• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

So, NASA erased the moon landing tapes then...

Candlelight

Admiral
Admiral
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/2602180/NASA-admits-moon-landings-taped-over/

The original recordings of the first humans landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and taped over - NASA has admitted.
But, the space agency says, newly restored copies of the original broadcast look even better.
NASA released the first glimpses of a complete digital make-over of the original landing footage that clarifies the blurry and grainy images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the surface of the moon.

The full set of recordings, being cleaned up by Burbank, California-based Lowry Digital, will be released in September.

NASA admitted in 2006 that no one could find the original video recordings of the July 20, 1969, landing.

Since then, Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, who oversaw television processing at the ground-tracking sites during the Apollo 11 mission, has been looking for them.

The good news is he found where they went. The bad news is they were part of a batch of 200,000 tapes that were degaussed - magnetically erased - and re-used to save money.

"The goal was live TV," Nafzger told a news conference.

"We should have had a historian running around saying 'I don't care if you are ever going to use them - we are going to keep them'," he said.

I can't believe why they wouldn't keep them. Live television was one thing but it's a historical event. Granted - like the destruction of Doctor Who episodes in the years that followed the moon landings - they didn't see a future market for the tapes. But still... :(
 
The original recordings of the first humans landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and taped over - NASA has admitted.
Well, it was the Nixon Administration.

Seriously, how could anybody not understand that tapes of the first Moon landing had historical value. That is bewilderingly stupid.
 
Currently, any original mission footage is to be kept at the originating center for 5 years and then sent to the National Archives retention center for all perpetuity.

But I can see where they were coming from. In the 70s NASA's budget was gutted. They probably didn't have the money to buy new tapes, which was pretty expensive back then.

Anywho. Check out the HD samples here.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/2602180/NASA-admits-moon-landings-taped-over/

The original recordings of the first humans landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and taped over - NASA has admitted.
But, the space agency says, newly restored copies of the original broadcast look even better.
NASA released the first glimpses of a complete digital make-over of the original landing footage that clarifies the blurry and grainy images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the surface of the moon.

The full set of recordings, being cleaned up by Burbank, California-based Lowry Digital, will be released in September.

NASA admitted in 2006 that no one could find the original video recordings of the July 20, 1969, landing.

Since then, Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, who oversaw television processing at the ground-tracking sites during the Apollo 11 mission, has been looking for them.

The good news is he found where they went. The bad news is they were part of a batch of 200,000 tapes that were degaussed - magnetically erased - and re-used to save money.

"The goal was live TV," Nafzger told a news conference.

"We should have had a historian running around saying 'I don't care if you are ever going to use them - we are going to keep them'," he said.

I can't believe why they wouldn't keep them. Live television was one thing but it's a historical event. Granted - like the destruction of Doctor Who episodes in the years that followed the moon landings - they didn't see a future market for the tapes. But still... :(


They had to destroy them. Blu-Ray tech had already been perfected at the time at Area 51, by studying the crashed alien ship and learning some of it's secrets. They knew the fake moon landing would reveal itself someday on Blu-Ray tech when it was released into the mainstream. The fake soundstage set's would stick out on Blu-Ray. Now they have been able to use modern film technolgy to enhance the moon landing so it will still look real to people when they watch it in high-defination. The lie can thus continue. :)

Jason
 
Hollywood did the same thing. Many TV shows and movies and songs were recorded over. Things were even thornw away to make room.
 
Currently, any original mission footage is to be kept at the originating center for 5 years and then sent to the National Archives retention center for all perpetuity.

But I can see where they were coming from. In the 70s NASA's budget was gutted. They probably didn't have the money to buy new tapes, which was pretty expensive back then.

Anywho. Check out the HD samples here.
It was probably your fault the tapes were wiped. Nice going, Squiggy. :(
 
Currently, any original mission footage is to be kept at the originating center for 5 years and then sent to the National Archives retention center for all perpetuity.

But I can see where they were coming from. In the 70s NASA's budget was gutted. They probably didn't have the money to buy new tapes, which was pretty expensive back then.

Anywho. Check out the HD samples here.

What's nice about this is that there are now tens of thousands of copies, as I'm sure people have downloaded these to keep for themselves.


J.
 
As someone who is aspiring to be an archivist soon, this is like a stab in the heart. I actually feel pretty damn angry about it. They needed a historian around is damn right.
 
So what Armstrong really said was:

"That's one small [expletive deleted] step for [expletive deleted] man, one giant [expletive deleted] leap for [expletive deleted] mankind."
 
See what happens when you cut NASA's budget? Of course they won't reduce wages or benefits, but they will erase historical tapes.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top