Author Topic: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history  (Read 4842 times)

Online jacqmans

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Jacques :-)

Offline collectSPACE

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #1 on: 09/30/2006 07:34 am »
Armstrong's authorized biographer, James R. Hansen's response:
http://collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/000656.html#hansen

Offline vt_hokie

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #2 on: 10/01/2006 03:23 am »
Wait a minute, wasn't it always well known that it was actually "one small step for a man"?  You don't need sophisticated software to hear it.  I always assumed that's what he actually said.

Offline apollolanding

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Re: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #3 on: 10/01/2006 11:53 am »
Neil has always contended that he intended to say the "a" yet has at times doubted that he uttered it due to the cadence of his speech. When I get home tonight, I'll load up my Spacecraft Series Apollo 11 DVD into my audio editing software and see if I can't find the missing "a" as well.  I've used it to wash the Apollo 8 Genesis reading with great results. If I can find the "a", I'll take a screen cap and post it here.
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Offline Joffan

Re: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #4 on: 10/02/2006 05:06 pm »
Well I'm glad Armstrong's original and intended phrase can now stand - it always seemed to me that the "a" was present on the end of "for", run together a little but understandable, like "one small step fra man".
Getting through max-Q for humanity becoming fully spacefaring

Offline apollolanding

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #5 on: 10/03/2006 04:03 am »

Well I've run this through every concievable filter, time stretching algorithm and noise reduction scheme I could think of and it's hard to definitively say that the "a" is in there.  I time stretched a clip of the words "for a man" slowing it down.  Here is a screen cap with the area where the "a" could go highlighted:http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n211/apollolanding/Spaceflight/smallstep.jpg" width="720" border="0" />

 Listening only to "for a man", slowed down, it's easier to hear or imagine to hear the missing "a".  When you listen to the entire statement, the cadence doesn't lend to the "a" being there.  There is static that could be attributed to com loss but it seems too quick to be a syllable and is a separate event not slurred to the word "for" like "fora man".  Here's an .mp3 of exactly what you see in the screen cap above.  I just don't hear the "a".  I believe he intended to say it but even the first man on the moon is allowed a little slip up.  Heck I always thought "Houston, Tranquility Base here.  The Eagle has landed" was a much cooler statement...     

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Offline vt_hokie

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #6 on: 10/03/2006 04:50 am »
Now that just sounds creepy!   :)

Offline g4ayu

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Offline MKremer

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Re: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #8 on: 10/03/2006 09:35 am »
Sorry, but for me a single sound/letter is just too much of a nit-pick to worry about.

"One step for man..." vs "One step for a man..." to me really doesn't make a difference.

Offline apollolanding

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #9 on: 10/03/2006 12:04 pm »

g4ayu,  that was an edited clip on Eric Jones' Apollo Lunar Surface Journal website. It was created to show what the sentence would have sounded like had Neil said the "a".  Here is the explanation from Mr. Jones:

109:24:48 Armstrong: That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind. (Long Pause)

[As Andrew Chaikin details in A Man on the Moon, after the flight Neil said that he had intended to say "one small step for a man". Andy and I agree that the flow of the dialog at this point in the tape suggests that Neil forgot to say the "a" and that there is little likelihood that the "a" was lost in transmission.]

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Offline g4ayu

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #10 on: 10/03/2006 07:01 pm »
apollolanding...I was aware it was an edited clip on Eric Jones' Apollo Lunar Surface Journal website...thats why it says "fun" in the web address!!!

Offline apollolanding

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #11 on: 10/03/2006 07:32 pm »
sorry, the humor went straight over my head.  I must have spent too much time listening to that darn clip and it warped my mind ;-)   
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Offline collectSPACE

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RE: High-tech analysis may rewrite space history
« Reply #12 on: 10/04/2006 02:09 am »
Peter Shann Ford's findings in detail are now online:

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-100306a.html

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