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Author
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Topic: Origin of "That's one small step for a man..."
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fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 05-27-2007 08:53 PM
   
While conducting research through NASA archives for my upcoming book, I stumbled across a NASA memorandum written by Willis H. Shapley, a NASA deputy administrator. Shapley was in charge of a committee about "symbolic activities" during the first lunar landing. On number 3 of the memorandum, Shapley states "Forward step for all mankind." It goes on to suggest this theme for "statements made" while on the moon. It is undoubtedly one of the factors that helped Neil Armstrong to coin his wonderful and intelligent phrase, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind". Hansen's book "First Man" states that Armstrong had no memory of this memorandum. You can see the memorandum here:
www.onegiantleap.us/memo The new book is entitled "We came in peace- the untold story of the Apollo 11 silicon disc". It will include more about this memorandum and other symbolic Apollo 11 activities. Tahir Rahman
Edited by fabfivefreddy |
randy
Member Posts: 2231
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 05-27-2007 10:17 PM
Thanks for the information. Very interesting. This is the first time I've heard of anything that might have inspired Neils famous first words from the lunar surface.Randy |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 05-27-2007 10:25 PM
quote:
Originally posted by fabfivefreddy:
It is undoubtedly one of the factors that helped Neil Armstrong to coin his wonderful and intelligent phrase...
While it's tempting to make such a connection, I think it may going a bit too far to label it as "undoubtedly" one of the factors, because frankly, it leaves plenty of room for doubt. As Armstrong states himself in First Man, "My guess is that you can take almost any statement, and if you look around for a while, you can find other statements that were made similarly by other people." And you really don't have to look too far — in fact, less than a step away from where Armstrong spoke his famous first words. Though it was covered with a thin sheet of steel at the time, the plaque attached to the leg of Eagle (to be later unveiled by Armstrong) read in part "We Came In Peace For All Mankind" (emphasis mine). In the end, Armstrong is the only person who can say what influenced his choice of words, and to that he has cited nothing specific. If indeed he did see this memo, it might have added to his collective thoughts on what to say, but concluding that as fact may be a giant leap itself. |
fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 05-28-2007 11:27 AM
I agree with your response, Robert. Thanks.Tahir |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 05-29-2007 09:16 AM
I wrote recently that there is some similarity between what Buzz Aldrin said on the Moon and the comments of the second man to set foot on the lunar surface in the film Destination Moon:
http://thespacereview.com/article/851/1 I've also noted the similarity between the phrase "to boldly go where no man has gone before" in the opening of Star Trek and a US space information brochure issued in the late 1950s. In both cases I suspect some linkage. I think that Aldrin may have seen the movie--it was relatively popular--and the comment about desolation stuck in his head. I think that in the Trek case it is possible that when the writers were first developing the show that they came across this space information brochure, which was printed by the tens of thousands and widely distributed. But things enter the lexicon and so people may no longer be consciously aware of them, but may have encountered them indirectly at some point. |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 642
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 05-29-2007 11:33 AM
Wasn't there some similar memo from George Mueller floating around a few years ago that had similar wording and was suggested as a possible influence on Armstrong? Anyone else remember that? Or maybe I'm getting that one confused with the one that this thread's about.Cheers, Kevin | |
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