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91�ȱ� Teach > School Radio > History > Britain since the 1930s > Space

The Lunar Module (LM) Eagle touched down on the moon's surface just before 21.18 BST (20.18 GMT) on 20 July 1969.Some six and a half hours later, at 03.56 BST (02.56 GMT) on 21 July, Neil Armstrong descended the ladder from Eagle.After activating a specially-placed camera to record the event, Armstrong took 'one small step' and became the first person to walk on the moon.

As he stepped onto the Moon's surface Armstrong said: 'That's one small step for (…) man. One giant leap for mankind'.

On returning to Earth Armstrong revealed that the words were spontaneous and that he had intended to say 'One small step for a man…' (which, of course, would make more sense) and, indeed, that he thought he had said '…for a man…'

Ever since there's been much debate as to whether or not he actually did say '…a man…' only for the word a to be masked by radio interference. Listen to the recording and judge for yourself.

Recent research analysing NASA's sound recordings and Armstrong's speech patterns has suggested that he could not have used the word 'a'.

NB. The soundtrack has been edited to remove some prolonged pauses.

Images sourced from NASA.

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