Computer Analysis Sets NASA History Straight 278
Ellis D. Tripp writes, "A computer analysis has upheld Neil Armstrong's version of the first words spoken on the lunar surface. The word 'a' was dropped due to a communications glitch, and Armstrong has been accused of flubbing his words since the historic 1969 landing. The corrected statement was 'That's one small step for *A* man, One giant leap for mankind.'"
Good news (Score:5, Funny)
Greedo (Score:5, Funny)
Yup, the Moon spoke first! No, wait...
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Actually, it was Alderaan.
Han (Score:5, Funny)
Armstrong desended the ladder and was about to step on the surface when it was Aldrin that spoke first...
"Wait, Neil! That's no moon..."
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(I know it's not kosher to reply to yourself but I accidentally set this set up with the "No, wait...")
Re:Greedo (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Good news (Score:4, Insightful)
"Computer analysis" my ass.
His REAL first words (Score:5, Funny)
Holy Shit! I'm on the fscking moon!
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i think they were meaning that there was interference (static) that screwed up that part of the transmission and the computer analysis allowed them to clean it up or something.
Re:Good news (Score:5, Informative)
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*Ahem* (Score:3, Funny)
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(now to take bets on whether this gets modded funny or troll)
Re:*Ahem* (Score:4, Funny)
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Wait, let me try... mod parent "flamebait"
/ducks
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Re:*Ahem* (Score:5, Funny)
*ducks*
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Re:*Ahem* (underrated moderation) (Score:4, Informative)
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Yet more proof that the moon landings were a hoax.
There's someone you really ought to meet. [csicop.org]
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Well (Score:5, Interesting)
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Either way, they should have just STFU about it, since "one small step for A man" doesn't flow nearly as well.
The only reason to correct the record is to put more emphasis on Buzz. He might as well have said "one small step for me"
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Re:Well (Score:4, Insightful)
I remember it as a quote that didn't make sense. In context, "man" == "mankind". It would have been silly to say "That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind".
Ever since I learned that Armstrong contended that the "a" was lost, the quotation made sense and IMHO it's one of the most profound statements ever uttered... unless you drop the "a". Let's try to correct the error and remember what he REALLY said.
The fact that the record was incorrect for 40 years should be a footnote.
Re:Well (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't make sense, so you have to give it your own sense. Here's how I've always done that:
If the "a" had come through, then we would have got the original meaning. It was Armstrong representing mankind. Without the "a", it becomes all of us. This is not to imply that Armstrong was overestimating his own importance. AFAIK, he was as humble as anyone can be in that circumstance. Nevertheless, the "divine edit" of the "a" makes the two parts of the utterance into a nonsequitur that can be resolved by assuming that Armstrong meant that the "one small step for man" was taken by all of us, to the extent that we were all humans just like him; the small step was the mere physical act of getting there. The "giant leap" was all the implications of having gotten there.
Besides. Why mess with success.
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I wish that were true, but I fear you give far too much credit to public education. Go on, ask a 12th grader. Then cry.
Ingrained Quotes. (Score:3, Informative)
However, I just listened [youtube.com] to it, and here's my take:
Armstrong has the "One small step" speach properly memorized and ready to go. He knows he has to do it right, because it will be broadcast live to the entire planet. He describes the lunar surface, then steps off the landing pad, and says, "That's one small step for man... One..." Damn! I goofed. "giant leap for mankind".
Re:Ingrained Quotes, and hearing what you think (Score:5, Insightful)
"That's one small step f'r a man" etc. And then Walter Cronkite tells everybody he said "for man", and everyone believes it.
If the channel is slightly noisy, you can "hear" whatever you think you're going to hear in it. Consider how often people misperceive song lyrics into something totally different. Once Cronkite told them that - and it hit the headlines that way - that's what people think they hear. Try hearing it as "step f'ra man".
Re: Well (Score:5, Insightful)
What's sad is that it hasn't turned out to be a giant leap for mankind after all, but rather the high-water point of a short-term venture we haven't had the will to follow through on.
Re: Well (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Well (Score:4, Interesting)
What's funny is I always thought there was meant to be an 'a' in it. When you hear the audio, it sounds like something is missing before the man based on how 'man' was said (to me, it sounds like m-man, which lead me to believe it was a-man). So, whenever I said it, I put the 'a' in there.
So, while you may not think there's anyone, I'm one who would quote with the 'a.'
In other news, "Take the 'L' out of lover, and it's over."
And in other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And in other news... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:And in other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Sound Stage? (Score:3, Funny)
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The origional studio recording was perfect but when it was broadcast from the studio later that day, some sound guy in black jeans and a mullet decided to 'change the settings'.... If you listen really really carfully, you can here him say "ah, shit...".
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Seriously, its +1 Funny -1 Troll.. Learn how to moderate people.
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*A* Computer Analyst? (Score:4, Funny)
Flubbing the biggest first post of all time.... (Score:2, Funny)
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Sorry, I'm really bored tonight...
History Re-written (Score:4, Interesting)
Niel Armstrong did have alot of critics who complained that he changed his story, or was trying to change what he had apparently said in order to make it sound better/different. This computer analysis should quiet his critics, but the unfortunate truth is most of the public will probably never hear about this analysis and life will go on...
There was an interview several years back where Mr. Armstrong said that he said the word *A* during his famous radio transmission from the moon. Someone could try Voice Stress Analysis [sourceforge.net] on that interview to determine if he is lying or telling the truth, to verify the results of this analysis. =)
Yahma
BLASTProxy [blastproxy.com] - A public, anomymous Apache based proxy service.
