Apollo 11 Moonshot Broadcast Live, 40 Years Later

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

If you don't mind leaving your computer running for the next few days, you can listen to the entire mission comms which are being re-broadcast minute-for-minute.

http://wechoosethemoon.org/

Much improved animation and other interactive features as well. The launch was about 2 hours ago, so they're only into the mission a bit so far. Don't be deterred by the dead air, they didn't condense anything. Plenty of video, including the launch itself and much more. Even has the period-correct Veeder-Root/Tymeter-looking digital mission clock running on the side. Also a map at the bottom tracking progress.

Additional audio source at NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_radio/

Being 8 years old at the time, it's a great opportunity to experience the event whle gaining more appreciation for the historic event. Cool stuff!

[W2XR]

Hi Todd,

Yes, I have been tracking this mission on the same site for the past several days. Today, of course, marks the 40th anniversary of the lift-off of the Apollo 11 mission. I remember this day as if it was yesterday. I was just a young JN of 15 at the time.

Listening to the audio feed, Houston just gave the astronauts a Q5-S3 signal report on the both the VHF and S-band voice comm links. I had no idea (or simply don't recall) that they used the RS(T) method of providing signal reports between the spacecraft and earth stations.

73,

Bruce

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

So now that I've seen a couple of the events, it's clever the way they set this up:

The lower event/'Stage' clock turns blue once it gets below 60 seconds remaining to the next stage. At 10 seconds it turns red and clicks. At 00 the menu bars pull away and the animation changes.

Beats the hell outta the TV animations of 1969, though back then we thought that was pretty incredible too!

[Bill, KD0HG]

Check this out..Apparently, all of the video we had seen of the first moonwalk was a copy of a copy, via a 16 mm camera parked in front of a 60s TV monitor. They finally found the original video tapes, soon to be released. I"ll bet they are stunning.

------------------------------------

One giant leap in quality imminent

By Lester Haines

Posted in Space, 14th July 2009 09:20 GMT


" NASA has tantalizingly 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 broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years."

The footage in question is gleaned from the original magnetic video tapes recorded by the Parkes Observatory in Australia, and which belatedly turned up in a storage facility in Perth.

In 2006, NASA admitted it had mislaid the tapes which were supposed to be in its Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. As a result, the world has had to make do with NASA's inadequate copy of the original broadcast, captured on 16mm film from a monitor screen. "

[KB2WIG]

Anything about Mr. Kawalski??

klc

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

They have a bunch of 'restored' lunar video in HD format - I suspect it's from the missing tapes. The original stuff we saw was too messy to be cleaned up that much.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html

It was interesting listening to comms while the Command module was separating to dock with the Lunar module. There was a gap of about 15 minutes with no contact, which had to be a bit unnerving.

48 minutes to Stage 6...

[Ralph W3GL]

40 years ago this week (month) I was pulling 12 on/12 off shifts in the OSO control
center (Orbiting Solar Observatory) at Goddard Space Flight Center.

We had full video/coms of  the  whole flight and of course were watching old sol
in case of a sudden belch that might sling unwanted crap twards the mission might
occur...

[WD8BIL]

While you're at it get a DVD of "The Dish". Good movie about what the guys at Parks went thru to bring the mission home.

The Dish

[Bill, KD0HG]

40 years ago this week (month) I was pulling 12 on/12 off shifts in the OSO control
center (Orbiting Solar Observatory) at Goddard Space Flight Center.

We had full video/coms of  the  whole flight and of course were watching old sol
in case of a sudden belch that might sling unwanted crap twards the mission might
occur...

Ralph:

What were the astronauts to do in the event of a sun fart? Was there a plan? Could *anything* be done?

[W1RKW]

I don't remember if it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago but A&E rebroadcast the entire mission.  I was lucky enough to tape it.  I have the entire mission somewhere in my pile of junk.

[W2XR]

While your at it get a DVD of "The Dish". Good movie about what the guys at Parks went thru to bring the mission home.

The Dish

Hi Buddly,

I never heard of this Australian film, and I like to think that I have seen virtually all of the fictional and non-fictional films pertaining the the U.S. manned and unmanned space effort.

Being that this fictional account was set in Australia, I am wondering if this was based upon the Canberra tracking/commmunications station "down under"?

I'll see if we can get this DVD this weekend. Looks interesting.

73,

Bruce

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Not sure where you got the 'fictional account' from, Bruce. Australia's participation in our space program's communications is well documented. But from the movie site itself:

Based on a true story, The Dish recounts the emotions, drama and humor behind the four-day Apollo XI mission in July 1969 and the extraordinary role that Australia played in televising the historical lunar landing to the world.

Granted, the words 'based on a true story' can often seem more fiction than truth when Hollywood gets their hands on something (U-571 and the most recent Pearl Harbor movies come to mind), but that's a topic for another board. 

Told the wifey about it, Buddly - she's looking forward to seeing it, as am I.

[Ed-VA3ES]

What's also interesting is that one can occassionally hear FDM artifacts (sounds like adjacent channel SSB chatter), in the audio, indicating that what we are listening to was fed from a remote source via FDM MUX feed!   No T1  digital facilities in those days!

The use of RS(T) is not uncommon, considering it's high utility and the fact that there were many, many hams involved in that mission.

