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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | The {{w|Artemis program}} is a series of planned space missions that will land people on the Moon and begin to set up infrastructure for a permanent crewed presence. People 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 person 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; one giant leap for mankind [emphasis added]." [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Frase_de_Neil_Armstrong.ogg The audio recording] omits the word "a", making the sentence confusing, as "man" and "mankind" have the same meaning when referring to all people.
| + | {{incomplete|created by a WOMAN INHERITS THE EARTH. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
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| − | That the word was apparently elided by Armstrong in the excitement, changing the 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.[https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/a11.step.html][https://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003645.html] Armstrong later said he hoped, "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."
| + | 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 Apollo program. They have not been back since 1972. |
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| − | [[Randall]] suggests that the first Artemis astronaut to set foot on the Moon has a duty to utter 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. That would be confusingly self-referential, as if they were alluding to something from the past. The phrasing would also be confusing to a person hearing it quoted, as it would sound more like a statement about the quote than the actual quote itself. This is very unlikely, and funny merely as a recommendation. If it actually happened, it might be both hilarious and scandalous.
| + | When the first human to walk on the moon, {{w|Neil Armstrong}}, took the first step there, he was intending to say, "That's one small step for '''a''' man, but a giant leap for mankind" [emphasis added]. The audio recording omits the first instance of the word "a", making the sentence confusing. This recording was broadcast worldwide at the time and has become a famous historical quote. However, that the {{w|schwa}} grammatical article, "a", optional in certain contexts of most dialects of American English,{{Actual citation needed}} was apparently elided by Armstrong in the excitement, modifying the semantic meaning of the historical phrase, is controversial and therefore funny. 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 excuse. |
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| − | While the comic's lunar lander has similarities to the {{w|Starship HLS|current plans}} for the Artemis lander,[https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon] it is a generic drawing, perhaps in homage to classic space science fiction, with the exit portal at an unlikely position near the base of the {{w|SpaceX Starship}} lander.[https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-moon-elevator-nasa-prototype/]
| + | Randall proposes that the first Artemis astronaut should create an even more confusing quote by proposing a sentence that actually appears to be a mere reference to whatever it is they have said. 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. |
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| − | The title text suggests an alternate phrase by which the Artemis astronaut could 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. | + | The title text suggests an alternate phrase by which the Artemis astronaut would claim to be the first (rather than 13th) human on the moon. People hearing this quote in the future could assume that Artemis was the first manned mission to the Moon. <!-- Between those who think that the Apollo landings were entirely faked (hence none of the Apollo crews actully reached the Moon) and those people who believe there are non-humans hiding among us (thus the astronauts who reached the Moon were 'shape-changing lizard people) it would stoke various popular conspiracy theories. -- it's disrespectful to feed such trolls --> It may also have been intended as a phrase Armstrong could have previously used with less chance of flubbing, but seems inappropriately self-aggrandizing for the mild-mannered astronaut and makes no sense to be declaimed by Artemis's pioneering moonwalker. |
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| − | 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 repeatedly postponed due to a series of technical problems. It finally launched on November 16th. On December 13th, the spacecraft successfully splashed down back on Earth.
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| − | In [[893: 65 Years]], Randall made a graph showing the number of living people who had been on the moon, and estimated the day when zero would be alive. At that time 9 of the 12 were still alive. Upon this comic's release, only four are still among the living.
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| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| − | :[A vertical rocket is standing on four deployed legs on the surface of the Moon. The surface is depicted with characteristic craters and rocks with a slightly curved horizon. The rocket is standing in the left part of the panel. A short ladder leads down from a hatch in the lower part of the rocket body. An astronaut has stepped down from a ladder onto the Moon's surface, and is speaking:]
| + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
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| − | :Astronaut: This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the Moon.
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| − | :[Caption beneath the panel:] | + | :[The surface of the moon, with craters and rocks, and a rocket with a ladder attached and an astronaut stepping onto the moon's surface.] |
| − | :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. | + | :Astronaut: This is one of my favorite historical quotes -- the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the moon. |
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| − | ==Trivia==
| + | :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. |
| − | *The {{w|schwa}} indefinite article "a" is optional in certain contexts of some dialects of American English.{{Actual citation needed}}<!-- The link [https://linguapress.com/grammar/article-in-english.htm] does *not* suggest that "a" is optional, only "the", and then only for particular emphasis which is the opposite of that intended in the (mis)quote. -->
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| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
| − | [[Category:Language]]
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| − | [[Category:Space]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
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