World exclusive: NASA Finds Missing Moon Landing Tapes : Update

UPDATE

NASA Holds Briefing to Release Restored Apollo 11 Moonwalk Video
July 13, 2009

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 16, at the Newseum in Washington to release greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.

The release will feature 15 key moments from Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's historic moonwalk using what is believed to be the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years. The initial video released Thursday is part of a comprehensive Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project expected to be completed by the fall.

The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Internet homepage.

www.nasa.gov...

Going in for surgery in the morning so won't be able to keep up but should be back byThursday

reply to post by zorgon


Big fat star for you.

Great find. I'll follow up good luck with the op.

reply to post by zorgon


Thanks for the update and good luck.

reply to post by zorgon


Thanks for that...

I am still shaking my head about the timing of this release, but I am looking forward to seeing the newly released clips...

Get well soon zorgon, all the best

reply to post by zorgon


Good Luck Zorgon. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[edit on 14-7-2009 by kinda kurious]

here's another article on the revealing scheduled for Thursday..

NASA Hints It's Found Missing Moon-Landing Videotapes

...Back on July 20, 1969, the raw video feed from the moon was beamed to the Parkes Observatory radio telescope in southeastern Australia, as well as two other radio telescopes in Australia and California. The feed was then compressed and sent to Mission Control in Houston.

Because of technical issues, NASA's images couldn't be fed directly to the American TV networks.

Instead, the grayish, blotchy images Americans saw on their TV sets were the result of a regular TV camera pointed at the huge wall monitor in Houston — a copy of a copy, in effect.

The rediscovered footage will still be in black-and-white, but will be much brighter and clearer than what we've been used to seeing for the past 40 years.

On Tuesday, NASA spokesman Mark Hess would not confirm to FoxNews.com that the new footage came from the lost tapes, admitting only that some of it had indeed come from Australia...

UPDATE

Nasa puts Apollo 11 Onboard Audio online

www.nasa.gov...

You're in a spacecraft, descending to land on the moon for the first time in history, and the microphone to Earth is off. What do you say?

"I would appreciate if you could ... see if you could ... find the map ..."

"Trade you that for a piece of gum. There it is."

And so it went as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface of the moon aboard the Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969. The world heard communications between the crew and Mission Control live as they happened. But Earth did not hear the conversation between Armstrong and Aldrin, although it was recorded onboard the Eagle.

All of the Apollo spacecraft included onboard voice recorders, activated during much of each mission to record the crew's conversations. The transcripts of those recordings were publicly released in the mid-1970s and they have been posted on the Internet for years. But only recently were the actual onboard recordings from Apollo 11 digitized so that the recordings could be made available on the Internet.

The Apollo 11 Onboard Audio Tape Database cross references the tape numbers to the Mission Elapsed Time (MET) that was on each tape. The database includes a description of the mission status at that time. It is best to listen to the tapes while simultaneously viewing the same mission elapsed time on the transcript, since often the recordings are faint.

The digitized recordings are available here in the same form as they were recorded during the mission. As a result, they are noisy with technical interference that occurred during their recording and transmission. They are sometimes garbled and sometimes have long periods of no voice. They are not listed in chronological order but rather in the order that data was dumped onto storage tapes during the mission. A single tape may include recordings from several different periods of the mission.

The equipment onboard the Apollo Command Module that was used to make the recordings was called the Data Storage Equipment (DSE). Its contents were transmitted to the ground periodically during the mission. Also, the Command Module DSE had the capability to record data live during certain periods from the Lunar Module as it flew separately in lunar orbit. The equipment used aboard the Lunar Module to make the recordings was called the Data Storage Electronics Assembly (DSEA). It made recordings onboard the Lunar Module, but the DSEA flown on the Eagle during Apollo 11 malfunctioned. As a result, many of its recordings are barely, if at all, audible, with a constant high-pitched background tone. In the attached database, the recordings that are virtually inaudible are highlighted, but they are available on the web to ensure a complete release of the recordings made during the mission.

