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

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ed Biebel <edward () biebel net>
Date: August 15, 2006 1:01:42 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
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 () farber net> wrote: http://www.cnn.com/ 
2006/TECH/space/08/14/space.tapes.reut/index.html

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