For *A* Man
Neil Armstrong, the first human to ever set foot on the moon, has long been accused of a major flub in the famous phrase: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Stated this way (as opposed to “for a man”), the words “man” and “mankind” essentially take on the same meaning, rendering the the prase — well — silly. Armstrong has often argued that the transmission he sent NASA upon their landing was misrecorded, a fact which has been confirmed by computer programmer Shann Ford.
According to Ford, Armstrong spoke, “One small step for a man …” in a total of 35 milliseconds, 10 times too fast for the “a” to be audible.The “a” was transmitted, though, and can be verified in an analysis using a Canadian sound editing software called GoldWave , Ford said.
I, personally, feel much better now, and will carry on being in awe that he even got there in the first place.
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