I'm back Feels like a Mule kicked me in the gut bit other than that not to bad

Oops looks like Jim Oberg just posted a new thread on it

NASA puts Apollo-11 cabin tape recordings on linewww.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by zorgon


I'm relieved to hear you're back and hopefully on the mend.
(Seems they are always taking things out or putting things in me.)

God's speed for a fast recovery. I suppose you can blame any
silly posts on the pain pills. I'm a huge fan.

Regards...KK

[edit on 15-7-2009 by kinda kurious]

Oh yeah Good Idea ... was delirious didn't know what I was saying Oughta be good a few weeks


The Mission Transcript Collection
www.ehartwell.com...

Apollo 11 Onboard Audio Database
www.nasa.gov...

Communications Transcripts:
Mercury Through Apollo
www.jsc.nasa.gov...


Apollo 11 Onboard Audio Highlights
www.nasa.gov...

Apollo 11 Onboard Voice Transcription (5.5 Mb PDF) →
www.jsc.nasa.gov...

Audio “Time Capsule” of Historic Apollo 11 Mission
www.nasa.gov...

Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The original recordings of the first humans landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and re-used, but newly restored copies of the original broadcast look even better, NASA officials said on Thursday.

Reuters News
www.reuters.com...

Now how do you erase and re use the originals but then get newly restored copies that look better than the original?

reply to post by zorgon


Thanks for update and link Z-man. Initially, I was wordless.

I did view the "Flag Comparison" video. (720p) Underwhelming. Contrast improved at the expense of resolution. It was also "dust-busted" which means dirt and scratch artifacts werere moved.

I humbly state that my 30+ years a a Professional Videotape Editor qualifies what I am about to point out:

1. The old saying: Garbage in, Garbage out applies here.

2. Inasmuch as the video is B & W and hence offers no chrominance (color information) they were a dub of original 2" Quad Videotape, I presume. That means 2" Quad copy via composite video. (poor quality, equates to sub par modern day VHS.) Until you get to the digital realm, analog video loses about one-fourth quality with each "generation."

3. Imagine taking a picture and placing it on a copy machine. The copy will NEVER exceed quality of original.

4. Please don't confuse any Photoshop analogies with this process.
(Although some insignificant amount of minor detail might be enhanced, it is not like a "sharpen" filter.) Once resolution is lost, it is gone for good.

As I am a "fence-sitter" who often leans to either side based on compelling evidence, I just don't accept the original footage of "man's greatest achievement to date" was placed in the recycle pile.

I am now MORE skeptical than EVER.

EDIT TO FIX TYPO(S)

[edit on 16-7-2009 by kinda kurious]

Originally posted by kinda kurious
I am now MORE skeptical thn EVER.

Seems a lot of people are wondering what the heck?

NASA ADMITS: Moon Landing Tapes Got Erased
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Okay so they announce one day that they have new shiny film for us for the 40th anniversary and the next day Reuters busts it open by saying they were erased?

Lemme go check outside... make sure I am still on Earth

News Flash.............

I was just watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. She covered this story and interviewed
Jim Oberg (a frequent poster on ATS) about the story.

They touched on "conspiracy theorists" in a fairly neutral way. Pretty cool.

[edit on 16-7-2009 by kinda kurious]

reply to post by Jnewell33


Well, because of the Lunar Laser Ranging equipment still there, that proves they were put there by somebody. The apollo missions installed these experiments at exactly these locations next to the landing sites.
Just about every day, scientists fire a laser at the moon to gauge its distance from earth. But the existence of the reflector arrays right where they SHOULD be is pretty difficult to explain for a moon hoax believer don't you think?

Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment

The ongoing Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment measures the distance between the Earth and the Moon using laser ranging. Lasers on Earth are aimed at retroreflectors previously planted on the Moon and the time delay for the reflected light to return is determined. Since the speed of light is known with very high accuracy, the distance to the moon can be calculated. This distance has been measured with increasing accuracy for more than 35 years.

The distance continually changes for a number of reasons, but averages about 384,467 kilometers (238,897 miles).

