Editing Openai/67c4e193-e008-8008-8d82-c239519e3d5a (section)

==== Apollo 11 – First Moon Landing ====

Mission Data: Apollo 11 (July 1969) is the most famous mission, and it produced some of the most historically significant telemetry data – notably the television transmission of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moonwalk. Apollo 11’s Lunar Module used a special slow-scan TV (SSTV) camera that transmitted 320-line video at 10 frames per secondhoneysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://www.honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_7_mission/A7_TV_planning.html#:~:text=The%20black%20and%20white%20slow,10%20fps%20camera|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. This raw video signal, along with other telemetry (voice, biomedical data, guidance data, etc.), was received by tracking stations. At those stations, engineers recorded the raw downlink onto 1-inch, 14-track telemetry tapes as a backupnasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=shooting%20live%20images%20of%20the,The%20camera%20did%20its%20job|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=antenna%20to%20Earth%20below,NASA%20had%20given|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Simultaneously, the video was converted in real-time to standard TV for broadcast. By the end of the moonwalk, approximately 45 telemetry tape reels (each 14-inch reel running at 120 inches per second) were filled with Apollo 11’s raw data, including the unprocessed video feedtvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=instrumentation%20recorders%20that%20existed%20at,the%20tracking%20stations|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThese%20were%2014,been%20required%20to%20store%20it|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. After the mission, these one-of-a-kind tapes were shipped to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and eventually sent to the federal records center (WNRC) for storagenasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=and%20certainly%20the%20public%20was,inch%20telemetry|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. In addition to the moonwalk EVA, countless other reels of Apollo 11 telemetry (covering launch, flight, etc.) were recorded and archived in the same manner.

Loss of the Telemetry Tapes: In the decades following Apollo, NASA did not permanently preserve those original tapes. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Goddard withdrew the Apollo telemetry tapes from WNRC, likely to reuse the tape media during a shortagespaceref.com<ref>{{cite web|title=spaceref.com|url=https://spaceref.com/status-report/the-apollo-11-telemetry-data-recordings-a-final-report/#:~:text=Over%20the%20ensuing%20years%2C%20Goddard,the%20advent%20of%20new%20technology|publisher=spaceref.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The Apollo 11 telemetry reels (along with tapes from other missions) were erased and reused for later satellite programs (such as Landsat) or discarded to save storage costsspaceref.com<ref>{{cite web|title=spaceref.com|url=https://spaceref.com/status-report/the-apollo-11-telemetry-data-recordings-a-final-report/#:~:text=Over%20the%20ensuing%20years%2C%20Goddard,the%20advent%20of%20new%20technology|publisher=spaceref.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=developed%20the%20Apollo%20Lunar%20Camera,3|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Critically, no one realized at the time that these specific tapes held the only direct recordings of the first moonwalk videospaceref.com<ref>{{cite web|title=spaceref.com|url=https://spaceref.com/status-report/the-apollo-11-telemetry-data-recordings-a-final-report/#:~:text=Perhaps%20there%20are%20no%20clear,tapes%20to%20WNRC%20for%20storage|publisher=spaceref.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. By the time NASA searched for them in 2006, they were long gone. After a multi-year hunt through facilities worldwide, the conclusion was that the Apollo 11 telemetry tapes had been irrevocably lost. The official 2009 report states: “Aside from a few canisters of Apollo 9 telemetry tapes still stored at WNRC, the Apollo-era telemetry tapes no longer exist – anywhere.”nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref> Apollo 11’s backup data tapes were among those destroyed. This famously became known as the case of the “missing tapes.” In July 2009, NASA held a press conference confirming that the original Apollo 11 SSTV tapes were likely overwritten and that no high-quality copy would be founden.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=developed%20the%20Apollo%20Lunar%20Camera,3|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. It was an unexpected outcome, as the search team had hoped to find at least those 45 EVA reels, but ultimately they concluded the tapes were wiped around 1980tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20decided%20that%20it%20was,%E2%80%9D|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.

