Editing 2668: Artemis Quote
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|created by a COLLABORATIVE EFFORT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | + | The {{w|Artemis program}} is a series of planned space missions that will land humans on the Moon and begin to set up infrastructure for a permanent human presence. Humans first landed on the Moon in 1969 as part of the {{w|Apollo program}}. They have not been back since 1972. | |
− | + | When {{w|Neil Armstrong}} became the first human to walk on the Moon, he famously said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." However, he was intending to say, "That's one small step for '''''a''''' man, but a giant leap for mankind [emphasis added]." [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Frase_de_Neil_Armstrong.ogg The audio recording] omits the first instance of the word "a", making the sentence confusing, as "man" and "mankind" have the same meaning when referring to humanity as a whole. The {{w|schwa}} grammatical article, "a", is optional in certain contexts of most dialects of American English.{{Actual citation needed}} That it was apparently elided by Armstrong in the excitement, thus modifying the semantic meaning of the historical phrase, is controversial and thus humorous. | |
− | + | Subsequently, Armstrong and others have blamed insufficiently tuned {{w|voice activity detection}} hardware circuitry intended to save power in radio voice transmission, but NASA engineers, third-party historians and their hired experts have never been able to corroborate that explanation. Armstrong later said he "would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it was not said," and, on p.126 of the June 1982 edition of ''Omni,'' "the 'a' is implied, so I'm happy if they just put it in parentheses." | |
− | + | Randall proposes that the first Artemis astronaut to set foot on the Moon should create an even more confusing quote, saying the sentence, "This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the moon," aloud as they step onto the Moon. When quoted by later historians, it would be confusingly self-referential. Speaking as if they are alluding to something from the past, it would add contextual confusion to any attempt to directly quote or replay the words from then on. This is very unlikely, and funny merely as a recommendation. If it actually happened, it might be both hilarious and scandalous. | |
− | + | The title text suggests an alternate phrase by which the Artemis astronaut would say being the first (rather than 13th) human on the Moon is a great honor. People hearing this quote in the future could assume that Artemis was the first crewed mission to the Moon. It could feed into contemporary conspiracy theories that the Apollo landings were faked, furthering the confusion. | |
− | + | This comic coincides with the canceled launch of {{w|Artemis 1}}, an uncrewed test mission which will serve as the start of the Artemis program. The mission was intended to launch on 29 August 2022, and later on 3 September 2022, but was postponed due to technical problems and will now take place no earlier than late September 2022. | |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
+ | :[The surface of the Moon, with typical craters and rocks across a landscape with a subtle but visibly curved horizon. In the foreground, a vertical rocket standing on four deployed legs. A short ladder, or set of steps, leads down from a hatch in the lower part of the rocket body. The figure of an astronaut is shown having just now stepped forward onto the Moon's surface.] | ||
:Astronaut: This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the Moon. | :Astronaut: This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the Moon. | ||
− | : | + | :Caption: Neil Armstrong's "man"/"a man" quote created a lot of historical confusion, and I think it's our duty to expand on that legacy with Artemis. |
− | :Neil Armstrong's "man"/"a man" quote created a lot of historical confusion, and I think it's our duty to expand on that legacy with Artemis. | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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