The experiment was first made possible by a retroreflector array installed on July 21, 1969, by the crew of the Apollo 11. Two more retroreflector arrays left by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 missions have contributed to the experiment.

The unmanned Soviet Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2 rovers carried smaller arrays. Reflected signals were initially received from Lunokhod 1, but no return signals have been detected since 1971, at least in part due to some uncertainty in its location on the Moon. Lunokhod 2's array continues to return signals to Earth.

The Apollo 15 array is three times the size of the arrays left by the two earlier Apollo missions. Its size made it the target of three-quarters of the sample measurements taken in the first 25 years of the experiment. Improvements in technology since then have resulted in greater use of the smaller arrays, by sites such as the McDonald Observatory and the OCA Laser-Lune telemetry station affiliated with the Côte d'Azur Observatory.

At the Moon's surface, the beam is only about 6.5 kilometers (four miles) wide and scientists liken the task of aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime 3 kilometers (two miles) away. The reflected light is too weak to be seen with the human eye, but under good conditions, one photon will be received every few seconds (they can be identified as originating from the laser because the laser is highly monochromatic). This is one of the most precise distance measurements ever made, and is equivalent in accuracy to determining the distance between Los Angeles and New York to one hundredth of an inch. As of 2002 work is progressing on increasing the accuracy of the Earth-Moon measurements to near millimeter accuracy.

Some of the findings of this long-term experiment are:

-The moon is spiralling away from Earth at a rate of 38 mm per year.
-The moon probably has a liquid core of about 20% of the Moon's radius.
-The universal force of gravity is very stable. The experiments have put an upper limit on the change in Newton's gravitational constant G of less than 1 part in 1011 since 1969.
-The likelihood of any "Nordtvedt effect" (a composition-dependent differential acceleration of the Moon and Earth towards the Sun) has been ruled out to high precision, strongly supporting the validity of the Strong Equivalence Principle.
-Einstein's theory of gravity (the general theory of relativity) predicts the moon's orbit to within the accuracy of the laser ranging measurements.

Additionally, the accuracy of these experiments has improved historic knowledge of the Moon's orbit enough to permit timing of solar eclipses up to 3,400 years ago.

The presence of reflectors on the Moon has been used to rebut claims that the Apollo landings were faked. For example, the figure on the right shows evidence of something very small, located within a few kilometers of where a landing occurred, and which reflects laser light directly back to the source as well as a mirror array.

That being said, One of Zorgon's threads a few months ago really blew me away.

Missing Lunar Orbiter Tapes Found
"Missing Lunar Orbiter Tapes Found In an Abandoned McDonalds"
Started By Zorgon
9-25-2008

It turns out this was a legitimate, NASA-funded digitization effort to convert all the ancient, analog moon data from the first moon probes to digital images. I guess they were just trying to save money? But seriously. An abandoned Mcdonalds? Comon..

Here's a couple photos Zorgon posted in that thread.






The downside was that they were stuck having to use this giant machine to process each analog tape one at a time. What a nightmare.. It turns out these tapes went missing some time ago though.. It seems NASA has a pretty hard time holding on to valuable data doesn't it? That or they insist on processing everything first in order to filter out everything they don't want us to see.

This in conjunction with this more recent discovery of "lost tapes" proves that this doesn't really make any sense. Just as some ex-NASA employees have said, they pretty frequently have to edit/airbrush out the unknown anomalies. I'm almost wondering if they didn't "lose" all these old tapes on purpose just so they could wait until computer technology improved to a point where they could edit out everything we aren't supposed to see. It at least makes complete sense in theory. And the fact that nearly every manned mission in the history of manned space flight has witnessed strange and unexplainable things backs this up.

Food for thought.. A couple of my fav's




-ChriS

Originally posted by gottago
Of course this is terrific, unexpected news, but really, how on earth did they lose the tapes in the first place?

The skeptic in me will wait until I actually see the footage to believe this ridiculous saga.

