Definition of One small step
On July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon, he said "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind". Recordings of Armstrong's Apollo 11 transmission do not provide evidence for the indefinite article "a" before "man", leading to some controversy about whether he said the word or not.
After years of Armstrong and NASA insisting that the static obscured it, Armstrong conceded that he must have dropped the "a" after carefully listening to the recording. Several scientific analyses have been conducted with some suggesting that he did say the "a" and others suggesting that he did not. As a result, the "a" is often included in brackets in the quote.
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Frequently asked questions
What is One small step?
On July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon, he said "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind".