NASA refurbishes video copies of moon landing
WASHINGTON — With the help of Hollywood, those historic, grainy images of the first men on the moon never looked better. NASA unveiled refurbished video Thursday of the July 20, 1969, moonwalk restored by the same company that sharpened up the movie “Casablanca.”
NASA lost its original moon landing videotapes and after a three-year search, officials have concluded they were probably erased. That original live video was ghostlike and grainy.
NASA and a Hollywood film restoration company took television video copies of what Apollo 11 beamed to Earth 40 years ago and made the pictures look sharper.
NASA emphasized the video isn’t “new” — just better quality.
“There’s nothing being created; there’s nothing being manufactured,” said NASA senior engineer Dick Nafzger, who’s in charge of the project.
But some details seem new because of their sharpness. Originally, Armstrong’s face visor was too fuzzy to be seen clearly. The refurbished video shows his visor and a reflection in it.
The $230,000 refurbishing effort is only three weeks into a months-long project, and only 40 percent of the work has been done. But it does show improvements in four snippets: Armstrong walking down the ladder, which includes the face visor image; Buzz Aldrin walking down the ladder; the two astronauts reading a plaque they left on the moon; the planting of the flag on the moon.
The original videos beamed to earth were stored on giant reels of tapes that each contained 15 minutes of video, along with 13 other channels of live data from the moon. In the 1970s and 1980s, NASA had a shortage of the tapes and erased about 200,000 of those tapes and reused them. That’s apparently what happened to the famous moon landing footage.
Nafzger praised the restored work for its crispness. The restoration company, Lowry Digital of Burbank, Calif., also refurbished “Star Wars” and James Bond films, along with “Casablanca.”
The company noted that the latter film had a pixel count 10 times higher than the moon video, meaning the moon footage was fuzzier than that vintage movie and more of a challenge in one sense.
But the moon video also was three continuous hours, not chopped up like movies are, which made some of the work easier, said Lowry president Mike Inchalik.
Of all the video the company has dealt with, he said, “This is by far and away the lowest quality.”
The restoration used four video sources: CBS News originals; kinescopes from the National Archives; a video from Australia that received the transmission of the original moon video; and camera shots looking at a TV monitor.
Both Nafzger and Inchalik said they went to extremes to enhance the video as conservatively as possible.
On the Net:
NASA restored video: www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html
Related News
5 little-known facts about the Moon landingJuly 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new report, National Geographic News has outlined 5 little-known facts about the Moon landing. So, 40 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, here are some of the facts that you probably didn't know about the historic event:
1.
Apollo 11: 40th anniversary moon landingJuly 21st, 2009 Forty years back this day that is July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin stepped on moon. US President Obama celebrates the 40 anniversary moon landing by paying tribute to the astronauts of Apollo 11.
On 40th anniversary, Apollo 11 astronauts meet Obama, who makes no promise of moon or MarsJuly 21st, 2009 Obama meets astronauts; no promise of moon or MarsWASHINGTON — The same question that could have been asked 40 years ago moments after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon is still being asked today: Now what?
On the 40th anniversary of man's first moon landing, the Apollo 11 crew met with President Barack Obama, who used the opportunity to talk about inspiration and science and math education. He didn't talk about going anywhere in space, not the moon or Mars.
Apollo astronauts dream of trip to MarsJuly 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - It's been decades since they set foot on the moon, but the pioneers of the Apollo programme remain committed to exploring space with the goal of sending a human to Mars. Seven astronauts from the Apollo programme talked with journalists Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.
Researchers say Apollo 11 moon rocks still give clues to solar systemJuly 20th, 2009 Researchers: Still learning from moon rocksST. LOUIS — Forty years after the Apollo 11 astronauts made their historic lunar landing, the rocks they collected are still helping researchers learn about the moon and the solar system.
Apollo 11 astronauts meet President Obama as part of 40th anniversary of first moon landingJuly 20th, 2009 Obama honors first men to land on moonWASHINGTON — Hailing the Apollo 11 astronauts as "three genuine American heroes," President Barack Obama said Monday that exploration spurs ingenuity and inspires students in math and science. In an Oval Office ceremony commemorating the day 40 years ago when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took man's first steps on the moon, Obama compared their accomplishment to his goal of the United States having the highest college graduation rates in the world by 2020.
Google offers 'guided tour' of the moon, 40 years after the first Apollo landingJuly 20th, 2009 Google offers 'guided tour' of the moonNEW YORK — Google Inc. is offering a more wide-ranging view of the Moon, 40 years after humans first landed there.
Apollo 11 astronaut Aldrin: NASA should develop missions to Mars, possibly 'source of life'July 19th, 2009 Aldrin: NASA should work to put people on MarsWASHINGTON — Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin says NASA should set its sights on a bigger target in the future: Mars. Aldrin made the comments on the eve of the 40th anniversary of his landing on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission.
One giant leap for the march of time: Most Americans were born after first landing on moonJuly 19th, 2009 Where were you when Apollo 11 landed? Not born yetWASHINGTON — Most Americans have never known a world where man hasn't been to the moon. It used to be a given that people knew where they were when man first walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, watching the black-and-white images on television.
Apollo astronauts, including Armstrong, relive experiences on 40th anniversary of moonwalkJuly 18th, 2009 Apollo astronauts relive experiences at ceremonyDAYTON, Ohio — It was a reunion of reunions. Twelve Apollo astronauts reminisced, traded stories and poked fun at each other Friday night as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and moonwalk approached.
NASA spacecraft gets its first look at Apollo moon landing sitesJuly 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - 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.
Apollo 11 moon rocks still crucial 40 years laterJuly 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A lunar geochemist at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) has determined that there are still many answers to be gleaned from the moon rocks collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic moonwalk 40 years ago.
I spy Apollo leftovers: NASA's new moon camera sees hardware left on moon by Apollo astronautsJuly 17th, 2009 New NASA photos show Apollo leftovers on the moonWASHINGTON — New NASA photos of the moon show the leftovers from man's exploration 40 years ago. For the first time, photos from space pinpoint equipment left behind from Apollo landings, and even the well-worn tracks made by astronauts on the moon surface.
Moon surface chart used by Apollo 11 astronauts after 1st lunar landing sold in NYC for $218KJuly 17th, 2009 Apollo 11 lunar navigation chart sells for $218KNEW YORK — A navigational chart used by Apollo 11 astronauts became the unexpected star of an auction on Thursday marking the 40th anniversary of man's first lunar landing. The circular lunar surface chart, which is 9 inches in diameter and consists of two sheets of plastic, sold for a stellar $218,000, according to Bonhams New York.
NASA may release missing videotapes of Apollo 11 Moon landingJuly 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A carefully worded media advisory note by NASA is being considered as a hint that the agency has found missing videotapes of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. According to a report by Fox News, the note by NASA promised that "greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk" would be made public on July 16.
Loading ...