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Subscribe to RSSAstronaut Neil Armstrong claimed that his famous quote "This is one small step for man…" was spontaneous, but his brother Dean Armstrong says in a new BBC documentary that the quote was dreamed up months before the lunar landing.
The brother of first moonwalker Neil Armstrong says in a new BBC documentary that the phrase accompanying humanity's first footprint on the moon — "that's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" — was not a spur-of-the-moment improvisation but a speech that was written out and practiced in advance.
In a rare interview, Dean Armstrong recalled that his brother slipped him the words — including the long-disputed reference to "a man" — on a piece of paper as they played a game of Risk, weeks before the Apollo 11 launch in July 1969.
"He says, 'What do you think about that?' I said 'fabulous.' He said 'I thought you might like that, but I wanted you to read it,'" Dean Armstrong is quoted as saying in a Telegraph report on the documentary, titled "Neil Armstrong: First Man on the Moon." The show premiered tonight on BBC Two.
The genesis of one of history's most famous phrases has long been shrouded in mystery: In his definitive history of the Apollo moon effort, "A Man on the Moon," Andrew Chaikin noted that as the mission neared, Neil Armstrong was inundated with suggestions for his speech, including passages from the Bible and from Shakespeare.
Chaikin implied that Armstrong was undecided about what he'd say until after Apollo 11's Eagle lunar lander had set down on Tranquility Base: "Now, on the moon, Armstrong knew he could delay no longer. As he thought about the first step he would take from Eagle's footpad he pondered the inherent paradox — a small step, yet a significant one — and he knew what he would say."
NASA / EPA
See images from the career of astronaut and American hero Neil Armstrong.
Dean Armstrong's recollection suggests that his astronaut brother, who died in August at the age of 82, scripted the words early on but held them close to the vest. The BBC documentary's director, Christopher Riley, speculated that Armstrong let people think the words came to him spontaneously to head off any outside tinkering in advance, or any second-guessing in retrospect.
The interview also confirms that Neil Armstrong meant to say "one small step for a man" — even though the "a" wasn't audible in the transmission from the moon. That's an important stylistic point, because the "a" draws a contrast between the physical length of a human's footstep and Apollo 11's "giant leap" for human exploration.
After the flight, Armstrong insisted that he intended to say "a man." Some experts say that the "a" was dropped because of a glitch in the radio signal, but most assume that Armstrong just left out the word. As the years went on, Armstrong's comments on the mystery took on an air of ambiguity. "We'll never know," Neil Armstrong told an interviewer in 1971.
If he did leave out the word, it's a natural slip to make: Dean Armstrong omitted the "a" himself the first time he quoted the phrase, and had to correct himself a moment later. "It was 'that is one small step for A man,'" he said.
Update for 5:30 p.m. ET Dec. 30: A commenter points out that Dean's recollection runs counter to what his brother Neil told James Hansen about the speech for his authorized biography, "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong," published in 2005:
"Once on the surface and realizing that the moment was at hand, fortunately I had some hours to think about it after getting there. My own view was that it was a very simplistic statement: what can you say when you step off of something? Well, something about a step. It just sort of evolved during the period that I was doing the procedures of the practice takeoff and the EVA prep and all the other activities that were on our flight schedule at the time. I didn't think it was particularly important, but other people obviously did. Even so, I have never thought that I picked a particularly enlightening statement. It was a very simple statement."
So maybe the controversy over those first words from the lunar surface will continue after all. ...
Update for 4:50 p.m. ET Jan. 4: Over the past few days, there's been a lot of back and forth over Neil and Dean Armstrong's intentions. Was Neil lying when he said that the words "just sort of evolved" after the moon landing? Was Dean lying when he said Neil had the words in mind before liftoff? In a Space.com commentary, Andrew Chaikin suggests that both men could be right. He says Neil Armstrong wasn't the kind of guy to let the matter of his moon speech go unconsidered until the last minute:
"... Nothing in Neil’s post-flight statements rules out the possibility that he thought up the 'one small step' line before leaving Earth. He didn’t say 'I thought up the quote after we landed'; he said, 'I decided what I would say after we landed.'
"Dean Armstrong's story just adds a little ambiguity. Maybe Neil had more than one quote in mind at that point, and only shared one of them with his brother. Or maybe the quote he showed his brother was an early draft, but after all these years, Dean remembers seeing the final version.
