"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." [closed]

"A man" means one man. Without "a", it means man as in the whole population. To me, it doesn't make sense without the "a". "Man" without any articles means the same thing as "mankind".

Originally, there was no article, however. The words were:

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

However, according to the transcript, "a" was meant to be said. That is the source of confusion.

This article and this article explain the dropping of "a". Here is the transcript.

Historical accuracy aside, it makes the most sense with "a".

Yes, the 'a' should definitely be there.

As for the history, Armstrong said his radio cut out on the 'a' and he was misquoted. NASA's transcript can be found here.

[At the time of the mission, the world heard Neil say "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind". As Andrew Chaikin details in A Man on the Moon, after the mission, Neil said that he had intended to say 'one small step for a man' and believed that he had done so. However, he also agreed that the 'a' didn't seem to be audible in the recordings. The important point is that the world had no problem understanding his meaning.]