This is probably something everyone knows but me.... But were Neil Armstrong’s famous words “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” really his own, or were they planned ahead of time?
Actually his first words were,” Holy crap, we made it.”
I think you're asking if his words were spontaneous or preplanned. What I have learned about Armstrong he would have preplanned his words, or at least a few lines to chose from to be decided sometime prior to undocking.
Actually I heard that they were scripted but he missed a word. He was supposed to say - One small step for “a” man.
He left out the “a”. It actually makes it more meaningful the way he said it.
They were his. what he actually said was “one small step for a man ...” but the “a” kind of got chopped off in transmission. I saw one interview where he pointed that out.
His actual first words upon lunar touch down, immediately after engine shut off were, "I hope this GD thing starts back up".
I don't know who came up with that mankind thing.