[seacapn]

Another issue:

Goddard is also home to the only equipment that can still play the tapes, which use an obsolete 14-inch format -- equipment that was due to be dismantled in October until Mr. Nafzger intervened.

This is an issue that is getting bigger as technology changes, and formats shift. Not just for big organizations, either.

[OBXWanderer]

I was fortunate enough back in the mid eighties to have business dealings with a former astronaut. Stu "Rusty" Roosa, command module pilot on Apollo 14, along with his wife and my friend had dinner one night at a great little resturant in Biloxi, MS. One of the most captivating conversations that I have ever had; with one of those guys that had the most lonely job out of this world. Command Module Pilots stayed aboard while the other two went down to the moon's surface, thus being out of radio range for periods of time, while behind the moon. I think 14 was the mission Shepard hit the golf balls on the moon. Funny how a lot of those guys ended up in the beer business.

[DustyMoment]

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.

NASA losing something.

Gee, what a surprise.

[Publius6961]

There's no question about it. Large bureucracies are mindless. How much confirmation do we really need?

What good are national "archives" if they don't even have enough sense to define "importance" and "priorities" for the national historical record?

[Inyo-Mono]

NASA can borrow my copy of the Castle Films 8mm film "The Moon Landing that I bought in 1970. It is in color too!

[1Old Pro]

One would think that they would keep a small staff to didgitized these films and get them on DVD's or some other formats.

[krb]

It also could lay to rest the conspiracy theory that the landings were faked on a Hollywood soundstage.

Uh, not if it's "lost." :-)

[RightWhale]

The main camera was photographic, Hasselblad. The mag tapes were prepared from Hasselblad negatives. many of the interesting Hasselblad images were published all over, including Life magazine and prints were distributed at every trade show. Collections of prints were published in bound form, some of which may still be available from the US Gov't Printing Office or found in public libraries.

Hoagland is concerned with the loss of the mag tapes because they may show objects on the horizon that shouldn't be there.

[quark]

NASA SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM:

[mad_as_he$$]

Well since it was faked anyway........

[PISANO]

The Moon Landing TRUTH"

[Tall_Texan]

This is an issue that is getting bigger as technology changes, and formats shift. Not just for big organizations, either.

I have a friend who used to do major league play-by-play. Some games were dubbed onto large reel-to-reel tapes - the type able to handle a multi-hour game without changing tapes. He recently wanted these converted to a newer medium but finding anyone who could work with the old tapes was a more daunting challenge than I would have thought.

Even if you convert them to CDs, the CD technology (so I'm told) is already on its way out.

[Skooz]

My mom took a Polaroid of the TV when Neil stepped on the moon.

Maybe she would donate it.

[Revolting cat!]

"Fake, fake, fake, fake!"

[isom35]

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