The other sounds better -- it's iambic. (Score:4, Interesting)
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What he really said: (Score:4, Funny)
"Ah shit! I pissed my pants!"
because he was so nervous. Remember, he is an engineer, not a spokesman. But it was covered up.
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Who hasn't had something come out wrong, when they were making a presentation, or leading a group or something? People get nervous. Now, multiply that by a million, since the whole world is watching...you have to give some elbow room.
Sure, if you look at it in a strict sense, it didn't make sense, but I would imagine most intelligent people would still get the jist of it.
Re:What he really said: (Score:5, Funny)
Indeed. If they sent me, it probably would have gone down something like this:
That's one sman, uh, that's one step for a small man, I mean one man for a small, I mean one step on a small, I mean one man is a small....Oh fuck! People of Earth, I'm on the goddam fucking moon, okay? And, hey, fuck those ruskies, eh?
Jesus H Christ in a chicken basket (Score:2)
I see wide ranging aplications... (Score:3, Funny)
NASA Alzheimers (Score:5, Funny)
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The word a in that phrase is an article, not a pronoun. In other context it might be a preposition or even a pronoun for British speakers of English.
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Well, I certainly didn't mean it in a perjorative sense. More in the sense that if you used "a" as a pronoun to a person in America, they wouldn't no what the hell you were talking about. In any case, "a man" is definitely using it as a preposition.
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Yes... (Score:3, Funny)
Now that its been officially reported in
Hmm. Never mind.
The Straight Dope (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a951117.html [straightdope.com]
While searching for this in the web site's archives I also found an entry from 1990 discussing the "small step for a man" argument:http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_362.html [straightdope.com]
My parents tell me that I actually saw the moon landing, but since I was a baby at the time I really can't comment on what I heard him say.Re: (Score:2)
9-Nov-1990
My feeling is, why persecute the guy? I say we do what Chicago reporters were once urged to do with the tortured syntax of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley: don't write what he said, write what he meant. "A man" it is.
Am I the only one who disagrees with that statement?
Just on principle?
It's like doing a TV interview and then having them correct the published transcript to reflect what the interviewee meant to say.
Tranquility base (Score:5, Insightful)
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
I always prefer it anyway - it doesn't sound like some crap written by a PR wanker.
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I've seen a few specials that have shown NASA had no idea what he'd say and that he pretty much winged it.
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Or, to put too fine a point on it, your phrase was the first spoken from the lunar surface; Armstrong's "One small step..." was the first phrase spoken on the lunar surface.
According to the HBO miniseries... (Score:5, Funny)
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120570/quotes [imdb.com]
The part about Collins jokingly saying Armstrong had no balls always gave me a chuckle. :)
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those were the first words tranhsmitted to the orbiter.
the first words were... "holy CRAP it worked!"
First words after SETTING FOOT on the moon... (Score:2)
"It's some kind of soft stuff. I can kick it around with my boot."
(Though I really need to get hold of a transcription or tape of the landing to check.)
The "That's one small step for {whatever...}" line was the first words said once he was STANDING on the moon. B-)
I always liked what Pete Conrad said... (Score:4, Interesting)
"Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." -- Pete Conrad
On Apollo 14:
"It's been a long way, but we're here." - Alan Shepard
Hmmmm - not *quite* so memorable.
Government vs. commercial (Score:5, Funny)
Either that, or some other government making a political sound bite that promotes a specific ideology or theology instead of something referencing the accomplishments of mankind in general, would have been equally disturbing.
I'm really proud that the folks at NASA took time to plan what would be said, realizing that it would be a historic moment.
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Hehe, or "Funding this space program... Billions of your tax dollars... Me walking on the moon... Priceless!"
I wonder how many that would have upset, heh.
Re:Government vs. commercial (Score:5, Funny)
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Or worse...
"This one small step is made possible by the new Nike Space Jordans. For this lunar cycle only, save 10% off at any major footwear retailer! Over."
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"**** YEAH! I'm on the moon BITCHES!"
The tin foil hat version of the omission (Score:2)
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If it happened to day (Score:2, Funny)
An alien? (Score:2)
reverse talk (Score:4, Interesting)
Man will spacewalk [lifecounsel.info]
Also at reversespeech.com (Score:2)
http://www.reversespeech.com/ [reversespeech.com]
And yes, I first heard this clip when this man was on Art Bell's radio show in the late '90's.
And yes, I think he's a complete luna tick. No offense meant to true Moon residents or visitors.
Actually.. (Score:2)
But either works, and its good hes vindicated before his death.
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Weird. I didn't know there was a controversy (Score:2)
When I first heard the recording, I thought I heard him say "a man". I've always understood it to be merely a shoddy record. I didn't know there was a controversy.
Then again, when I first heard about it, I thought the gay marriage bill in Canada was going to be a triviality that was barely even newsworthy.
People make such a big deal out of nothing.
Just an analyst? (Score:4, Interesting)
His work is pretty cool http://www.shann-ford.com/001%20programming.htm [shann-ford.com]
Oh and he's also a jounalist.
It would have been funnier if it was 'the' instead (Score:3, Funny)
The Onion's take on the subject (Score:2)
Ah, what a pity. (Score:2)
However, I'll be sure to ask Armstrong about it if I bump into him next January, since he comes to Baja to hunt siberian brant, which migrates here every winter. Maybe I can just leave a message to t
French Translation (Score:2)
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Just be glad it wasn't me (Score:2)
I read the story, it makes absolutely no sense (Score:3, Insightful)
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Yeah, but if he'd said that, in 100 years from now, we'd be having people claiming that the moon was founded on Christian principles.
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But now the bastards at NASA ruined this with their poor audio equipment.
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Nice to hear computer analysis confirms that it was the VOX.
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Someone had to confirm that it was, in fact, a giant leap.
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