This was not an isolated incident. See above post.
How many other "missing" tapes are out there waiting to be discovered in a dark room in some other country? WOW!

-ChriS

Originally posted by Skyfloating
If NASA does not come up with a very clear explanation on how footage from the most important event in recent History could go "lost" and wind up in some facility on the other side of the world, Im not buying this.

Does anyone know the official explanation for why and how this footage was supposed to have gone "lost"?

Official Explanation: Bullpies

Truth: They are hiding something

reply to post by BlasteR


While this is a frequent retort, is it not plausible that the "reflectors" were placed by remote and perhaps unmanned missions? This fact alone has never cinched it for me.

There was a recent thread featuring Russian Lunahod unmanned rovers, (meant to be era technology example) easily capable of this.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Regards...KK

[edit on 17-7-2009 by kinda kurious]

reply to post by kinda kurious


Wow.. I did have a long-winded response prepared. I tried to post and it just said I was logged out? Interesting. Anyway, what I was GOING to say is this.

For the LLRE's to be placed precisely where the moon landings occurred would've taken some pretty remarkable coordination and accuracy. One less believable scenario is that unmanned missions placed the reflectors on the moon a couple years before the corresponding manned apollo mission. After they know where the landing site would be for each one, they could then plan the moon hoaxes to recreate the unmanned landing site. Voilla.. The reflectors end up exactly at the appropriate landing site for each apollo mission that set them up.

Only there are some pretty irrefutable things you have to consider on top of this. Things that contradict this idea..

1- Moon rocks
Carbon-dated moon rocks have very different ages than terrestrial rocks. Some moon rocks have actually been carbon-dated to almost a billion years older than the oldest rocks ever found on earth. The moon rocks also have very specific geologic composition that tells us all the moon rocks had once been completely molten. Thus, we believe the entire moon was completely molten.. Possibly even forming this way after being expelled from earth billions of years ago after a collision with a mars-sized object dubbed "Theia". The only problem is this idea conflicts with some of the dates of the moon rocks, possibly meaning our current theories about how the moon was formed may not be entirely correct. But this definately proves we were there!

2- Hundreds / thousands of people were involved.
People from all walks of life and with different technical and educational backgrounds. Everyone from NASA employees to private contractors from companies like Lockheed Martin. If this was such a huge theatrical lie as the moon hoax conspiracists believe, why didn't anyone come forward to say so? One theory states that the only explanation is for this many people to actually believe the moon missions were real is if everyone was brainwashed. Really? Is that the most likely explanation? I find this idea pretty ridiculous to even contemplate. They monitored the missions the whole time. They monitored the astronauts the whole time.

3- The Russians were keeping an eye on us the whole time.
They did this to make sure we weren't trying to pull a fast one. If they would've witnessed inconsistencies and proof of trickery, you can bet they would've said something. They never did..

4 - New Images of the Apollo landing sites prove we were there
A recent NASA article dated July 17, 2009 shows Apollo landing sites for 5 of the 6 Apollo missions (Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, 17) with images of the Apollo 12 landing site to follow in a few days from now.. The sites have been photographed with the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbitor (LRO) and appear to show the descent stages of the corresponding lunar modules for each mission! They definately don't show all the detail like footprints, debris, or the experiments that were set up. but they definately appear to show the descent modules for the Lunar modules.

LRO Sees Apollo Landing Sites

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions' lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon's surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules' locations evident.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks.

The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images came before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution.

Of coarse, this is basically breaking news just from the last day or two and there is already a corresponding ATS thread you can find HERE .

-ChriS

Originally posted by BlasteR
Carbon-dated moon rocks have very different ages than terrestrial rocks.

Can carbon dating be applied to rocks?

I thought that carbon dating measures the amount of decayed radioactive carbon in something, but that something obviously needs to have had some radioactive carbon in it when it was created, so while it works with living things that breath or use carbon in some way, it cannot be used in rocks that never had any carbon in them when they were created.

Or am I wrong?

PS: maybe they used other radioactive material to measure the decay?