Original moon landing film lost

London Daily Telegraph via The Washington Times ^ | August 14, 2006 | Robert Colvile

[seacapn]

The original film footage of astronaut Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, one of the most important artifacts of the 20th century, has been lost.

The television broadcast seen by about 600 million people in July 1969 is preserved for posterity, but the original tapes from which the footage was taken have been mislaid, most likely in NASA's vast archives at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The footage could transform our view of the moon landings, offering images far sharper than the blurred, grainy video shown around the world. It also could lay to rest the conspiracy theory that the landings were faked on a Hollywood soundstage.

Despite its iconic status, the television footage was the equivalent of a photocopy of a photocopy. It came from a camera that had been pointed at a black-and-white monitor on Earth. The image on the monitor, in turn, had been stripped of much of its detail.

To make sure the transmission would make it back to Earth, the images sent from Apollo 11 were recorded at 10 frames per second, and had to be converted to 60 frames per second in order to be broadcast. In the process, much of the detail was lost.

Stan Lebar, now 81, was in charge of the images from Apollo 11. What he saw was so blurred that he initially thought something had gone wrong.

[RadioAstronomer]

What a bunch of codswallop you have posted here!

[taxesareforever]

All I can say is that there are more people who spout this codswallop than you think. It's all in the facts. It is up to each person to form their own opinion based on those facts and I have formed mine. It's not set in stone but I need more proof of a lunar landing before I'll change my mind.

[isom35]

Letterman said "hey its not like they're rocket scientists...oh wait, they are rocket scientists..."