Apollo 11 moon walk video tapes probably erased by NASA

When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon 40 years ago this Monday (that’s actually Buzz Aldrin pictured above), I was nine years old and absolutely transfixed by the entire mission. I had several plastic Revell models of the various spacecraft — the full Saturn V, the command module, and of course the lunar module. I followed along with Walter Cronkite, and more frequently with Jules Bergman, because my dad watched Howard K. Smith’s more conservative ABC Evening News every night.

Apollo 11 40th anniversary: The first moon walk

I remember running out to the street in front of our house on the night of July 20, 1969, to look up at the moon and see if I could detect anything. I could not. Then, I dashed back into the house to continue staring at our TV, trying to make out what was going on.

The image was black and white, and it was fuzzy. There was too much contrast. A black, horizontal bar floated across it. When Neil Armstrong took that first step off the LEM, I was watching, but didn’t quite catch it. Thank goodness for replays.

NPR: Best moon walk video never seen

Listening to NPR three years ago (”Search Is on for Original Apollo 11 Footage”), I learned why the picture was so poor. It seems that the lunar camera sent its video in a format incompatible with (but presumably better than) broadcast TV:

Here’s how it worked: The lunar camera was sending images to three tracking stations: Goldstone in California, and Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes in Australia. At these stations, the original footage could be displayed on a monitor.

To convert the originals, engineers essentially took a commercial television camera and aimed it at the monitor. The resulting image is what was sent to Houston, and on to the world.

So what the world watched was a camera shot of a video monitor. That explains the quality.

NPR: NASA moon videos probably erased

What happened to the original, higher-quality tapes? Apparently, they were erased and taped over, just as you might record over your wedding video to catch the latest installment of Dancing with the Stars. This is what NPR’s Morning Edition reported today in their first-man-on-the-moon followup (”Houston, We Erased The Apollo 11 Tapes”):

It turns out that new satellites had gone up and were producing a lot of data that needed to be recorded. “These satellites were suddenly using tapes seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” says [lunar camera designer Stan] Lebar.

And the agency was experiencing a critical shortage of magnetic tapes. So NASA started erasing old ones and reusing them.

As assorted hippies were heard to say at Woodstock in August of 1969, “Bummer.”

It may be some consolation to know that NASA has made a selection of “Apollo 11 Partial Restoration HD Videos” available online. These use modern digital techniques to enhance what footage of man’s greatest technological accomplishment still exists.

Apollo 11 DVD

Oh, well. I still break out my own geeky moon landing videos from time to time. Spacecraft Films offers an amazing selection of NASA video and audio. You can buy DVD sets of specific Apollo missions as well as Project Gemini, the Saturn rockets, and on and on. Many of the sets feature multiple camera angles, multiple selectable audio channels (isolate Houston or Armstrong if you like), and photo galleries.

The first moon landing set is called Apollo 11: Men on the Moon. It has been discontinued by the manufacturer, but at last check, you can still buy it through Amazon.com. It contains the complete in-flight television transmissions, complete 16mm onboard film footage, post-flight astronaut debriefings, the lunar landing with multi-track sound, multi-angle launch footage, training footage, and more.

We’ll probably be re-watching it at the Czerniec house all weekend long.

Apollo 11 landing: Air & Space Museum

If you ever have the chance, do pay a visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

There I was able to stand inside an alternate of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, watching the moon landing video through the windows and listening to the audio recording of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin narrowly coordinating speed and altitude with emptying fuel and surface terrain. Looking around at the interior of the lander and its controls and instrumentation, I got the overwhelming sense that these guys landed on the moon in a highly customized tin can, outfitted with miscellaneous gizmos from Radio Shack and black electrical tape. Man, that took guts.

Apollo Saturn V Revell model

One of these days, I really want to once again own the 46-inch tall, 1/96 scale Apollo Saturn V Revell model I had as a kid. Then I could follow the online Saturn V Clinic and modify its tubing, corrugated “stringer” wraps, and decals.

Okay, it’s not at the top of my bucket list, but it’s on there.