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[IP] more on NASA loses original "One small step for man" recording





Begin forwarded message:

From: Ed Biebel <edward@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 15, 2006 1:01:42 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] NASA loses original "One small step for man" recording

Dave,

Space.com is running a similar story but puts a different perspective on it altogether. The SSTV tapes being sought were apparently the raw data feed that was kept as a backup in the event of a problem with the broadcasted version of which copies are readily available. Since the broadcasts went off without a problem, maintaining and archiving these backup tapes were not a priority.

http://www.space.com/news/060813_apollo11_tapes.html

" Sarkissian said the tapes were appropriately handled and archived in the mid 1970's after the hectic activity of the Apollo lunar landing era was over. "We are confident that they are stored at [NASA's] Goddard Space Flight Center [in Greenbelt, Maryland] … we just don't know where precisely," he told SPACE.com. It is important to note, Sarkissian added, that there is no inference of wrong-doing, incompetence or negligence on the part of NASA or its employees."
...

"It is important not to exaggerate the quality of the images being sought, Sarkissian added. "The SSTV was not like modern high definition TV and nor was it even equal in quality to the normal broadcast TV we are accustomed to viewing," he said. Still, the SSTV was better than the scan-converted images that were broadcast at the time—which is the only version currently available, Sarkissian concluded."

...

" F"or the last three or four years, the private group has been searching for special raw data recordings that contain unconverted slow-scan television (SSTV), recorded as a backup in case of an equipment glitch or a video circuit outage during the historic moon strolls of Armstrong and Aldrin. Since there were no problems converting the slow-scan signals to National Television System Committee video standards, there was no need to use the backup telemetry recordings. Hundreds of boxes of Apollo-era magnetic tapes were subsequently shipped to NASA Goddard, later to be likely turned over to the National Record Center in Suitland, Maryland, Wood said."

Ed

On 8/14/06, David Farber < dave@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: http://www.cnn.com/ 2006/TECH/space/08/14/space.tapes.reut/index.html

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