In the small space, I could hear the sound of my own breathing, the pulse of my heart just behind my ears. Darkness surrounded me, swallowed me up, broken only by the hand-sized rectangle of a window. Outside the window, a shifting view of black and white swam as I steered the craft forward. The white rose in an arc and fell away, and I heard my pulse grow quicker. My breath fell silent as I held it, tongue pinned between my teeth in concentration. I could hear the breathing of the other men, trapped with me now, as they called out heading or warning to help guide my way through the endless night. The white rose up again, and did not fall away. It swelled until it filled the whole of the window, glittering in the light of the stars.
With a thump, more sensation than sound, our vessel came to a stop.
I pulled my sweaty hands away from the steering and gave myself a moment of relief. Something solid held us, our craft sinking into the surface only an inch or two before it held fast. I relayed this to the other men, my crew, and moved toward the hatch. Eager to see this new land, I turned the handle. My movements were clumsy, impeded by the large gloves I wore. Nevertheless, the handle turned by inches in my grip. Slowly and then, as the traction loosened, more quickly. Another thump I could feel as it rattled up my arms told me the hatch was unlocked. I gave a last check to my men before I pushed it open.
The stars stretched overhead in a dark sky above the land. The ladder, when I lowered it to the ground below the hatch, sank in easily and came to a stop.
Carefully now, not wanting to tumble down the ladder and embarrass myself in this moment, I lowered myself down the ladder. Hand over hand, the gloves thick enough to keep the cold from reaching my fingers, I watched the dark hatchway grow smaller overhead. Though I communicated with them constantly, the small off-hand remarks of men who had been working together for some time, I felt alone on the last rung of the ladder. I stopped there. Just long enough to mention that I was at the foot of it, the last step before my feet would be on solid and again for the first time in days. And then I stepped down, and away from the ladder.
My boots left a deep impression in the white sand below as I spoke again. This time I spoke, knowing my words would be remembered for decades to come. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
With a thump, more sensation than sound, our vessel came to a stop.
I pulled my sweaty hands away from the steering and gave myself a moment of relief. Something solid held us, our craft sinking into the surface only an inch or two before it held fast. I relayed this to the other men, my crew, and moved toward the hatch. Eager to see this new land, I turned the handle. My movements were clumsy, impeded by the large gloves I wore. Nevertheless, the handle turned by inches in my grip. Slowly and then, as the traction loosened, more quickly. Another thump I could feel as it rattled up my arms told me the hatch was unlocked. I gave a last check to my men before I pushed it open.
The stars stretched overhead in a dark sky above the land. The ladder, when I lowered it to the ground below the hatch, sank in easily and came to a stop.
Carefully now, not wanting to tumble down the ladder and embarrass myself in this moment, I lowered myself down the ladder. Hand over hand, the gloves thick enough to keep the cold from reaching my fingers, I watched the dark hatchway grow smaller overhead. Though I communicated with them constantly, the small off-hand remarks of men who had been working together for some time, I felt alone on the last rung of the ladder. I stopped there. Just long enough to mention that I was at the foot of it, the last step before my feet would be on solid and again for the first time in days. And then I stepped down, and away from the ladder.
My boots left a deep impression in the white sand below as I spoke again. This time I spoke, knowing my words would be remembered for decades to come. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
You'll notice that the quote says "a man" instead of "man". This is actually how the quote is written in the official transcript. Usually with [a] brackets around it as the words were difficult to hear perfectly at the time.
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