Apollo 11 TV Tapes Go Missing

Richard W.M. Jones writes "On July 21st 1969, Honeysuckle Creek observatory brought us the first TV pictures of men on the moon. The original signals were recorded on high quality slow-scan TV (SSTV) tapes. What was released to the TV networks was reduced to lower quality commercial TV standards. Unfortunately John Sarkissian of Parkes Observatory Australia reports that 698 of the 700 boxes of original tapes have gone missing [warning: large PDF] from the U.S. National Archives. Even more worryingly, the last place on earth which can actually read these tapes is scheduled to close in October this year. The PDF contains interesting comparisons which show that if all you've seen are the TV pictures from the landing, you really haven't seen the first moon walk in its full glory."

Um....

[viper21]

I knew I forgot to return those rental tapes.

I wonder if I can talk them out of the late fees again.

How convenient.

[Anonymous Coward]

Incontrovertible proof that the moon landing was faked is convenently "lost" by the national archives while Bush II talks about going "back" to the moon.

Gee, thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

if all you've seen are the TV pictures from the landing, you really haven't seen the first moon walk in its full glory

Now you tell me. Thanks for the early heads up.

Oh, BTW, you missed seeing Halley's commet in your lifetime a few years ago.

So....

[arthurpaliden]

So the actual 'raw' proof that men were walking on the moon is gone. How convenient.

We all know where they are

[toupsie]

They are hidden in the underground television studio at Area 51 where they faked the moon landing.

This shouldn't be too big of a deal

[Rude Turnip]

Please, nowadays a kid with an HD camcorder and a copy of Finalcut Pro could fake the moon landing for millions of dollars less than the 1969 production. I'm sure we'll see a bunch of new footage appearing on YouTube any day now!

Back them up!

[Bun]

Quick! Convert them to HD-DVD, er, Blu-Ray, er...

Re:Does it really matter

[WilliamSChips]

On the other hand, how do you loose almost 700 boxes?

I don't know, but it's probably nothing like losing them.

I've got some more copies. No worry

[krell]

They let me on the Warner Bros backlot where the first Apollo landings were filmed back in the 1960s (my dad was friends with the guy they hired to dump the "lunar sand" in the studio). I had my 8 mm Kodak movie camera with me, and I still have some reels that I filmed myself during the shooting of important scenes. I'll put them on Youtube soon. (If you ever see the finished films, you'll see the edge of one of my footprints from when I strayed into the actual set in the "lunar soil" near Neil at one time. I'm surprised that, perfectionist as he was, Kubrick did not catch that and edit it out.

Re:Um....

[Megane]

Remember... Be kind - Rewind!

Re:So....

[afaik_ianal]

What was released to the TV networks was reduced to lower quality commercial TV standards.

Yep - I've been trying to tell people for years that the footage was edited, but everyone just called me "crazy"... MUAHAHA. Then they go and claim that they are only calling me that because I laugh maniacally at the end of every sentence. MUAHAHAHAHAA!

Ebay?

[Cadallin]

Firstly, Isn't this a dupe? And secondly, have they checked ebay yet?

My guess..

[Anonymous Coward]

Some dude brought them home for the weekend and they wound up being thrown into the trash by his wife.

I've got them...

[SpectreHiro]

Now I can prove once and for all that the moon landing was a fraud! So far in reviewing the tapes, I've seen dress-rehearsals, cables, stand-in props... Hell, you can even see a set-designer clad in overalls working on a matte painting in the background.

Fer criminy's sake, the tapes are labelled "Faked Moon Landing".

Your ass is mine, NASA!

Re:So....

[dacarr]

But they're already nuts. That's why they're conspiracy theorists.

youtube please

[in2mind]

Whoever has those tapes now,upload to youtube please! :p

Did they ask Dan Rather?

[krell]

These original DVD's from the CBS vaults were really interesting. They were mastered in 1969 using Amiga Video Toaster. It is probably no coincidence that they turned up missing about the same time Dan Rather left CBS. I wonder if Rather took the wrong boxes when he carted off those old 3.5" inch floppies containing the MS Word 97 docs George Bush's original military service records and archive copies of Bush's Myspace page from 1973.

