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Now You Can Buy NASA's Own Original Apollo 11 Moon Landing Footage:
Got a player for 2-inch Quadruplex videotapes sitting around? You could view original NASA recordings of the Apollo 11 moon landing in your living room.
Sotheby's is auctioning off three first-generation tapes of the historic touchdown as part of its July 20 auction of space exploration artifacts set to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.
The tapes run a total of 2 hours and 24 minutes and capture moments including Neil Armstrong declaring, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Also on the tapes are the "long-distance phone call" with President Richard Nixon and the planting of the American flag on the lunar surface.
[...] Gary George, an engineering student and NASA intern, purchased the tapes for $217.77 at a government surplus auction in 1976. It's estimated they'll sell for at least a $1 million at the Sotheby's event.
I was under the impression that the original tapes had been lost or recorded over. Does anyone else remember hearing that? Either way, this is a irreplaceable national treasure and I am astonished at seeing these up for auction. I am hopeful some philanthropist steps up, buys them, perhaps makes a personal copy, and then donates them to the Library of Congress.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 16 2019, @12:33PM (1 child)
These are probably the best available for the moon walk, but the signal path is pretty long.
Sotheby's is selling them as a first generation recording, and they are because they are not a re-recording.
(Unless there was a tape delay somewhere in the signal chain?)
But the recording was done after much transmission and conversion.
Not sure how much better they are than the CBS broadcast tapes.
Probably transmitting slow scan over a satellite hop works much better than transmitting NTSC over a microwave relay chain, so there is hope that they are much better.
One would have to see the digitized version to know.
Also since the original was slow scan, some image processing could likely be done taking this into account to get them closer to the original moon transmission.
The signal path in detail:
Slow scan camera on the moon surface.
Moon to Australia via high gain radio link.
(Was also recorded in Australia and these tapes lost.)
Transmitted to Houston via ???
Converted from Slow scan to NTSC for local viewing and distribution for broadcast
Recorded locally in NTSC format.
Sold at auction in the 70's for $217.
Stored for 40 plus years in unknown conditions.
(Played and digitized in Ca to verify the quality.)
(Tested at Sotheby's the verify quality.)
Now at Sotheby's for sale.
If they are as claimed, they are certainly an international historical treasure but likely without Copyright protections?
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/space-exploration/apollo-11-original-first-generation-nasa-videotape?locale=en [sothebys.com]
(Score: 2) by D2 on Tuesday July 16 2019, @09:53PM
Copyright protection starts anew the moment that the tape owner does *anything* between original and copy. Digitization. Remastering. Editing. Adding commentary. Adding any footage or titles. Hiring John Madden to draw loops and arrows all over the screen, or the MST3K guys to do their schtick.
This is the worst of current copyright rules: their absurdity in the face of the above. So *WHAT* that Disney wants to retain and protect Steamboat Willie... they can retain a solid copyright do so by improving from the master and starting the clock again.