grammar - Significance of the word 'a' in Neil Armstrong's speech





“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”



I read on the news today the world heard Neil Armstrong said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.". But later, Neil Armstrong insisted that he actually said 'a man' but that the 'a' was not heard because of static. So this begs the question "What is the difference between the 2 versions?" Is the version that Neil Armstrong wanted the world to hear a grammatically correct one and the other one is not?




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