Featured SkyMan says: Fifty years ago today Apollo 11; 7/15/69

Yes indeed!

 

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Super write up and comments. God Bless the U. S. A.

 

What an amazing recap! I was a bit older when all this went down, 19, but still just as intrigued. Keep up the great posts, can't wait for more.

 

My little "very little" piece of history.

 

I was 17 when all this was happening. And all of it takes me back to going to elementary school with a transistor radio earpiece listing to the Mercury program start the race to space. I also remember when the paper used to list the schedule of the Echo satellite passing overhead so I could go out at night, laying the grass, and watch it spin overhead. That's when I dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

Then I grew up and realized that my stumbling block was math. So I decided to become a computer repairman, because, hey, they would need computers on the moon, which is where I wanted to be. But when I took electrical engineering in college, I learned that wasn't right for me, either.

So the closest I ever got to space flight was joining the local model rocket club!

 

This is fantastic I look forward to anything you have

 

If anybody in the world knows the answer to this, it will be @Skyman ...... Which is it? Did Neil say;
One small step for man
Or
One small step for a man
??????????????????????

 

I don't know if it is the most sought after in history, but it is pricey, and it is heavily counterfeited. I'll be getting into the costs of assorted Armstrong signatures later.

 

One small step for man.

Obviously Armstrong meant to include the A, but given that he had just made up that impressive sentence at the spur of the moment, not to mention a little thing like actually stepping on the Moon, I think we can cut him a little slack...

 

Thank you, terrific!

 

Armstrong did say "One small step for a man..." as was mentioned a couple of times on various telecasts this past week. The a got lost in the transmission.

 

Incorrect. It did not get lost in transmission. He never said it.

 

Interesting. Since two different telecasts this week said he did say it, and I remember there being at the time a mention in the papers that he said it, I'd be interested in knowing if he ever mentioned it. Surely he had heard of the controversy, or repeated what he said.

 

I thought I remember seeing or hearing an interview ones with Armstrong about exactly what he said and he clarified it. I can't find it now.

I'm just glad it was Armstrong who was chosen to be first on the moon and not Aldrin! Aldrin was and still is today, to much of a showboat and trying to cash in on his celebrity!

 

Let's just say that TV is not the most reliable of sources. People that don't know what they are talking about get just enough of a briefing, often written by people who don't understand what they are writing about, to think they understand what happened, and then they pontificate about it in front of the camera.

The A has a lot of "wish fulfillment" behind it. Hence people believe that it was said.

As you might imagine, Armstrong and NASA were asked about it. Armstrong basically says he can't remember. NASA has declared that he did NOT say A, and that the transmissions were complete. Further, a bunch of very high end audio professionals issued a report, within the last 5 years, after breaking down everything in the original tapes from the transmission that indeed there was no A spoken.

 

Apologies for my comment. Didn’t mean to cause a thread derail. I just wanted to keep this important thread close to the top for maximum exposure!

I wonder if the mystique that surrounds Neil Armstrong would be the same had he chosen to live his life in the public eye.

 

I've run into Buzz several times at events around town (L.A. area). He certainly doesn't try to hide but he wasn't actively seeking attention at these events.

 

Thanks for posting this thread. I knew you'd do something for the anniversary. I was 2 at the time -- too young to really have any appreciation for what was going on or remember it.

 

I just learned how close to death Armstrong came in Gemini 8. I had always knew there was a thruster failure that caused to mission to be aborted. But I never had heard just how life threatening that failure was before today.... I wonder if Armstrong's cool head in the face of life threatening danger was NASA's motivation to name him commander of Apollo 11.

 

No doubt!