Text of Neil Armstrong’s words on stepping on the moon’s surface

109:20:56 Aldrin: Okay. Everything's nice and straight in here. 
109:20:58 Armstrong: Okay. Can you pull the door open a little more? 
109:21:00 Aldrin: All right. 
109:21:03 Armstrong: Okay. (Pause) 
109:21:07 Aldrin: Did you get the MESA out? 
109:21:09 Armstrong: I'm going to pull it now. (Pause) 
109:21:18 Armstrong: Houston, the MESA came down all right. 
109:21:22 McCandless: This is Houston. Roger. We copy. Standing by for your TV. 
109:21:39 Armstrong: Houston, this is Neil. Radio check. 
109:21:42 McCandless: Neil, this is Houston. Loud and clear. Break. Break. Buzz, this is
Houston. Radio check, and verify TV circuit breaker in. 
109:21:54 Aldrin: Roger, TV circuit breaker's in. And read you loud and clear. 
109:22:00 McCandless: Roger. (Pause) 
109:22:06 McCandless: And we're getting a picture on the TV
109:22:09 Aldrin: You got a good picture, huh? 
109:22:11 McCandless: There's a great deal of contrast in it; and currently it's upside-down on
our monitor, but we can make out a fair amount of detail. 
109:22:28 Aldrin: Okay. Will you verify the position - the opening - I ought to have on the (16
mm, one frame per second, movie) camera? 
109:22:34 McCandless: Stand by. (Long Pause) 
109:22:48 McCandless: Okay. Neil, we can see you (on the TV) coming down the ladder now.
(Pause) 
109:22:59 Armstrong: Okay. I just checked getting back up to that first step, Buzz. It's...The strut
isn't collapsed too far, but it's adequate to get back up. 
109:23:10 McCandless: Roger. We copy.  2
109:23:11 Armstrong: Takes a pretty good little jump (to get back up to the first rung). (Pause) 
109:23:25 McCandless: Buzz, this is Houston. F/2 (and)... 
109:23:28 Armstrong: Okay, I'm at the...(Listens) 
109:23:29 McCandless: ...1/160th second for shadow photography on the sequence camera. 
109:23:35 Aldrin: Okay. 
109:23:38 Armstrong: I'm at the foot of the ladder. The LM footpads are only depressed in the
surface about 1 or 2 inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine grained, as you get
close to it. It's almost like a powder. (The) ground mass is very fine. (Pause) 
109:24:13 Armstrong: I'm going to step off the LM now. (Long Pause) [Neil has his right
hand on the ladder and will step down with his left foot.]
109:24:48 Armstrong: That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind. (Long
Pause) 
109:25:08 Armstrong: Yes, the surface is fine and powdery. I can kick it up loosely with my toe.
It does adhere in fine layers, like powdered charcoal, to the sole and sides of my boots. I only go
in a small fraction of an inch, maybe an eighth of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my
boots and the treads in the fine, sandy particles. 
109:25:30 McCandless: Neil, this is Houston. We're copying. (Long Pause) [Neil takes his hand
off the ladder but stays close.]
109:25:45 Armstrong: There seems to be no difficulty in moving around as we suspected. It's
even perhaps easier than the simulations of one-sixth g that we performed in the various
simulations on the ground. It's absolutely no trouble to walk around. (Pause) Okay. The descent
engine did not leave a crater of any size. It has about 1 foot clearance on the ground. We're
essentially on a very level place here. I can see some evidence of rays emanating from the
descent engine, but a very insignificant amount. (Pause) 
109:26:54 Armstrong: Okay, Buzz, we ready to bring down the camera? 
109:26:59 Aldrin: I'm all ready. I think it's been all squared away and in good shape. 
109:27:03 Armstrong: Okay. 
109:27:05 Aldrin: Okay. You'll have to pay out all the LEC. It looks like it's coming out nice and
evenly.  3
109:27:13 Armstrong: Okay. It's quite dark here in the shadow and a little hard for me to see that
I have good footing. I'll work my way over into the sunlight here without looking directly into
the Sun. 
109:27:28 Aldrin: Okay. It's taut now. (Long Pause) 
[Neil is standing next to a crater about six feet in diameter.]
109:27:51 Aldrin: Okay. I think you're pulling the wrong one. 
109:27:55 Armstrong: I'm just...Okay. I'm ready to pull it down now. There was still a little bit
left in the (bag)... 
109:28:01 Aldrin: Okay. Don't hold it quite so tight. Okay? (Garbled) (Pause) 
109:28:17 Armstrong: Looking up at the LM, I'm standing directly in the shadow now looking
up at Buzz in the window. And I can see everything quite clearly. The light is sufficiently bright,
backlighted into the front of the LM, that everything is very clearly visible. (Long Pause) 
109:28:55 Aldrin: Okay. I'm going to be changing the (garbled, probably the sequence camera
film magazine). 
109:28:58 Armstrong: Okay.