Re:So....

[ubergenius]

Then... They're going to be... nuts-ier... We're talking, squirrels will be running in front of their moving cars by the millions just to get a taset of this particular level of nut.

torrent ?

[Anonymous Coward]

i found the release .nfo but i cant find a torrent

NASA.faked.moon.landings.1969.LiMITED.VHSRip.Xvid. AC3-TeamFBI.CD1-CD698.rar

Re:Back them up!

[ArielMT]

I thought they were backed up on Betamax in the '80s. All you need is a player that can play that forma—

Oh.

Oh come on now, you can't possibly be serious!!!!

[gd23ka]

I mean that's just taking it way too far. To think that they actually faked the moon landing.
So what if they did plan to invade Cuba by shooting down a civilian airliner over Cuba and
then blaming Castro for it (Operation Northwood, if you're into FOIA documents), so what
if George W(anker) Bush's Grandpa Prescott cut Onkel Adolf a cheque every now and then and now
they're friends with BinLaden Terrorgroup Inc. so what if these people used unsuspecting
civilians and military unwittingly as subjects in radiation experiments, ... ... ..

The world saw it happen on TV and just because some cooky people have come out of the woodwork
to point out that many lights and shadows on the official footage of the moon landing are obviously
not what they should be if the images were "real", that still doesn't mean they're right. If
they were right, don't you think it would have come to light decades ago and they would have
had this on TV and in the newspapers??!

Your sir, are in desperate need of a heavy dose of reality here. I suspect you have been dodging
your weekly Ritalin injections for months now or else you wouldn't be having so funny ideas.

In other news

[mgabrys_sf]

Nearly 700 copies of "A Star Wars Holiday Special" appeared in the trash around LucasFilm that had been taped over some old media George had obtained from NASA years ago.

Re:Um....

[LiquidCoooled]

I realised this myself a few weeks ago and bought myself a dvd rewinder [i4u.com].
they claim its the fastest in the world!

Re:So....

[Anne_Nonymous]

That's ok, we can refilm it in HiDef now.

Terrible!

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

This is terrible. We know that in the far future the crew of the Battlestar Galactica [wikipedia.org] intercept some of these recordings but it seems that they just miss the transmissions from the moon. These recordings are doomed to be lost forever.

Apollo 11: The Special Limited Collector's Edition

[identity0]

Do not worry, dear consumers! The tapes have not gone "missing". The studio that made the original landing footage simply took it back to their labs to Digitally Re-Master it for the Special Limited Collector's Edition DVD, which will be out by Christmas. Since the original director (Kubrik) is gone, they will have directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg collaborate on this wonderful new addition to the Disney(TM) Classics(TM) Collection(TM).

New, never-before scenes will be inserted into the middle of the old, staid footage!
Tom Hanks will replace Neil Armstrong through the magic of digital effects!
Kristie Alley will be Buzz Aldrin, adding an exciting new romantic subplot to the mission!
A lovable animal sidekick will have your kids squealing in delight!
Gagarin shoots first!

Master directors Spielberg and Lucas will also modernize the plot and imagery to give a fresh, "post-2001" look!
The American flag, such an archaic-looking symbol (that didn't test well with audiences overseas), will be replaced with a pleasant, pastel blue UN flag. The ugly SUV 'lunar rover' will be digitally removed, and replaced with bicycles which the astronauts will pedal about the moon. The President will be updated to be a Texan oil millionaire conducting a needless war in Asia, who commander Michael Collins (played by academy award-winner Liam Neeson) will denounce for "having turned to the dark side". The "Cold War" sideplot will be updated to be a "Temporal War On Terror", which will feature terrorists from the future attempting to fly the Space Shuttle Columbia into the White House! Can our heroes stop them 'in time'?!

This and other new changes will keep the franchise fresh and exciting to today's viewers, and like Star Trek: Enterprise, will boldly re-write history that no one but nerds cares about anyways!

Apollo 11: The Special Limited Collector's Edititon: Coming Christmas 2006 - collect all 6 covers!

