Truth about NASA's 'missing' moon tapes revealed after 57 years

The Daily Mail UK ^ | February 10, 2026 | Chris Melore

[Twotone]

Tapes containing the original, high-quality transmission of the Apollo 11 moon landing were wiped after being quietly shelved in an unmarked storage area by NASA.

While other recordings of the historic 1969 mission survived, the revelation that at least some moon landing video disappeared has fueled wild conspiracies that NASA has been covering up what astronauts saw or even that the whole mission was faked.

Now, the truth about these 'erased' tapes has been revealed by Tim Dodd, better known as the 'Everyday Astronaut' on YouTube, who said the lost footage was only a set of backup magnetic tapes containing the raw transmission from space.

Dodd explained that the backup tapes were considered by NASA to be less critical since all the essential data, video, and radio signals were successfully transmitted to Houston and broadcast live on TV.

The backup copies of Apollo 11's historic mission were mistakenly taped over when NASA reused older magnetic tapes due to a shortage of those specific film reels in the 1970s and 1980s.

Speaking on the Danny Jones Podcast, Dodd said no one at the time anticipated future technology would be able to upscale or enhance the resolution (upres) of the raw footage for better quality, which is now possible today.

However, NASA still possesses thousands of hours of data proving the first moon landing really took place, including lower-quality versions of telemetry data, audio, and video from Houston's recordings.

Dodd added that the space agency also still has shockingly clear 70 millimeter film from the cameras the Apollo astronauts used on the moon, a grade of film that is still used in IMAX movies 57 years later.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 911truthers; apollo11; apollo8; flatearthers; missingtapes; moonlanding; moontapes; nasa

[posterchild]

Is the line ‘Good luck Mr. Gorsky’ audible on any of them?

[Ditto]

Anyone who believes we didn’t actually land on the moon has the science acumen of roadkill.

I’ll say this. I saw the Saturn V rockets up close and personal. I knew dozens of people who worked on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. And I have met and gotten to know some of the men who walked on the moon. Absolutely the most impressive people I have ever met. So even if my science acumen is the same as roadkill, it’s far better than a nut job like you.

[Magic Fingers]

I’ve seen the Buzz videos (at least some of them). It seems the problem is that 10,000+ other people had to sign on to and maintain the ruse...and why? Surely ONE person would have had a death-bed confession.

That said, we’re in 100% agreement on the roundness of the world lol.

[ALASKA]

I’m gonna pop some corn.

[sgt_lau]

I just watched a documentary about the Apollo moon landing and the footage is in astonishing resolution. I kept thinking, there’s no way this didn’t happen. I’m in the group that believes we landed on the moon. Flame away.

[central_va]

Seek mental help.

[central_va]

You too?

[Seruzawa]

A group of incredibly brave men rode the fire into the sky and put humanity onto the moon. All you do is dishonor their courage and memory. GFY.

[piytar]

“And I have met and gotten to know some of the men who walked on the moon.”

Um, think you misread what I meant. If you “have met and gotten to know some of the men who walked on the moon,” then you agree they got there somehow. IOW I wasn’t referring to you, I was referring to others.

[central_va]

If there was the slightest chance the lunar landings were faked then the USSR would have gone berserk. There were USSR spies all over NASA.

[central_va]

The group of normal people?

[EnderWiggin1970]

I find it odd that in the 53 years since Apollo 17 man has only traveled 0.1% of the distance to the Moon.

It takes >90% of the energy required to reach the moon, to reach that 0.1% point. Once the moon was reached to score points in the competition with the USSR there has been no compelling reason to justify the expense of another visit. Not until a permanent colonization plan is justified would people return.

The evidence is plain enough that the Apollo missions were real. And the arguments of the "faked landings" crowd has been systematically bad and tortured. It's time to give that conspiracy theory a rest.

[pepsi_junkie]

In the early ‘70s my old man was working on a project with NASA and one of the guys gave him slides from a moon mission, said they were never released to the public. I remember him showing us all of them and then putting them away. After he passed and we were moving my mom out to a new place I scoured the joint to find them but never did. They might have been worth something.

[volare737]

The 1960 World Series between Pirates and Yankees were erased, supposedly because the network thought no on would want to see it. Only a copy that Bing Crosby made still exists, (Bill Mazeroski’s HR).

[Tijeras_Slim]

It’s rare to preserve detailed records and to have them in accessible condition. A notable exception is Smith and Wesson, which kept excellent records and had an in house historian, Roy Jinks. When he retired S&W gave him all records which have since been cared for and curated by the S&W Collectors Association. You can request (purchase) a letter detailing your gun listing date shipped, to where or who, and anyother items of interest. They also maintain invoices, in many cases indicating guns sent to various law enforcement agencies.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Look at history. Columbus supposedly discovered North America in 1492. It’s not that unusual.

I will say that my own impression of the “space program” was that it was a civilian cover for post-WWII ICBM research, at least initially. No one needs a Saturn V to do anything but go to the moon.

[Raycpa]

Even though we have a government that can’t do anything right and screws up everything it does or touches in this one event of landing several different missions on the moon each fake one was done so perfectly that no one could ever know they were being Hoodwinked in real time. Never ever underestimate our government.

[doorgunner69]

Are you even dimly aware W Bush had approved a program to return to the moon?

[central_va]

Were you around in the 60s?

[WinstonSmith1984]

You think they didn’t know/figure it out quickly??? ah... now that is funny. Hint: They were impressed.

Kind of like 9/11...

I think COVID/MNRa jab is when they were like... okay these psychopaths are going destroy the entire world. Hence the invasion of Ukraine.

Many more dominoes to fall...and they better fall.

Good luck, try to keep your sense of humor. Keep telling the truth and by all means push back on anything you don’t think is believable... oh... and don’t apply for any former Presidents job as a chef... that career choice seems to be the deadliest.