One small word puts 37-year-old argument to rest

Neil Armstrong on the Moon in 1969, when he made the historic statement that has infuriated grammarians.

TEXAS - That's one small word for astronaut Neil Armstrong, one giant revision for grammar sticklers everywhere.

An Australian computer programmer says he found the missing "a" from Armstrong's famous first words from the Moon in 1969, when the world heard the phrase, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Some historians and critics have dogged Armstrong for not saying the more dramatic and grammatically correct, "One small step for a man ..." in the version he transmitted to Nasa's Mission Control. Without the missing "a", Armstrong essentially said, "One small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind."

The astronaut has maintained he intended to say it properly and believes he did. Thanks to some high-tech sound-editing software, computer programmer Peter Shann Ford might have proved Armstrong right, the Houston Chronicle newspaper in Texas reported at the weekend.

Mr Ford said he downloaded the audio recording of Armstrong's words from a Nasa website and analysed the statement with software that allows disabled people to communicate through computers using their nerve impulses.

In a graphical representation of the famous phrase, he said he found evidence that the missing "a" was spoken and transmitted to Nasa.

"I have reviewed the data and Peter Ford's analysis of it, and I find the technology interesting and useful," Armstrong said. "I also find his conclusion persuasive. Persuasive is the appropriate word."

- NZPA