Hi Todd,

Yes, I have been tracking this mission on the same site for the past several days. Today, of course, marks the 40th anniversary of the lift-off of the Apollo 11 mission. I remember this day as if it was yesterday. I was just a young JN of 15 at the time.

Listening to the audio feed, Houston just gave the astronauts a Q5-S3 signal report on the both the VHF and S-band voice comm links. I had no idea (or simply don't recall) that they used the RS(T) method of providing signal reports between the spacecraft and earth stations.

73,

Bruce

[K1JJ]

I wonder if that low frequency "pink" noise was added in to give the sound of a rocket flying in outer space?    (The Star Trek effect)

Obviously there would be no rockets burning at this point and probably be quiet inside the capsule.  It does sound cool though.  Compared to a silent background, I'd take this.

T

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

What's also interesting is that one can occassionally hear FDM artifacts (sounds like adjacent channel SSB chatter), in the audio, indicating that what we are listening to was fed from a remote source via FDM MUX feed!   No T1  digital facilities in those days!

Occasionally you can hear high speed DTMF tones in the background too, like a phone keypad. It's been up all day here as background, although after a client mentioned it during a phone call it was clear that those roger beeps really do penetrate the distance.

I wonder if that low frequency "pink" noise was added in to give the sound of a rocket flying in outer space?   

I figured that was basically atmospheric or other noise, Tom. At times the noise level grows considerably, then breaks up a bit. When they cut the audio feed for press conferences, the noise drops completely of course. They apparently taped the transmissions made during the time the line was silenced, and the noise shows up in their tapes as well.

Pretty cool to hear Neil Armstrong describing what he can see out the window, weather over certain continents and so on. 64 hours until the next stage when they approach the moon. .The breakout video showing them in the Command module working the computer are amazing. The screen looks maybe 5-6 inches square with perhaps as many lines of large numbers displayed. Certainly makes me appreciate how far the technology has come. 

[Mike/W8BAC]

You can turn that off Tom, In the menu on the right tap the minus sigh next to Background Audio to the right of the radiating antenna.

Mike

[WD8BIL]

Hi Bruce,

   The Parkes radio telescope was the primary receiver in the southern hemisphere. Some of the events in the movie are, for sure, fictional but the role the station played and the major difficulties encountered are, as Todd says, well documented.

   Besides, it's a good watch!

[Carl WA1KPD]

Ahh The entire Lunar Landing was done on a sound stage in Hollywood by the same people who shot JFK

[ka3zlr]

I always wondered what happened to the star fields, moon musta been to bright right...or when we looked at Earth musta been to bright.


73
Jack.

[Jim KF2SY]

Ahh The entire Lunar Landing was done on a sound stage in Hollywood by the same people who shot JFK

There actually is a small population that think just that...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/17/moon.landing.hoax/index.html

 

[WD8BIL]

moon musta been to bright right...or when we looked at Earth musta been to bright.

That's exactly it Jack. with the amount of light reflecting on the moon the shutter speed had to be very fast. Too fast to seee the dim stars.

Bruce: If you check you'll find the Parkes Facility still supports NASA missions to this day.

[W2XR]

moon musta been to bright right...or when we looked at Earth musta been to bright.

That's exactly it Jack. with the amount of light reflecting on the moon the shutter speed had to be very fast. Too fast to seee the dim stars.

Bruce: If you check you'll find the Parkes Facility still supports NASA missions to this day.

Thanks, Buddly & Todd!

Honestly, the only manned space earth station facility I was really familiar with in Australia was the Canberra station. Canberra was heavily involved with the Mercury missions, in terms of providing the voice comm link during flyover periods over that part of the earth, and it was even alluded to in the film "The Right Stuff", but I'm not too sure about it's role during the Gemini or Apollo flights. I'll have to check this out. Perhaps beginning with Gemini, the entire global comm network was radically improved, as it is well known today how primitive (by current standards) the system was during the Mercury days. Lots of low-speed RTTY links for telemetry, etc., and probably a fair share of R-390s doing their part for the Mercury HF comms. I know that Collins built the on-board communications and telemetry diplexing gear for Mercury under contract to the spacecraft prime contractor, McDonnell-Douglas, and I think for Gemini as well. I'm not sure who the communications equipment contractor was for the Apollo command and lunar modules, however, or for the PLSS (Portable Life Support System) backpack, as built by Hamilton Standard.

I'm going to do some research on the Parkes facility, as I find this somewhat intriguing. From what I have been able to gather from this thread, Parkes apparently was the earth station downlink for the live video transmission from the moon during Apollo 11.

73,

Bruce

[ka3zlr]

moon musta been to bright right...or when we looked at Earth musta been to bright.

That's exactly it Jack. with the amount of light reflecting on the moon the shutter speed had to be very fast. Too fast to seee the dim stars.

Bruce: If you check you'll find the Parkes Facility still supports NASA missions to this day.

Thanks Buddly, I always wondered about that....not seeing the stars..


73
Jack.

[W1RKW]

Lunar orbiter photographs lunar landing sights:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31966131/ns/technology_and_science-space/
maybe this will kill some of the hoax myths.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Just listened to Houston telling Apollo 11 to look for a green blue laser they were firing at the Command module to see if they could spot it. No luck.

Here's a link to the Parkes site with anniversary info:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/apollo11/