k5083 wrote:
Um ... down boy. Chill.
This has been going on for years. No one has pissed on anything. Neither the greatness of the man or of the words is disputed. They are just trying to pin down what he said, so future generations can know accurately what may turn out to have been one of man's (or a man's) most significant utterances. We have all heard the recorded transmission many times. It's hard to tell. It is also neither scandalous nor outside the realm of possibility that NA revised the statement in explaining what he said after the fact -- c'mon, you've never cleaned up your language when telling someone what you said earlier? When it comes to great quotes, accuracy matters. Change one syllable in a lot of great Shakespeare quotes and you're left with nothing special.
If "hero" means somebody should be immune from being called on something all of us do, I'm glad I have no heroes.
August
No, that's not what this story is about now. The latest sensationalized account is that all along Armstrong claimed that he thought those words up just prior to stepping on the lunar surface, and that the 'a man' was said. Now according to Armstrong's brother Dean, who states that Neil shared with him in writing months before the lunar landing the famous words he would say, and that they did not include the 'a'. In other words contradicting what Neil has stated all along.
The media spin on this of course is a headline stating Armstrong lied and all this was a ploy to cover his flub for the history books. So yes IMHO this does seem to take an unneccassary slam at Neil's character.