Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Speech ·256 of 348
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
They never said that.
What people say
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
What was actually said
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong — Neil Armstrong — Apollo 11, 1969
Why it stuck
Without the "a", the line is nonsense — "man" and "mankind" mean the same thing. Armstrong insisted he said "a"; the audio is ambiguous.
Audio analysis in 2006 found acoustic evidence consistent with the missing "a."
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.