Honoring an Astronaut - First Man on the Moon
Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 11:45AM 
Washington: Historic misquote? Neil Armstrong's famous quote "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" uttered by the American astronaut after becoming the first person to land on the Moon in 1969 had a small error, according to a new study. Many listeners think he left out the "a". However, as Armstrong himself pointed out many times, the sentence is meaningful only if he says, "That's one small step for "a" man ...one giant leap for mankind." - as he lowered his foot from the lunar module to the surface of the Moon, otherwise, there is no distinction between a single individual and all of humanity.
The researchers have taken a novel approach to deciphering Armstrong's quote by studying
One Small Step For A Man how speakers from his native central Ohio pronounce "for" and "for a" and results suggest that it is entirely possible that Armstrong said what he claimed, though evidence indicates that people are statistically more likely to hear "for man" instead of "for a man" on the recording ...and this is the true factoid!
Many quotes and tales labeled "unattributed" or "unconfirmed" are disregarded as worthless rumours, better some should be credited instead to "anon". Deservedly so, ones always worth retelling should be elevated to loftier heights such as folklore, tales, urban legends or mythologies. The following story has no doubt travelled many more miles via the internet than Armstrong's two-way moon trip:
On July 20, 1969, commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong was the first
person to set foot on the moon. His first words after stepping on the moon, "That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", were televised to Earth and heard by millions. But just before he re-entered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark: "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky." Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs.
Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr. Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled. On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
In 1938 when he was a kid in a small Midwest town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in his neighbor’s yard by the bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.
As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You’ll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"
On November 28, 1995, Neil Armstrong wrote, "I understand that the joke is a year old. I first heard it in California delivered by (comedian) Buddy Hackett." Although Armstrong himself debunked this story, it is still worth retelling - after all, that's how lunar legends live on beyond the moon forever.