"We'll probably never know the answer.
"What it does not mean is that somehow Armstrong 'fibbed' or 'lied' to the public for 40 years. Everyone who knew Neil well has described him as extraordinarily principled. That was certainly the man I saw when I interviewed him, and in the years that followed, as we became friends. ..."
More about the first moonwalker:
- The Year in Space: Hello, Mars ... Farewell, Neil
- The lighter side of Neil Armstrong
- Why Neil Armstrong was camera-shy
- Cosmic Log archive on Neil Armstrong
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Neil Armstrong backwards is Gnorts Mr. Alien
If he were to do it now-a-days he would have to utter some sponsors slogan..."This is one small step for a man...so I'm going to JUST DO IT!"
Even in the Armstrong Bio "First Man" Neil admitted that the words were improvised shortly before he step outside the LM. I don't believe Armstrong's brother. Why does this information come out after Neil has passed away? Neil always affirmed that the historic first words were never scripted. Sounds to me like his brother is trying to weasel his way into Neil's legacy.
Please. The line was clearly scripted and rehearsed and blown by dropping the "a". He was so damn proud of it that he repeated it several times on the way home thus diluting its impact. If he had said something like "Holy smokes! I'm on the freaking *MOON*! Hi Mom!" I'd believe *that* was improvised
line was totally scripted...only fools would actually believe Neil improvised it.
If it were true that Neil Armstrong had written out the words in advance and given the piece of paper to his brother, you would think that the brother would have saved the piece of paper. After all, this was to be a very momentous event in the history of mankind and that piece of paper would be something that many museums would love to have to display and would likely be quite valuable. The fact that the brother does not have the paper, along with Neil Armstrong's own accounts of how the words came about, tends to make me doubt the brother's story. I would sooner believe Neil Armstrong's own account as published in his biography than his brother's story which he conveniently waited until after Neil's death to recount. I would think that his brother would have told the story about the exchange between them at some point while Neil was alive if his story were true. The fact that the brother is telling this story after Neil Armstrong died makes me think that this is just a lame attempt on the part of the brother to insert himself into the history of the event.
Yeah what surprizes me is that people are saying that Neil Armstrong lied, instead of questioning whether Dean Armstrong is telling the truth or not. A man who reveals something about his own brother after his death certainly has motives.
Roger that. Step was in 1969. 2005 biography confirms not scripted but now, less that six months after his death the brother comes forward for his 15 minutes of fame? Paaaaleeze.
Making the leap was one thing, making a footprint was something else. What a leap, what a touchdown!
The other still-simmering controversy over the 'small step' is the continuing misrepresentation in documentaries and even some major books that Armstrong's 'small step' was actually the jump down from the bottom rung of the LM ladder, to the lunar surface. Actually, of course, it was once he had both feet on the footpad, and then moved his left foot to the side and down onto the dirt. That was a true 'small step', and I heard him say it live. But the misinterpretation is, if anything, gaining popularity as the years pass.
You're right, "Jim O" ... and my favorite NBC News space analyst, Jim Oberg, addressed that in an article that has been archived on our website:
That's one small misstep for most moon tales
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31965103/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/thats-one-small-misstep-most-moon-tales/
Thanks for the reminder about that story, Jim ;-)
When he noted "I'm at the foot of the ladder..." and described the up-close appearance of the surface, it's clear that he was still standing on the LM footpad at the time.
Then explicitly; "I'm going to step off the LM now." (watching via CBS News, either Walter Cronkite or Wally Schirra almost talked over that)
Then Neil's quote.
I remember this not only first hand, but from an audio recording I made then, and listened to many times.
Also, it should be understood that there's a telescoping section between the last ladder rung, and the footpad. that will compress somewhat, depending on the force of touchdown. On Apollo 12, between the apparent fact that Intrepid's landing was somewhat lighter than Eagle's, and that Pete Conrad was a somewhat shorter man than Neil Armstrong, the space in between the ladder and footpad was a somewhat greater stretch for Pete. Prompting his quote:
"That may be a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me."
What I want clarification on is....
WHAT WAS THE 2nd sentence he spoke...?
