I see that this topic was brought up in the After Hours Lounge, seemed appropriate to discuss this here too.
The original 14 inch magnetic tape that recorded the raw video transmitted from the Moon of Armstrong's first steps on the Moon is lost! What no one knew was that the fuzzy video we saw of Armstrong on the Moon on TV was processed video that was degraded by the process in 1969 for the live video presentation. The raw video data from the moon was of higher resolution and quality!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090716/ap_on_sc/us_sci_moon_video
I am a fan of the space program, but I had not known that NASA didn't keep a copy of this historic event. I truly hope the guys doing the searching will find the original tapes. I suppose it's understandable, NASA was focused on a successful mission and the safe return of those 2 astronauts on the Moon. This article is fascinating about the search for the tapes, the reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark and that last shot is so apt here in reference to how historical materials are treated: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/nasa.html?pg=3&topic=nasa&topic_set=
ABC news this evening showed the degraded video that we all saw in 1969 after it was run through a remastering at Lowry Digital. It looked pretty good! But I hope they find the originals too. It will be interesting to see the results after Lowry finishes the job. What was interesting about the footage, Lowry said that the pixel count of the video is the lowest they've ever worked on!
I am encouraged now more then ever to upgrade to the Criterion BD of For All Mankind......
The original 14 inch magnetic tape that recorded the raw video transmitted from the Moon of Armstrong's first steps on the Moon is lost! What no one knew was that the fuzzy video we saw of Armstrong on the Moon on TV was processed video that was degraded by the process in 1969 for the live video presentation. The raw video data from the moon was of higher resolution and quality!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090716/ap_on_sc/us_sci_moon_video
I am a fan of the space program, but I had not known that NASA didn't keep a copy of this historic event. I truly hope the guys doing the searching will find the original tapes. I suppose it's understandable, NASA was focused on a successful mission and the safe return of those 2 astronauts on the Moon. This article is fascinating about the search for the tapes, the reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark and that last shot is so apt here in reference to how historical materials are treated: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/nasa.html?pg=3&topic=nasa&topic_set=
ABC news this evening showed the degraded video that we all saw in 1969 after it was run through a remastering at Lowry Digital. It looked pretty good! But I hope they find the originals too. It will be interesting to see the results after Lowry finishes the job. What was interesting about the footage, Lowry said that the pixel count of the video is the lowest they've ever worked on!
I am encouraged now more then ever to upgrade to the Criterion BD of For All Mankind......
