Apollo 11 moonwalk video released

I got this from my weekly Astronomy mag email. Should be great! Normally I
can't stand the moon but I'm pretty excited about this!
 
 
 
Apollo 11 moonwalk video released
NASA Television will provide HD video feed of the Apollo footage hourly from
12-7 p.m. July 16 and 17.
Provided by NASA, Washington, DC
 
July 16, 2009
NASA released newly restored video from the July 20, 1969, live television
broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. The release commemorates the 40th
anniversary of the first mission to land astronauts on the moon.

The initial video release, part of a larger Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration
project, features 15 key moments from the historic lunar excursion of Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

A team of Apollo-era engineers who helped produce the 1969 live broadcast of
the moonwalk acquired the best of the broadcast-format video from a variety
of sources for the restoration effort. These included a copy of a tape
recorded at NASA's Sydney, Australia, video switching center, where
down-linked television from Parkes and Honeysuckle Creek was received for
transmission to the U.S.; original broadcast tapes from the CBS News Archive
recorded via direct microwave and landline feeds from NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston; and kinescopes found in film vaults at Johnson that had
not been viewed for 36 years.

"The restoration is ongoing and may produce even better video," said Richard
Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, who oversaw television processing at the ground tracking sites
during Apollo 11. "The restoration project is scheduled to be completed in
September and will provide the public, future historians, and the National
Archives with the highest quality video of this historic event."

NASA contracted with Lowry Digital of Burbank, California, which specializes
in restoring aging Hollywood films and video, to take the highest quality
video available from these recordings, select the best for digitization, and
significantly enhance the video using the company's proprietary software
technology and other restoration techniques.

Under the initial effort, Lowry restored 15 scenes representing the most
significant moments of the 3.5 hours that Armstrong and Aldrin spent on the
lunar surface.

On July 20, 1969, as Armstrong made the short step off the ladder of the
Lunar Excursion Module onto the powdery lunar surface, a global community of
hundreds of millions of people witnessed one of humankind's most remarkable
achievements live on television.

The black and white images of Armstrong and Aldrin bounding around the Moon
were provided by a single small video camera aboard the lunar module. The
camera used a non-standard scan format that commercial television could not
broadcast.

NASA used a scan converter to optically and electronically adapt these
images to a standard U.S. broadcast TV signal. The tracking stations used
microwave links, Intelsat communications satellites, and AT&T analog
landlines to Mission Control in Houston to convert the signals and transmit
them. By the time the images appeared on international television, they were
substantially degraded.

At tracking stations in Australia and the United States, engineers recorded
data beamed to Earth from the lunar module onto one-inch telemetry tapes.
The tapes were recorded as a backup if the live transmission failed or if
the Apollo Project needed the data later. Each tape contained 14 tracks of
data, including bio-medical, voice, and other information - one channel was
reserved for video.

A 3-year search for these original telemetry tapes was unsuccessful. A final
report on the investigation is expected to be completed in the near future
and will be publicly released at that time.

NASA Television will provide HD video feed of the Apollo footage hourly from
12-7 p.m. July 16 and 17. Each feed is one hour. For NASA TV streaming
video, downlink, and schedule information, visit <http://www.nasa.gov/ntv>
www.nasa.gov/ntv

A copy of the newly restored scenes from the Apollo 11 restoration effort
can be found at <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html>
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html.

NASA's Apollo 40th anniversary web sites provide easy access to various
agency resources and multimedia about the program and the history of human
spaceflight, including a gallery of Apollo multimedia features. Visit the
site at:
 <http://www.nasa.gov/apollo40th> www.nasa.gov/apollo40th.

Apollo 11 anniversary coverage on Astronomy.com:

* Blog: Journey
<http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astronomy/2009/07/15/journey-to-the-moo
n-with-apollo-11-part-2.aspx> to the Moon with Apollo 11, part 2, by Karri
Ferron, Copy Editor

* Blog: Journey
<http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astronomy/2009/06/17/journey-to-the-moo
n-with-apollo-11.aspx> to the Moon with Apollo 11, by Karri Ferron, Copy
Editor

* Blog: Apollo
<http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astronomy/2009/07/06/apollo-11-document
ary-captures-anticipation-of-nasa-and-world-leading-up-to-historic-launch.as
px> 11 documentary records cultural perspective of the historic launch, by
Karri Ferron, Copy Editor

* Blog: Countdown
<http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astronomy/2009/06/30/countdown-to-apoll
o-11-anniversary.aspx> to Apollo 11 anniversary, by Karri Ferron, Copy
Editor

* <http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=i&id=471> Astronomy's
August 2009 special "Return to the Moon" issue

* Lunar <http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=8360>
Reconnaissance Orbiter page

* Listen <http://ipublish3.kalmbach.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=8449>
to Apollo 11 mission audio

 
 
 
GML
 

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