Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits

NASA officials admitted the original recordings of the moon landing, 40 years ago, were erased and re-used but say that the newly restored versions look better than ever.

It turns the grainy, blurry images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren into a digitally made-over, vibrant piece of footage.

NASA admitted that no one could find the original footage, taken in 1969.  Since the acknowledgement of the loss, in 2006, NASA employees had been hard at work trying to locate it and eventually found out where they went - they were part of a batch of 200,000 tapes that were degaussed -- magnetically erased -- and re-used to save money.

Eventually, they found good copies in the CBS news archives and turned them over to Burbank, CA based company Lowry Digital for enhancement.  Lowry is best known for restoring old Hollywood movies.

Regardless of critics believing that the moon landings in 1969 and 1972 were staged, NASA has decided to push on with the restoration. 

"This company is restoring historic video. It mattered not to me where the company was from," said Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland

 

"The conspiracy theorists are going to believe what they are going to believe," added Lowry Digital Chief Operating Officer Mike Inchalik.

 

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/20/us-nasa-tapes-idUSTRE56F5MK20090720