Available Apollo 11 Recordings: Fortunately, although the raw telemetry tapes were lost, Apollo 11’s mission was documented through other recordings that survived:
* Television Footage: The live TV broadcast that the world saw was recorded on kinescope film and on standard 2-inch NTSC videotapes in 1969en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=This%20low,technicians%20and%20others%20at%20SSTV|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Those lower-quality recordings were never lost. NASA retained copies, and various broadcasters did as well. In 2009, NASA gathered the best surviving video sources – including broadcast tapes from CBS, an NTSC recording made in Sydney, a 16mm kinescope, and even an 8mm film taken at a tracking station – and had them digitally restored by Lowry Digitaltvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=Nafzger%20appeared%20with%20Lebar%20at,stroll%20on%20the%20moon%E2%80%99s%20surface|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=established%20reputation%20for%20high,stroll%20on%20the%20moon%E2%80%99s%20surface|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The result is a cleaned-up Apollo 11 moonwalk video (still based on the converted TV, since the original SSTV was gone). This restoration improved the imagery by ~30-40% using modern techniquestvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=The%20price%20tag%20for%20the,to%20historians%20and%20others%20now|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Thus, while we don’t have the absolute first-generation video, we do have slightly enhanced footage that is widely accessible. As for the raw SSTV quality that engineers saw on their monitors, it remains lost with the tapes, barring a few still photographs and a short Super-8 movie that an engineer shot directly off a screen in 1969tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThey%20sent%20me%20a%20number,%E2%80%9D|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=images%20that%20Lebar%20referred%20to,on%20the%20moon%20by%20Armstrong|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* Flight Telemetry and Data: All of Apollo 11’s critical flight data (navigation, systems, etc.) were monitored in real time and logged by mission control. Although the original high-rate telemetry streams aren’t replayable now, the information was distilled into mission reports, technical memos, and printed telemetry readouts at the time. For example, the Apollo 11 Mission Report contains detailed tables of engine burns, trajectories, and system performance – all derived from the telemetry. So the content of the data was preserved, even though the magnetic tapes are gone. One exception is scientific data: Apollo 11 left a small Early Apollo Surface Experiments Package (EASEP) on the Moon (seismometer, dust collector, etc.) that transmitted data for about 21 daysntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=astronauts%20on%20Apollo%2012%2C%2014%2C,for%20archiving%2C%20while%20others|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>ntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=,to%20March%201976%20were%20not|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Those experiment data were recorded and some were archived in summary form, but the raw data tapes from Apollo 11’s surface experiments were also not initially archived and later got lostntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=NASA%20Space%20Science%20Data%20Coordinated,ALSEP%20data%20archiving%20efforts%20in|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>ntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=The%20raw%20instrument%20data%20received,search%2C%20recovery%2C%20and%20restoration%20of|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. (Apollo 11’s EASEP was short-lived, but later missions’ ALSEP data suffered similar fates – discussed under Apollo 12–17).
* Audio Recordings: Apollo 11’s voice recordings were preserved in full. NASA had recorded all channels of Mission Control audio during the mission on analog tapes (over 200 reels for Apollo 11, each 14 hours long with 30 tracks)engineering-research.utdallas.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|url=https://engineering-research.utdallas.edu/recovering-audio-from-the-apollo-moon-missions/#:~:text=The%20communications%20for%20Apollo%20missions,speech%20processing%20and%20language%20technology|publisher=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. These tapes sat in storage for years. Unlike the telemetry data tapes, the audio tapes were never erased – possibly because they used a specialized format and weren’t repurposed. By the 2010s, a concerted effort (by NASA, Johnson Space Center, and UT Dallas) managed to playback and digitize all of Apollo 11’s audio using the only surviving SoundScriber 30-track tape playerww2.aip.org<ref>{{cite web|title=ww2.aip.org|url=https://ww2.aip.org/inside-science/thousands-of-hours-of-newly-released-audio-tell-the-backstage-story-of-apollo-11-moon-mission#:~:text=The%20existing%20tapes%20could%20be,make%20the%20second%20one%20run|publisher=ww2.aip.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>ww2.aip.org<ref>{{cite web|title=ww2.aip.org|url=https://ww2.aip.org/inside-science/thousands-of-hours-of-newly-released-audio-tell-the-backstage-story-of-apollo-11-moon-mission#:~:text=Image%3A%20hansen|publisher=ww2.aip.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Today, 170+ hours of Apollo 11 Mission Control audio (across multiple loops and consoles) are available online, synchronized with transcripts. This includes everything from launch through lunar landing to splashdown, allowing researchers and the public to hear the mission unfold in real time. The condition of those tapes was good, though the playback required refurbishing an old tape machine and building new headsww2.aip.org<ref>{{cite web|title=ww2.aip.org|url=https://ww2.aip.org/inside-science/thousands-of-hours-of-newly-released-audio-tell-the-backstage-story-of-apollo-11-moon-mission#:~:text=The%20existing%20tapes%20could%20be,make%20the%20second%20one%20run|publisher=ww2.aip.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>ww2.aip.org<ref>{{cite web|title=ww2.aip.org|url=https://ww2.aip.org/inside-science/thousands-of-hours-of-newly-released-audio-tell-the-backstage-story-of-apollo-11-moon-mission#:~:text=John%20Hansen%20posing%20next%20to,tapes%20from%20the%20Apollo%20missions|publisher=ww2.aip.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The success of this project means Apollo 11’s audio is fully preserved and accessible, even though its telemetry data tapes are gone.
* Photographic Film: Apollo 11 also carried onboard data recorders like the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera (DAC) which filmed instrument displays and out-the-window views (e.g. the lunar landing footage taken from the LM window). Those films were safely returned to Earth and are stored in NASA’s archives. They provide another form of recorded mission data (though not “telemetry tape” per se).