Supposed it went something like : "...and congratulations Mr. "Smith"
"Smith being the unknown name of his supposed neighbor Ed Smith, whose wife
told him that he could expect to have sex again when men walk on the moon...
was that statement made & if so who is "Mr.Smith" ?
It was "Mr. Gorsky" ... but that was pure fiction. The joke is addressed in this NASA chronicle of what Neil Armstrong actually said:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.step.html
Mr. Dean A should've been a professional scriptwriter.
Well, the most awesome revelation in this report is that Neil Armstrong played RISK! I'm actually more interested in Armstrong's Risk win/loss record than I am at what he said on the moon. Did he favor playing Europe? North America? Africa?
Come on Boyle, do your research! :)
I always liked coming out of Australia...
Indeed. I immediately smiled at the thought of our national space hero playing a game I love so much that I built a website for strategy games, sgamers.com.
Why is this important? I don't understand why all of sudden are we making a BIG DEAL out of the statement. It is done and over with - it really has no bearing whether it was rehearsed or spontaneous. It really is unimportant!
It seems to be important enough for you to comment on it.
How do you figure? It's part of social history. You have to remember what the Apollo project was all about. It was about showing the Soviets that we could do something that they could not. They had pretty much *all* the firsts in space. You may also have noticed that as soon as the US got there, the Soviets immediately gave up all ambitions of going to the Moon and focused on space stations where they got in another first with Salyut. Everything about the Apollo program was about carefully crafted public relations and it was mandatory that the first words spoken from the Moon be memorable and momentous. If you think it's unimportant you are simply wrong. In the context of Apollo's mission, those words and the fact they were uttered by an American were far far more important than the comparatively minor science that was done there. Do you know that the Apollo 11 EVA took place in an area smaller than a tennis court? That was the extent of their "exploration". It would be as if Columbus had come to the new world only to pick a few shells up off the beach and then sailed home again. No, that was not the mission. Making the footprint and saying the words was the mission.
Because some people are still curious about it. What more do you need?
Texans like to point out that while the "small step" line came when he descended to the moon's surface, the first word spoken when the LM landed was "Houston". "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed".
That's not true. Listen to the recording. The first words spoken were Buzz Aldrin going through the first part of the shutdown sequence. My personal thought is that it may have been Buzz' attempt to take some spotlight away from Neil A. (it certainly wouldn't have been necessary to talk through the checklist items out loud). The second line was spoken by Capcom Charlie Duke (from earth, of course) to the effect "We copy you down, Eagle". Then came the famous "Houston" line.
Aldrin has always been more PR friendly than Armstrong. For a long time Armstrong had no interest in talking to the press. The rumor was that he was quite resentful that he had been scrubbed from all future space flights after Apollo 11. He never said anything like that publicly to the best of my knowledge, so it's just speculation. Anyway, nobody was all that interested in Mike Collins, Armstrong wasn't talking, but Aldrin is what you might call a "people person", happy to talk about his exploits to anyone who cares to listen. That personality might lead you to believe that he might try to undercut Armstrong, but I don't think that sounds like him. He is the one who was the team player being the visible Moon walker for NASA when Neil basically dropped out of sight. He did finally become a bit less shy, but it took him a long time. Almost all of the really interesting interviews with him I have seen come from the last decade of his life.
Read Gene Cernan's and Mike Collins' memoirs for a look at the way Buzz behaved at the time. Cernan was particularly critical of the way Buzz made it loud and clear that he felt he was being cheated out of being the first. According to Collins, Armstrong took Buzz behind a closed door and had what he called a "brief and productive discussion". No one will ever know what exactly was said in that discussion, but Buzz was better behaved after that.
The entire sequence:
Neil: "Contact light..." (curb feeler-like sensors on three of the LM footpads register contact with the surface)
Fairly long pause.
Neil: "Okay, engine stop. A-C-A out of detent."
Buzz: "Got it."
Neil: "Mode control both auto, descent engine command override off, engine arm off, 4-13 is in."
Capcom: "We copy you down, Eagle."
Neil: "Houston, ah...Tranquility Base here. the Eagle has landed."
Capcom (not expecting the change in callsign): "Roger Twan-Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue here, we're breathing again, thanks a lot."
Mostly today you'll hear shortened and edited versions of this, but trust me, that was it.
