Lesson in the Need for Rehearsal from the Moon
Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s historic moonwalk. It was also the anniversary of one of the most historic flubbed lines of all time.
When Armstrong set foot on the moon he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Of course, the plan was for him to say “That’s one small step for A man, one giant leap for mankind.”
But in the excitement of the moment, he left out the “a”.
I heard his shipmate Buzz Aldrin on the radio yesterday explaining that they had been so involved with planning the mission that they had come up with the line at the last minute.
But Armstrong apparently didn’t have enough time to rehearse.
The lesson: if it’s important to you, rehearse.
This may or may not be true. Armstrong says he included the “a”. A computer analysis of the audio in 2006 indicates that something is there, but that the transmission may have gotten garbled.
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5398560.stm
and
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090720/NEWS02/707209896