I am reliably informed, by a host of readers, that “Houston” was not the first word spoken from the surface of the Moon, as I have believed for years. See below.

All of which notwithstanding, NRO will touch down in Houston next Wednesday at 7pm It will be one small check for our fans, one giant leap for our funding.

First words from the moon:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/a11.landing.html

102:45:32 Aldrin: Drifting forward just a little bit; that’s good. (Garbled)

(Pause) [….]

102:45:40 Aldrin: Contact Light.

[The probes hanging from three of the footpads have touched the surface. Each

of them is 67 inches (1.73 meters) long. The ladder strut doesn’t have a

probe.] [….]

[Aldrin, from the 1969 Technical Debrief – “I called contact light.”]

[Armstrong, from the 1969 Technical Debrief – “I’m sure you did, but I didn’t

hear it, nor did I see it.”]

102:45:43 Armstrong (on-board): Shutdown

102:45:44 Aldrin: Okay. Engine Stop.

[Neil had planned to shut the engine down when the contact light came on, but

didn’t manage to do it.]

[Armstrong, from the 1969 Technical Debrief – “I heard Buzz say something

about contact, and I was spring-loaded to the stop engine position, but I

really don’t know…whether the engine-off signal was before (footpad)

contact. In any event, the engine shutdown was not very high above the

surface.”]