You decide for yourselves what counts as 'first word' from the surface.
Those are the words, but it was Buzz who said the checklist items.
I had heard he messed up the words, but I believe he had a lot more on his mind (like is this suit gonna work..I sure hope we get back OK) than getting a rehearsed phrase "just right". I think it's kind of funny actually. He just proved himself a "man". And we made it to the moon in spite of that...and because of that.
I like what Neil said just the way we heard it; better than "a man".
I like what we heard Neil say just as it was; better than "a man" !!!
Neil Armstrong was from Ohio, and spoke fluent Midwestern. I also speak Midwestern, since I was raised near Chicago. What Neil said was "That's one small step fera man".
In the meantime, Michael Collins was the first man to fly solo around the moon.
No, that distinction belongs to John Young of Apollo 10. He orbited alone in the command module while Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan descended close to the moon's surface in the lander's major test flight.
Actually I believe you are mistaken. That honor belongs to Jim Lovell on Apollo 8.
Actually it was me....I was on that hit of acid at the time.
..
Eoan, I wrote this and posted it and only then noticed your retraction below. So just some detail: On the Apollo 8 mission, they did not take a Lunar Module with them as there was zero intention to have them land. I'm not even sure if a lander was ready to fly yet. At any rate, Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders all remained aboard the Command Module (there was nowhere else for any of them to go) as they zipped around the moon, offering Christmas greetings to all of us "on the good Earth" and taking the best "vacation snapshots" ever!!
Actually, it is I who is mistaken. Lovell was never alone in the command module. My bad.
Jim is the only guy to have been in the vicinity of the Moon twice though.
Too bad that events cheated him out of a landing, the second time...
However, being mindful that the Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical, and Apollo 13 went there when it was closer to maximum distance than any of their colleagues on other missions, when they went around the far side, they attained the distinction of having been farther from Earth than anyone else.
A distinction that they obviously still hold...
Lovell is not the only person who went to the moon twice. John Young went there on 10 and 16, and Cernan went there on 10 and 17. The only difference is that Lovell didn't land. Young and Cernan did.
If you watch the documentary (and I heartily recommend it - it is made to the BBC's usual high standards) two things become clear: Armstrong's enormous courage throughout his entire flying and space career, and the great dignity with which he carried himself in the years after the moon landing. He never got in the papers for scandal, or cheapened the achievement with any antics but behaved like a true hero should.They definitely picked the right man for the job.
More inspiring than Lindbergh at least.
And while we are at it, why was there no Apollo 9?
Sure there was.. but 9 looks like an inverted 6. Maybe you have your glasses on upside-down.
There was Apollo 9. It was an earth orbit mission and the first flight of the Lunar Module, commanded by Jim McDivitt, with Dave Scott as the CM Pilot and Rusty Schweikart as the LM pilot.
Why is it that everyone goes after people after they have passed on and cannot defend themselves? For those who can really appreciate such an accomplishment, please checkout the decal / sticker we created with the famous footprint and Neil's autograph, it can be seen here on our site, cannot post link here but my posting name says it all! Thanks!
You sound like it would be such a shameful thing to have decided what to say ahead of time! What's the big deal?
What about the internet rumor that Armstrong also said "good luck Kowalski" or something like that? It is fun, google it.
Or you could read post 5.1 above..
Dean Armstrong is an A%$hole for making those comments. Your brother is dead and all you can come up with to slander him is he lied about preparing for one of the largest events in the history of the world? Where have you been all of these years? You couldn't say it while he was alive and at least give him an opportunity to respond? Obviously your brother was a great man and you have sour grapes about being sidelined in life. I guess sibling rivalry remains present in the elderly too.
I wonder if deep down inside Neil would have liked to have changed his words to reflect the reality that he saw in front of him (as he shared with others later on).
“That’s one small step for man, a giant concern for ETs perched in crafts upon the hills watching us”
Shortly before the mission, Esquire magazine published a front-cover story of famous event/quotations like 'What hath God wrought?", which poked fun of astronauts who used expressions like 'man-o-man' and 'wow'. Armstrong may have seen this story and decided to say something a little more profound. As to the quote being thought of after the landing, he may have had several in mind and chose that one at the last minute.
Esquire Cover:
http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/at/esq-esquire-july-1969-cover-mdn.jpg