MarkArgentino

Since I was a kid, I 've always been interested in the Apollo missions and was certainly mesmerized when I watched the first man walk on the moon in July of 1969. The short story below is humorous and I thought I would share it with you.

This story is Guaranteed to make you smile, especially since it's a true story.

When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous "One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind" statement, but followed it by several remarks, including the usual COM traffic between him, the other astronauts, and Mission Control. Before he re-entered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, [they found] there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs.

Over the years, many people have questioned him as to what the "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" statement meant. On July 5, in Tampa Bay, FL, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26- year-old question to Armstrong. He finally responded. It seems that Mr. Gorsky had died and so Armstrong felt he could answer the question. When he was a kid, Neil was playing baseball with his brother in the backyard. His brother hit a fly ball which landed in front of his neighbors' bedroom window. The neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorksy. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, he heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, "Sex? Sex you want? You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

True Story.


Now, wasn't that a good story? I first read this story in the Professional Engineers of Ontario Mississauga Chapter Winter 2006 newsletter. They editorial content about the story in the newsletter made reference to the fact that this is a "true story". Not once, but twice!

Being the (slightly) skeptical person that I am, I just had to do a google search of Neil Armstrong and Mr. Gorsky and wow, wasn't I surprised. There were thousands of references to this story, but I could not find one that said it was true. Try it yourself, search google for http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-09,GGLD:en&q=neil+armstrong+mr%2E+gorsky

You should probably be instantly suspicious of any tale that has to tell you twice that it's true. The tale above, which originated in 1995 and garnered a good amount of media coverage, is total fiction. NASA transcripts of the '69 moon landing show no such remark and Armstrong has denied the rumor, citing that he first heard it from comedian Buddy Hackett.

What we've got here is a bit of humor combined with historical allegory that appeals on two distinct levels. First, it pokes fun at stereotypes and stigmas associated with sexual exploration (the degree of the requested sexual favor varies from telling to telling). Second, it associates a well-respected historical figure with a racy tale, thus humanizing him. Both elements are common in urban legendry.

This was fun and I enjoyed the story... even if it is an urban legend!

All the best!
Mark

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