/Kipp Teague - https://www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/a13/images13.html#8500, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41374924 pre-flight press conference: By NASA - https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47331528 CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: University Hall OSU: By Robert Chriss, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9760384 Purdue University: By Diego Delso, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22762755 CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0: One Ring Blender Render: By Peter J. Yost, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98351026 Presidential Medal of Freedom: By Jack Ryan Morris, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93902506 CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0: Neil Armstrong, 1999: By John Mathew Smith/Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com/Laurel Maryland - https://flic.kr/p/8MQpoW, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74877543 EAA Ford Tri-Motor: By clembore - https://flic.kr/p/GjaX3M, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=143167202 Animation is created by Bright Side. #brightside Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
00:10Is one of the most famous quotes of all time.
00:13But was it really what Neil Armstrong uttered on July 20th, 1969 as he set foot on the moon
00:20for the first time in human history?
00:23It looks like it both is and is not.
00:28Thousands of people back on earth who were following the historical event live heard
00:31the phrase without one small detail.
00:34The indefinite article A.
00:37That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
00:41There's no such thing as small details when it comes to grammar and the absence of A slightly
00:47changed the meaning of the whole sentence.
00:49Since man and mankind became synonyms in that case.
00:55It basically meant, that's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind.
01:02Neil Armstrong himself told the press after the Apollo 11 mission that there definitely
01:07was an A there, but people just didn't hear it.
01:11Thirty years later, at the event's anniversary, Armstrong couldn't hear the article while
01:16listening to the recording of that famous transmission.
01:19That's one small step for man.
01:22He explained that he wasn't the most articulate person and he left a lot of syllables out.
01:27So it could have been a suppressed sound and the voice mic simply failed to pick it up.
01:33But he insisted that A had been intended.
01:36As without it, the statement wouldn't have made sense.
01:41In 2006, a computer programmer backed up Armstrong's words with some digital magic.
01:46That's one small step for man.
01:49He ran the audio through some software that singles out nerve impulses and saw it in the
01:54graphic form of sound waves.
01:57It became obvious that there was a 35 millisecond long bump of sound between for and man.
02:03It was too brief for other humans to hear, but Neil clearly did leave room for an A.
02:10Several years later, Ohio State University studied the speaking patterns of central Ohioans,
02:16like the first man on the moon, and noticed that they often leave out words like for and A.
02:23In a BBC documentary, Armstrong's younger brother Dean mentioned that he had seen the
02:28quote written on a piece of paper months before the mission.
02:32Whether it really happened or not remains a mystery because he had never mentioned it
02:36before the documentary.
02:39Like with many famous quotes, people tried to find some symbolism behind Armstrong's words.
02:45One of his biographers suggested that the quote was inspired by the astronauts' love
02:50for J.R.R. Tolkien's books.
02:54There was a similar line in The Hobbit,
02:57Not a great leap for a man, but a leap in the dark.
03:00He found that connection because Armstrong had a Tolkien-themed email address in the
03:0590s and after retiring from NASA, moved with his family to a farm dubbed Rivendell.
03:12It was also the name of a valley and the home of Elrond, the half-human, half-elf
03:18from Lord of the Rings.
03:20Armstrong himself denied that connection since he hadn't read any of Tolkien's books before
03:25going on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.
03:30Others believe the quote was based on the NASA memo.
03:33Going to the moon was no walk in the park, so it was important that the first person
03:38there pronounces some iconic words about it being a historic step forward for all mankind.
03:44Again, the astronaut denied having any memo.
03:48He later shared that it had just been the most logical and right thing to say.
03:55Armstrong literally had to go a long way to make that legendary step.
04:00He took his first airplane ride at the age of six in a Ford tri-motor plane with his
04:05father and that's when he fell in love with aviation.
04:09He was an active Boy Scout and earned the highest possible rank, Eagle Scout.
04:15On his 16th birthday, he became a licensed student pilot before he got his driver's license.
04:22He then went on to study aeronautical engineering.
04:26His program involved two years of university studies at Purdue University, then leave for
04:32two years of flight training and one year of aviator service before returning to finish
04:36his final two years.
04:39While at Purdue, Armstrong joined a fraternity and wrote and directed a musical for the school
04:44Varsity Varieties.
04:46He was investing so much effort in his version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that he
04:51got a C that term, in psychology for engineers, a C in aircraft vibrations, and a D in electrical
04:58engineering.
05:00During his aviator service, Armstrong had to eject from the plane over the water.
05:05The winds were taking his parachute back to land.
05:08When he thought that was it, his friend from flight school in a service vehicle picked
05:12him up and saved his life.
05:15Armstrong came back to Purdue, completed his degree, got married for the first time, and
05:20became a civilian research pilot right after.
05:23The couple moved to California and whenever he flew over their house, Neil would tip the
05:28wings for his wife and son on the ground to see it was him.
05:32He had over 1,100 flight hours testing various supersonic planes and the X-15 rocket plane.
05:42He wasn't able to apply when the U.S. Air Force was recruiting for the first man in
05:47space soonest program in 1958 because they didn't accept civilian test pilots.
05:54In April 1962, NASA accepted applicants again for Project Gemini, and this time he was eligible.
06:02Neil handed in his application past the deadline, so it was only thanks to a flight simulator
06:07who had known him and slipped the application in the pile that he got into the space program.
06:14Back then, he wasn't considered NASA's number one pilot and flew as a backup crew.
06:21In 1966, Armstrong became the first American civilian in space and together with David
06:27Scott pulled off the first manual space docking maneuver.
06:31And that's where things have gone wrong.
06:34After docking, a rocket thruster had a meltdown and the spacecraft started spinning uncontrollably.
06:41They had to separate from the Agena.
06:43Armstrong took back control of the Gemini spacecraft and they managed to perform an
06:48epic emergency splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
06:52Then it was time to choose who was going to become the first human on the moon.
06:57It had to be a civilian and the decision makers at NASA chose Armstrong for that honor.
07:04Some people believed it was because he had a likeable personality, quiet confidence,
07:09and was working hard on the way to the stars, literally.
07:13To prepare the astronauts for landing the lunar module and the reduced gravity they'd
07:18experience, NASA ordered practice vehicles to be built.
07:23In early May 1968, at just 98 feet above the ground, Armstrong's vehicle started rolling
07:29without control.
07:31He had to act quickly and eject to save himself.
07:35Later analysis proved that if he had done it just half a second later, that would have
07:40been his final moments.
07:46On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, along with other members of the mission, took off for the moon.
07:54NASA built the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket that had ever flown successfully, to
07:59take them there.
08:01It was as tall as a 36-story building.
08:06Four days later, they reached their goal.
08:09After spending 21 hours and 36 minutes there, leaving their footprints, which are still
08:14visible on the moon's surface, collecting surface samples, taking photos, and testing
08:19scientific instruments, and headed back to Earth.
08:25Armstrong didn't enjoy public attention that much, so he decided to take up a teaching
08:29career.
08:31He became famous worldwide, but he still had to work hard to defend his master's thesis
08:36at the University of Southern California.
08:39He then retired from NASA and moved back to Ohio with his family, where he would teach
08:44for the following eight years.
08:46He didn't cut the connections with NASA altogether, and worked with them on several commissions,
08:52helping the investigations into both the Apollo 13 malfunction and the tragic Challenger space
08:57shuttle incident.
08:59In 1985, Armstrong journeyed to the North Pole with a group of fellow explorers.
09:05It made perfect sense that he wanted to see it not only from space, but from the ground
09:10level.
09:12For his giant leap for mankind, Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
09:18the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and the Congressional Gold Medal.