The Apollo 11 missing tapes were those that were recorded from Apollo 11's slow-scan television (SSTV) telecast in its raw format on telemetry data tape at the time of the first Moon landing in 1969 and subsequently lost.
The data tapes were used to record all transmitted data (video as well as telemetry) for backup.
To broadcast the SSTV transmission on standard television, NASA ground receiving stations performed real-time scan conversion to the NTSC television format. The moonwalk's converted video signal was broadcast live around the world on July 21, 1969 (2:56 UTC). At the time, the NTSC broadcast was recorded on many videotapes and kinescope films. Many of these low-quality recordings remain intact. As the real-time broadcast worked and was widely recorded, preservation of the backup video was not deemed a priority in the years immediately following the mission.[1] In the early 1980s, NASA's Landsat program was facing a severe data tape shortage and it is likely the tapes were erased and reused at this time.[2]
A team of retired NASA employees and contractors tried to find the tapes in the early 2000s but was unable to do so. The search was sparked when several still photographs appeared in the late 1990s that showed the visually superior raw SSTV transmission on ground-station monitors. The research team conducted a multi-year investigation in the hopes of finding the most pristine and detailed video images of the moonwalk. If copies of the original SSTV format tapes were to be found, more modern digital technology could make a higher-quality conversion, yielding better images than those originally seen. The researchers concluded that the tapes containing the raw unprocessed Apollo 11 SSTV signal were erased and reused by NASA in the early 1980s, following standard procedure at the time.[1][3][4]
Although the researchers never found the telemetry tapes, they did discover the best visual quality NTSC videotapes as well as Super 8 movie film taken of a video monitor in Australia, showing the SSTV transmission before it was converted. These visual elements were processed in 2009, as part of a NASA-approved restoration project of the first moonwalk. At a 2009 news conference in Washington, D.C., the research team released its findings regarding the tapes' disappearance. They also partially released newly enhanced footage obtained during the search. Lowry Digital completed the full moonwalk restoration project in late 2009.
^ abO'Neil (2009c).
^Nafzger (2009), p. 13.
^Perlman (2009).
^Sarkissian (2006), p. 14.
and 27 Related for: Apollo 11 missing tapes information
RCA GCTA (LM) Apollo11missingtapes List of NASA cameras on spacecraft NASA decided to go with a new communications system for the Apollo program that...
Apollo11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin...
Apollo11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. The 1969 mission's wide effect on popular culture has resulted in numerous portrayals of...
intellectual exchange between Islamic and Christian cultures. Abandonware Apollo11missingtapes Dark data Data archaeology Data corruption Data rot Digital continuity...
authorities have repeatedly debunked any claims of foul play. See Apollo11missingtapes. Most US daytime soap opera episodes broadcast before 1978 have...
future Moon missions believe the tapes may be useful for their design studies. They have found that the Apollo11tapes were sent for storage at the U.S...
decommissioned antenna is Giyalung Guluman, meaning "Smart Dish". Apollo11missingtapes John Gatenby Bolton List of astronomical observatories List of...
term 'duct tape' has been genericized to refer to different cloth tapes with differing purposes. A variation is heat-resistant foil tape useful for sealing...
Apollo11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. In the decades after its 1969 mission took place, widespread celebrations have been held...
Apollo in Real Time is an interactive, multimedia website that presents the Apollo11, Apollo 13, and Apollo 17 missions as they happened at the time by...
The Apollo11 goodwill messages are statements from leaders of 73 countries around the world on a disc about the size of a 50-cent piece made of silicon...
2013. Greenfieldboyce, Nell (July 16, 2009). "Houston, We Erased The Apollo11Tapes". NPR. Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio, Inc. Retrieved August...
Since 2010, it has been preserved as a Historical Aerospace Site. Apollo11missingtapes Carnarvon Tracking Station Orroral Valley Tracking Station OTC...
the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled, for reasons which included changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire...
Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man...
Apollo 13 (April 11–17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched...
accessible database of the Nixon Tapes Watergate tapes and transcripts – Miller Center of Public Affairs Transcript of the "Smoking Gun" tape – watergate.info...
Apollo 9 (March 3–13, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission...
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the...
Eagle (LM-5) is the spacecraft that served as the crewed lunar lander of Apollo11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. It was named...
module during Apollo11, which was the first mission to land humans on the Moon. Columbia is the only spacecraft of the 1969 Apollo11 mission that returned...
and 5 billion years old. Apollo 15 operations on the Lunar surface Hadley–Apennine Lunar sample displays Stolen and missing Moon rocks "15415 Ferroan...
tapes found in Western Australia, but those tapes were only recordings of data from the Apollo11 Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package. The tapes...
The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use theater at 253 West...