# Did astronaut Neil Armstrong muff his historic one small step line ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 4, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672 "2009-06-04T07:47:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/1 "2009-06-04T07:47:02Z")
[We still don’t know says cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/820/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line). New research says [yes,he did muff it](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8081817.stm) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/2 "2009-06-04T11:21:20Z")
We’ll call this to Cecil’s attention and see if he’d like to do an update… Although, it’s still not clear if this is settled. One researcher says there’s not enough time for the “a”, another researchers says there is. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/3 "2009-06-04T12:15:20Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Although, it’s still not clear if this is settled. One researcher says there’s not enough time for the “a”, another researchers says there is. According to the article, the later researchers (who concluded there was not room for the “a”) were using higher fidelity recordings, and thus their conclusion is more definitive. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/4 "2009-06-04T12:42:02Z")
I really don’t get the obsession with the quote. I don’t understand whay everyone debates, what it was supposed to say, what was said, what was meant – maybe I’m not thinking about it like everyone else: Is it supposed to be an off the cuff eloquence, that he planned himself, sitting in the LEM, as he got ready to go outside, or was it scripted for him, by NASA’s PR board? I always figured it was the second one, he flubbed his scripted line, and just moved on to the exploration, which is what his training was about, and why he was really there. I’m kinda assuming, as a former Navy test pilot, he’d want to focus his mind on more analytical or exploration pursuits, and he did the best he could with the scripted line, given the strain he was under at the time. Or do I sell him short, and that a recent college graduate should be that eloquent, off the cuff, given the standards of the day? I don’t walk around the lab, reciting poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/5 "2009-06-04T17:37:54Z")
Armstrong has always insisted he thought it up himself, and that he wasn’t given a script by NASA or the White House. In any event, I see no reason to disturb Cecil’s conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/6 "2009-06-04T17:50:34Z")
NASA and Armstrong and all the astronauts who were there all agree that Armstrong made the line up himself. They knew he was going to say something to commemorate the moment, because that’s the kind of guy he was, but nobody knew what until he said it. As for if he messed up or not, there is a lengthy pause just after “man” that _could_ be interpreted as Armstrong finishing the first half and then suddenly thinking, “Wait, did I just flub that? Shit, now what do I do? I guess I continue and pretend I said it right. They’ll figure it out.” I think it’s fair to do what encyclopedias have done, and insert the a parentheticallly to show it was intended but not actually said. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/7 "2009-06-04T19:50:12Z")
Yeah, wikipedia has a quote from him, saying that he did work it out for himself. If it were me, I would have sounded it out with Aldrin during pre-check, but I guess that just didn’t work for either of them. So now I’ve gone and caught the bug “What did he say, and what did he mean, and why, did he say, what we heard, if that’s not what he meant and what …” I figure he meant “a man”, he either forgot to say it, or said it while inhaling in the lunar EVA suit, and we missed it, or data loss, or maybe … Bah. Who cares what I think, on this topic. 😛 At any rate wikiped has his quote, go ahead a put an “a” in there. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/8 "2009-06-04T23:38:34Z")
Bah! Why not worry about the important stuff, like whether he really said “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/9 "2009-06-05T01:30:40Z")
It’s always been obvious to me that he flubbed it. Then everybody did their best to ignore this. Here’s what I’ve been wondering – in the weekd leading up to the moon landing, radio station WABC in New York ran a contest for what the first words on the moon ought to be. I never heard what the winner was. The point is, people were thinking about this at the time – it’s not as if Neil Armstrong had to come up with something on the fly because nobody attended to this detail. It seems very likely to me that quite a bit of though had gone into it before the flight. I suspect the line was picked long in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/10 "2009-06-05T01:32:18Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Bah! > > Why not worry about the important stuff, like whether he really said “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.” 😛 He did in the movie _Watchmen_! ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/11 "2009-06-05T08:38:20Z")
