back to article NASA promises 'greatly improved' Moon landing footage

NASA has tantalisingly announced that it will release "greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk" on Thursday. The agency reports: "The release will feature 15 key moments from Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's historic moonwalk using what is believed to be the best available …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    New Footage

    Isn't it amazing what you can achieve with new technology - they've been able to re-film the missing scenes in HD.

    This proves they must have kept the original fake moon set in one piece :)

    Conspiracy Theory anyone ?

  2. Mick F
    Black Helicopters

    New Footage?

    I guess they just went back into the studio and filmed it on new cameras.

  3. DZ-Jay

    Apollo - Special Edition

    These are just the "Special Edition" of the originals prepared by Lucas Films with additional footage and CGI-enhanced imagery.

    Can't these people just leave these things alone?

    -dZ.

  4. Michael 82
    FAIL

    Cant wait to see...

    the cgi green alien walking around in the background! lol

  5. g e
    Troll

    Ahhhh...

    So the hoax footage was shot in the outback at night then?

  6. Pete 2 Silver badge

    more repeats

    The sure sign that an entertainment outlet is in trouble (which is, let's face it, most of them) is when they start rehashing old stuff into new formats: whether that's "in color[sic]" "in HD [very sick]" or just bare-faced reruns of the "another chance to see ..." "catchup weekend ..." or <channel> + 1 variety. Although in this case it is +40 years.

    When all is said and done, this was NASAs biggest moment. Their finest hour. They've done nothing that comes close ever since. While it's definitely true that they have helped with some major discoveries and published some very pretty pictures, what "the people" want is bread and circuses. And without the support of the people and the tax money they bring, NASA has nothing. All this anniversary does is highlight the question that a lot of people are asking: "So what else have you done?"

  7. qwertyuiop

    Cleaned up?

    So these will be the cleaned-up tapes with all of the mistakes that reveal it was filmed in a studio carefully removed?

    </tinfoil hat>

  8. David S
    Joke

    Typical...

    Holywood remake of a classic oldie. No doubt there'll be extra car chases and the moon will suddenly relocate to California or something...

  9. Jon Thompson 2
    Unhappy

    The great tragedy

    Looking through the TV listings, there's absolutely nothing on to mark the 40th anniversary of arguably mankind's greatest adventure. Sure, BBC4 had a few programmes on some weeks ago, but why put them on nearly a month early?

    We've already forgotten how to get there; now it looks like the programme schedulers are trying to forget it ever happened.

  10. Peter Kay

    @What else have NASA done

    I suggest that Voyager/Voyager 2 might possibly be worthy of note, amongst many others.. Being able to land probes on various worlds is pretty high up the list, too.

  11. Blane Bramble
    Alien

    In this remake...

    the aliens will all have British accents.

  12. Anonymous John

    It's a shame in a way.

    The blurred images we're familiar with are part of history. They're what we saw live 40 years ago, so they are real in a sense that the recordings on these tapes will never be.

    I'm still looking forward to seeing them, though

  13. Tom Chiverton 1

    NASAs biggest moment ?

    Not Apollo 13 then ?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the usual comment

    They could have took one of these of course and a couple of cartridges. But I suppose the whole mission was done on a shoestring budget.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_mm_film

  15. Annihilator

    @Pete 2

    "When all is said and done, this was NASAs biggest moment. Their finest hour"

    I'd challenge that. Everything since the words "Houston, we've had a problem" were spoken by Lovell until splashdown were NASA's finest hours.

  16. Bilgepipe
    Alien

    Special Editions

    Will they add Jar Jar Binks to the footage? Will Han shoot first?

  17. Tony S
    Pint

    The Dish

    "original magnetic tapes recorded by the Parkes Observatory in Australia"

    "The Dish" An excellent film with Sam Neill - love the part where they realise they've lost contact with Apollo 11 just before the US ambassador turns up. So they then fake a radio conversation between the rep from NASA and one of their own engineers to cover it up. Just brilliant - especially when the security guard picks it up on his walkie talkie; "Is that you Mr Armstrong?"

    Have an amber nectar on me boys

  18. Wize

    Is it out on BlueRay?

    And does it have the bloopers reel?

  19. Pete 2 Silver badge

    @@What else have NASA done

    Yeah, you're right. But in my defence, I was thinking in terms of "great leaps forward" rather than drama.

    It would#ve been nice to look back over the past 40 years, with a sense of progress - rather than one-off spectaculars. Something like this for a timeline:

    1969 1st moon landing

    1975 *permanent* orbiting space station

    1980 lunar base established

    1985 mining operation on the moon started

    1990 commercial water / He3 extraction

    1992 More orbital facilities: factories, space-dock, hotels

    1995 Moons surface covered by giant advertising slogan (ref. Heinlen)

    2000 Lunar advertising pays for Mars expedition

    2005 Martians kick us off their planet

    2010 Life discovered on Europa - oh, hang on ...

    2005

  20. Tom Cooke

    @Pete 2

    Don't, you'll make me cry. I think it was a Heinlein character who was always just a little too old for space travel, every time they raised the age of eligibility (safer travel etc). "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress"?

