"It's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind

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Neil Armstrong apparently said "It's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind." but it sounded like he said "It's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind." which would be a contradiction, because "man" and "mankind" in this context mean the same thing.

My relatives and I watched it on tv as it happened. And we all shook our heads in bewilderment when he said that.

We all agreed that the words that should live on in history are "this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed".

Perhaps he just meant it literally, like it was a big leap for mankind to create the means to go to the moon, but for him it was a small step from the spacecraft onto the moon.

That's how I always interpreted it

He fluffed his lines

Yeh, probably understandable owing to the high tension nature of the moment, plus the fact he only got one 'take'. Marilyn Monroe needed 47 takes in the film Some Like It Hot to say the line 'It's me, Sugar' correctly.

Also the word 'a' in the phrase 'One small step for a man' is an unstressed syllable, and it's very easy for it to disappear into the word 'for' here, if the words are spoken at normal pace and not taken very slowly and deliberately.

I think that was his second take , he fluffed the first take too *administers silver foil head gear*

It's a little known fact that Armstrong was only the second choice for this role, before Marilyn Monroe dropped out of the running in 1962...

^ maybe she was murdered for the role

He just "flubbed his lines". That, or the word "a" got lost in the video mix.

But for background on it...here is an ACTUAL little known recording made in the Oval Office on the eve of the event- with the voices of the then president, and conservative pundit William F. Buckley.