He should have went with [“OOOOOO…IT’S ALL STICKY!”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vITJdaJ4xxM) …I need a piss… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/12 "2009-06-05T10:24:22Z")
Arkcon writes: \> . . . Or do I sell him short, and that a recent college graduate should be that \> eloquent, off the cuff, given the standards of the day? . . . Huh? He wasn’t a recent college graduate. He was just short of his 39th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/13 "2009-06-10T19:17:46Z")
> [@zut](#): > > According to the article, the later researchers (who concluded there was not room for the “a”) were using higher fidelity recordings, and thus their conclusion is more definitive. Huh? Where did higher fidelity recordings come from? The originals were done using 1969 equipment, and transmitted a quarter-million miles before being recorded – certainly not what would be considered high-fidelity today (or even then, really). How could anyone suddenly have a higher fidelity recording than the original ones? Perhaps you mean that using modern technology, they were able to remove noise & otherwise clean up the original recordings? ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/14 "2009-06-10T19:40:33Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Huh? Where did higher fidelity recordings come from? The originals were done using 1969 equipment, and transmitted a quarter-million miles before being recorded – certainly not what would be considered high-fidelity today (or even then, really). How could anyone suddenly have a higher fidelity recording than the original ones? > > Perhaps you mean that using modern technology, they were able to remove noise & otherwise clean up the original recordings? From the article, > [@](#): > > They have been taken from the original magnetic tape recordings made at Johnson Space Center, Houston, which have recently been re-digitised to make uncompressed, higher-fidelity audio recordings. > These are discernibly clearer than earlier, more heavily compressed recordings used by the Australian investigation. No idea what any of that means, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/15 "2009-06-10T19:41:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Huh? Where did higher fidelity recordings come from? The originals were done using 1969 equipment, and transmitted a quarter-million miles before being recorded – certainly not what would be considered high-fidelity today (or even then, really). How could anyone suddenly have a higher fidelity recording than the original ones? > > Perhaps you mean that using modern technology, they were able to remove noise & otherwise clean up the original recordings? Perhaps the article linked to in the OP might answer that question? > [@](#): > > Riley and Olsson also studied the best recordings of the Apollo 11 mission audio ever released by Nasa. > > They have been taken from the original magnetic tape recordings made at Johnson Space Center, Houston, which have recently been re-digitised to make uncompressed, higher-fidelity audio recordings. > > These are discernibly clearer than earlier, more heavily compressed recordings used by the Australian investigation. So I guess I mean that, according to the article, the later researchers were using higher fidelity recordings. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/16 "2009-06-12T01:12:22Z")
Personally, I think he said “for a man”, not “for man”. But his Midwestern accent made it sound like “fer[SIZE=“1”]uh man”.[ul] [/ul][/SIZE] (I had to enlarge all the other words to show the de-emphasis of the “uh”) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/17 "2009-06-12T01:52:57Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Personally, I think he said “for a man”, not “for man”. But his Midwestern accent made it sound like “fer[SIZE=“1”]uh man”.[ul] > [/ul][/SIZE] > > (I had to enlarge all the other words to show the de-emphasis of the “uh”) Except, of course, for the fact that they specifically listened for this and there is no evidence that is what happened, they say. You really should read the associated story. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/18 "2009-06-12T02:12:49Z")
I say we should cut Neil some slack. Possible, just possible, that he had several things to think about at the time and wasn’t able to give diction just all the attention it - in hindsight - really needed. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/19 "2009-06-12T04:46:05Z")
You can purchase a facsimile of the original headline [here.](http://store.theonion.com/holy-shit-man-walks-on-fucking-moon-1969-p-332.html) Armstrong’s real words were, “Jesus fucking Christ, Houston. We’re on the fucking moon.” As well they should be. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672/20 "2009-06-12T05:00:16Z")
ETA, too late: I mean, dude was Navy, and we all know how sailors talk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-astronaut-neil-armstrong-muff-his-historic-one-small-step-line/498672.md?page=2)