  21. Dave Bell

    re The Dish

    It shocked me to learn (from the DVD extras for this film) how little of the TV coverage of this UNIQUE event was kept.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    waiting for the right format

    I know it looked a bit fuzzy on tv in 1969 but now its 2009 , we have blu-ray and HDTV .

    Prepare to be wowed by the full 1080p images.....not

  23. Tony S
    Pint

    @ John Thompson

    "absolutely nothing on to mark the 40th anniversary of arguably mankind's greatest adventure"

    There have been several items so far on BBC 4 - and not just The Sky at Night or James May learning to fly in the spyplane. But you are right, they haven't exactly gone out of their way to publicise anything.

    Who will take odds on the next man on the moon being Chinese? And I'm betting that it will happen within the next 5 years. But don't expect to see it on live TV because that would interfere with the broadcast of Big Brother / Corrie / Eastenders / X Factor / Some country hasn't got talent / I'm a 3rd rate celeb you've never heard of, get me out of here.

  24. Adam Foxton
    Alien

    Awesome

    we get to have another 40 years of "look at the difference between this blur and this frame from the high-def version- it's a conspiracy!"...

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    May not be the real tapes

    NASA saya they will release the "best available broadcast-format copies." The lost tapes were not broadcast-format, they were a custom slow-scan format. I expect what we see on Thursday will be restored footage from the slow-scan to broadcast conversion.

  26. Mal Adapted
    Pint

    @ Tom Cooke

    You're think of the character Delos D. Harriman, in Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon".

  27. andygeers

    Moon Landing: Special Edition

    Is this like the Monkey Island: Special Edition where they'll be re-recording it all with updated visuals? The special effects were pretty weak back when the moon landing was first filmed.

  28. Titus Aduxass
    Coat

    NASA's biggest moment ?

    Not Apollo 11, nor Apollo 13.

    My vote would always be for Apollo 8. Yes 11 actually landed (no small acheivement!) but 11 built on the lessons learned in 10 and 10 built on 8. 8 was the first time people had ever left Earth orbit.

    Mindboggling in 1968.

    Mine's the one with the PLSS...

  29. Mike Powers
    Jobs Horns

    The angle?

    Now if you look closely at 3:03:47, you can see Aldrin turn around and shoot Kennedy in the chest...

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    These remakes

    I always think they are never as good as the original. There again after forty years and massive new technology it should only be a hop skip and a jump to re-filming it in full colour.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh Great - now the Conspiracy Theorists will have a new field day...

    Hey... Why is the 'new' footage so good? Why, it's because it was done in/on the Universal Studioes soundstage - that's why!

    Lame idiots whose only exercise is jumping to idiotic conclusions will bump-up the 'noise' component on the UseNet NewsGroups - instead of just appreciating clearer footage of such an important historic event. I'm looking forward to being able to view it at home in HighDef - I'll order that puppy immediately!

  32. Ryan 7
    Pirate

    So pretty much

    from:

    Apollo.11.Moon.Landings.1969.CAM.NAsA

    to:

    Apollo.11.Moon.Landings.1969.TVRip.NAsA.REPACK

    Please Seed!

  33. Adrian Esdaile
    Black Helicopters

    Dear Conspiracy Theorists...

    Of course, you all just want the TRUTH. Well, as it turns out, I've found a way for you to handle the truth!

    First, you'll need a bench vice large enough to put your head in it.

    Place head in vice.

    Tighten. Keep going! Ignore the pain! You will find the TRUTH!

    You'll also do the rest of us a big favour, and acheive Internets fame on the Darwin awards if you haven't had kids yet; win!

  34. Jon G

    I don't believe it

    Whilst we're at it, I don't believe that man has reached the top of Mount Everest either. I've personally never seen it, and those mountains seen in the clearly fake pictures could be from anywhere - in fact I think I recognise Snowdonia in the winter - or is it a TV studio ? After all, clearly no one could survive the climb due to the cold,. lack of oxygen and yetis. And what happened to the original footage of Hilary and Tensing reaching the summit ? This is clearly a conspiracy.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Conspiracy Theorists or merely Free Thinkers?

    I don't want your 'proof'. Flags, mirrors, debris, yadda yadda - I reserve the right to be undecided.

    The only truth is, is that although it almost certainly happened, it's impossible for the average person to verify for themselves beyond reasonable doubt.

    'TRUTH' UPDATE - IMHO: Evolution happened, dinosaurs happened, the holocaust happened, the moon landings probably happened, most other conspiracy theories are b*llsh*t, God doesn't exist.

    I won't be towing the offical line without independant thought; neither will I be advovating 'you stick your head in a vice' if you believe something different.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nasa's most important moment

    Hiring those nazi rocket scientists instead of locking them up was a wizard wheeze.

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