Re:Not surprising, actually

[Anonymous Coward]

> ... even getting an electronic catalogue of the entire collection would be a huge step forward

you mean, like one giant leap?

Re:Um....

[Xymor]

Holy crap, They were labeled "Moonwalk" so I thought they were the michael jackson video or something and I taped the world cup games over them. My bad guys. Can't you set up the studio in the desert and tape them again?

Re:Does it really matter

[Kaenneth]

And you really don't want to look in all the boxes; you just might get your face melted.

Re:How can you "lose" 698/700 boxes???

[tibbetts]

This is the U.S. government we're talking about. Shouldn't the question be, "How did they manage not to lose 2 of the 700 boxes?"

Re:So....

[Anonymous Coward]

five years later, after George Lucas remasters the moon landing tapes.....

"Honey, will you look at that! I never knew Jabba the Hutt beat the Americans to the moon. Well I'm just glad our boys got outta there before they were forced to wear slave bikinis."

Re:Gee, thanks.

[Monkey-Man2000]

No sorry, we'll all miss it by at least one year [religioustolerance.org]. Personally, I'm betting Newton was right.

Re:Does it really matter

[Anonymous Coward]

COPY THEM ONTO SOME OTHER MEDIA

That would be a violation of the DMCA.

Even if you find the actual tapes, it doesn't prove ownership. At best, it suggests a possible license. But even a certificate of authenticity doesn't prove a license.

Without proof of a license, I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate those tapes, and levy a fine.

Re:It's "How can THE GOVERNMENT lose 698/700 boxes

[fm6]

Don't attribute to malice that which is sufficiently explained by stupidity.

You must be new around here.

Re: How can you "lose" 698/700 boxes???

[Black Parrot]

> This is the U.S. government we're talking about. Shouldn't the question be, "How did they manage not to lose 2 of the 700 boxes?"

That would be uncharacteristic thoroughness.

Re:Australia!!!???

[mwillis]

Born Canadian; I lived in Parkes between 1988 and 1989. Nobody else in /. can say that. Even the ozzies I meet say "wtf?".

My advice:

Can you trust somebody who lives next to a giant space telescope? Who knows what planet their allegiance lies with?

Re:Um.... Obligatory Penny Arcade reference

[Anonymous Coward]

Sheesh, we've got such better technology these days, why waste tapes on that old stuff when you could be saving Top Gun and Magnum P.I. [penny-arcade.com]?

Re:Does it really matter

[Lectrik]

but... but my certificate of authenticiy says that it is "proof of license" right on it.

if it isn't, can we get them for providing false documentation or something?

Ha! So it *was* a hoax after all!

[Cannelloni]

The finally got rid of the stages landing Stanley Kubrick shot in some desert somewhere. It conveniently "disappeared"! I was right all along! Ha-HAAAA ha ha haaa!

;)

Not faked...but UFOs in the background

[Danathar]

Unlike SOME cooky crazy people I don't think the moon landing was faked, BUT it IS obvious that the tapes were taken by MIB in order to conceal alien spacecraft that were imaged on the tapes.....

Re:Oh come on now, you can't possibly be serious!!

[Fred_A]

That's a very valid point, I'm surprised I haven't seen it raised before.

Unless... ...nah.

Unless of course... ...THE SOVIETS WERE FAKED AS WELL !!!

Re:The real moon conspiracy

[scheming daemons]

(#3) Sound, Vibration and lack of exhaust burn/crater under the lander on the moon. Just watch the video of the lander (where is the sound and vibration from the thrusters). Then go look at the pictures of the lander on the moon (where is the charred earth and crator from the exhaust of the lander?)

Dude.. are you retarded? Do you know what sound is? Geezus.. you learn in 4th grade science that sound is the vibration of air molecules. There is no atmosphere on the moon, doofus. Sound isn't possible.

Am I a conspiracy nutbag

You're an insult to conspiracy nutbags. Most conspiracy nutbags have IQs over 80 and don't ride the "special" bus to school or wear a helmet all the time for their protection.

Re:Um....

[Roliverio]

All your tapes are belong to us...