At 9:56:15 P.M., Central Daylight Time, July 20,1969, Neil Armstrong hopped from the bottom rung of the LEM’s ladder onto the lunar surface, proclaiming, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” That, at least, is what Armstrong intended to say. A communications glitch made it sound as if he had said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong was nonplussed when he returned and found how his historic first words had been heard, pointing out that without the “a” the sentence made no sense.