Notable Private/Museum Artifacts: One interesting case of Apollo 11 material ending up in private hands is the set of three original Apollo 11 NTSC videotapes that were sold at auction in 2019. A former intern, Gary George, had purchased surplus NASA tapes in the 1970s and discovered that three of them were first-generation recordings of the Apollo 11 EVA broadcast (essentially, NASA’s own copies of the TV as it was received in Houston)en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=On%20July%206%2C%202019%2C%20Sotheby%27s,the%20three%20tapes%20were%20sold|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. These 2-inch quad videotapes, labeled “Apollo 11 EVA,” were not the missing SSTV telemetry tapes, but rather copies of the converted broadcast feeden.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=reels%E2%80%94bought%20at%20a%20government%20surplus,35|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. They were nevertheless of excellent quality and are likely the best surviving video of Apollo 11’s moonwalk in analog form. In July 2019, those tapes were auctioned for $1.82 millionen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=Services%20Administration%20%20auction%2C%20by,33|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. NASA stated that these tapes didn’t contain any new content beyond what is already preserveden.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=auctions%20while%20an%20intern%20at,33|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref> – they are basically a pristine copy of the TV broadcast – and NASA has high-quality digital versions of that broadcast. The buyer of the tapes is undisclosed, so currently they reside in a private collection; presumably they are being stored carefully given their value. Aside from that, there are no known Apollo 11 telemetry tape reels in museums. The Smithsonian and other museums have Apollo artifacts (equipment, flight plans, etc.), but the actual data reels were not retained as artifacts. (It’s possible a display or two might show a generic “Apollo tape reel,” but those would be inert examples rather than containing data.)

Restoration Efforts: Apollo 11 has seen significant restoration efforts: the 2009 video restoration improved what footage we havetvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=Nafzger%20appeared%20with%20Lebar%20at,stroll%20on%20the%20moon%E2%80%99s%20surface|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, and the ongoing audio project has brought back long-lost audio channels. On the scientific side, in recent years NASA recovered and restored some Apollo 11 experiment data. For instance, Professor Brian O’Brien (Apollo 11’s dust detector PI) had retained his own tapes of dust experiment data. Those and other data were incorporated into the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) archival recovery project, so Apollo 11’s EASEP data (such as seismic readings and dust measurements from the first lunar days after landing) have been rescued and are now available in NASA’s Planetary Data Systempoikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>poikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=2010%2C%20,raw%20and%20processed%20data%E2%80%A6now%20what|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. In short, although Apollo 11’s original telemetry tapes are confirmed lost, nearly all of the mission’s outputs have been preserved through alternate recordings or later recovery of data. The condition of what remains is generally good (audio tapes have been digitized successfully; video is as good as the 1969 broadcast tech allows), and accessibility is high – the audio and video are public, and the scientific datasets are archived for researchers. The loss of the raw SSTV tapes remains a cautionary tale at NASAspaceref.com<ref>{{cite web|title=spaceref.com|url=https://spaceref.com/status-report/the-apollo-11-telemetry-data-recordings-a-final-report/#:~:text=While%20current%20leaders%20can%20do,Nation%20back%20to%20the%20moon|publisher=spaceref.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, underscoring the importance of modern archiving for historically important data.