Neil Armstrong

Archive footage of the Apollo 11 mission with Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon as shown on Sesame Street in 1998.

The Sesame Street 1976 Calendar

The Sesame Street Dictionary

Piggy paraphrases Armstrong's famous quote.

Rosita photoshopped into an Armstrong photo.

Great Muppets in American History

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was an astronaut, engineer, and pilot best remembered as the first person to set foot on the moon. He has been referenced by the Muppets on several occasions. His famous line upon landing was, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

References

• Natalie, the cow who jumped over the moon, paraphrases Armstrong in a Sesame Street News Flash sketch: "A small jump for cow, a giant leap for cowdom!"

• Grover stands in for Armstrong in The Sesame Street 1976 Calendar, and takes "one giant step for monsterkind" in The Sesame Street Dictionary. In a Sesame Street sketch, he pretends to go to the moon from the comfort of his bed, calling it "one small step for Grover, one giant leap for monsterkind."

• The script for Sesame Street Episode 1364 refers to the first street scene hailing the arrival of C-3PO and R2-D2 as "One Small Step for a Droid".

• A float sponsored by the YWCA for the 1984 Rose Parade featured Miss Piggy paraphrasing Armstrong's famous speech when he stepped foot on the moon, "One Giant Step For Womankind!"

• When Slimey made his first attempt to get to the moon in Sesame Street Episode 1713, Oscar called it "one small step for worm, one large step for wormkind."

• Oscar's own attempt to reach space was more successful in Episode 1714, marking the occasion "one small step by grouch, one giant step for grouchkind."

• Although Slimey had already been to the moon, his feat of piloting a balloon in Episode 2889 was hailed by Oscar as "one small step for a worm, one big wiggle for wormkind."

• After a lamb made an attempt to go to the moon in Sesame Street Episode 2980, it lands on a mailbox instead: "one small step for lamb, one giant leap for lambkind."

• The script for the third street scene from Sesame Street Episode 3265 calls Joey and Davey Monkey's attempt to land a banana on the moon, "One Small Step for Bananas."

• The 1992 Dog City episode "Rocketship K-9" features a canine parody, Heel Arfstrong. He's the first dog on the moon: "One small step for a mutt, one giant leap for dogkind!"

• The 1997 coloring book Great Muppets in American History features Kermit as Armstrong landing on the moon making "one small step for a Muppet, one giant leap for Muppet-kind."

• Although several astronauts are shown in archive footage in Things That Fly, Armstrong is mentioned by name when Lindy responds to Commander Slick Space Guy's reference to the significant achievement of the first landing on the moon.

• Sesame Street Episode 3697 (in the 1998 "Slimey to the Moon" arc) features footage of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon.

• The 1999 rerun of Episode 3740 features a Star Wars-esque introduction in which Baby Bear describes Slimey's journey to the moon as "one small wiggle for a worm and one giant squiggle for worm-kind."

• In the Farscape episode "Premiere," as John Crichton prepares for his flight into space, D.K. tells him, "One small step, bud."

• Armstrong and John Glenn are cited by K. Edgar Singer in Muppets from Space as two historic figures with whom he'd be honored to be amongst as those Earthlings who have traveled in space.

• In Sesame Street Episode 3906, when Papa Bear's perpetual porridge machine produces its first bowl of porridge, he proclaims as Baby Bear chows down, "That's one small spoon for a bear, one big bowl for bear-kind!"

• In the Farscape episode "I Shrink Therefore I Am," after stepping on the miniaturized Axikor, Crichton utters, "One small step for man."

• During the song "I Don't Wanna Be a Prince" in Sesame Street Episode 4173, Oscar reads a newspaper with the headline "Man Walks on Moon!" and a photo of Armstrong's 1969 moon landing.

• When Danvers comes to school dressed in an astronaut costume in Tales of a Sixth-Grade Muppet, his best friend Pasquale states that after his previous bad day, "going to school dressed as Neil Armstrong isn't the best option."

• In a video posted to social media during the NASA Tweetup for Space Shuttle Discovery’s final launch, Elmo paraphrased Armstrong while inside the vehicle, "One small step for Elmo, one giant leap for monsterkind."

• The Sesame Place stage show Elmo the Musical - Live! at Sesame Place includes an astronaut sequence, where Cookie Monster says "This one small step for monster, one giant leap for monsterkind."

• While browsing the airband when piloting a plane in the Muppet Babies episode "Animal Fly Airplane", Summer Penguin briefly tunes to a frequency in which a man states, "That's one small step for Muppets..." before changing the channel.

• To celebrate the 40th anniversary of NASA's first selection of female astronauts, Sesame Street’s Facebook page posted an image of Rosita wearing a space suit on January 16, 2018. The image is actually a manipulated photo of Neil Armstrong during the Gemini VIII mission in May of 1965. NASA's Johnson Space Center shared the post from their Facebook account. "Thank you to these incredible women for continuing to serve as great role models for girls and boys everywhere to dream BIG and reach for the stars! 💫"

• When passing by a display of a family watching the moon landing on the Spaceship Earth ride in a Disney Parks video, Floyd Pepper remarks, "Wow, going all the way to the moon for a rock... and roll! Can you dig it? Well, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."