Re: OT: 43 years ago Americans stained the Moon

The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. So, the Soviets were the first to stain the moon.

You quoted, "A small step for me, but a giant leap for mankind." But what he actually said was:

That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.

Note that the (a) is in parenthesis. He had intended but failed to say, "That's one small step for a man;" but he forgot the article. It still works grammatically, I suppose. And yes, Armstrong did think about what he was going to say because he knew it would history-making.

What about Sir Edmund Percival Hillary as the New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist who went on a short walk, one day? On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed as having reached the summit of Mount Everest. Did they stain Mount Everest?

What about Mars? Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and also the newly landed Curiosity!

What about the other planets? The first of two spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury was Mariner 10, which mapped about 45% of its surface from 1974 to 1975. The second is the MESSENGER spacecraft, which after three Mercury flybys between 2008 and 2009, attained orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011, to study and map the rest of the planet.

Venus, Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its moons, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and "to infinity and beyond!"

Man, and mankind, stained the earth ever since he (we) walked on two feet. But, one day, we will go back to these planets and moons and, I am sure, somebody representing Mankind will clean up our mess.

:)