I’d like to think it was exactly as The Onion showed.

@hmmmmmm Funny thanks.

I think he was in denial about his error.

There’s no discernable noise or delay between “for” and “man” that would account for the supposed non-transmittance.

After the first line, there’s a bit of an unusual pause, as if he’s thinking about what he just said and how to carry on. He starts the next line a little hesitantly, and with a change in tone that I think suggests some regret over his bungled first line.

I prefer the erroneus version anyway.

He probably earnestly recalled saying the “a”, whether he actually did say it or not. Human memory can be tricky like that.

I think he said “The Eagle has landed.”

Wait…

@RedDeerGuy1 did you mean when they (it was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, not just Armstrong) landed on the Moon, or when Armstrong first set foot on the Moon?

@Darth_Algar I don’t know. I have my astronaut’s mixed up.

You don’t, actually. But there’s the moment when Armstrong and Aldrin touched down on the Moon’s surface in the lunar lander, then there’s the moment when Armstrong exited the lunar lander and became the first human to step on the Moon.