The text discusses the historic Apollo missions, focusing on the filming and broadcasting of the first human steps on the Moon. It explains that the Apollo missions used moving image capture devices on film and video, with the best quality footage coming from a 16mm film camera known as the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera.
The text then delves into the complexities of transmitting data between the ground and spacecraft, highlighting the Unified S-Band System (USB) created by NASA to meet these requirements. It describes how the Apollo 7 mission used a camera produced by RCA to capture a video signal at 10 frames per second, black and white, and with a resolution of 320 lines.
The text also mentions that the transmission format used by these cameras was different from the television standard, making the conversion challenging. It describes the use of a normal camera pointed at a monitor capable of displaying the received video signal to solve this problem.
The Apollo 9 mission carried a new camera, the Westinghouse Lunar Camera, which was also used on the surface of the Moon. The Apollo 10 mission was the first to perform a color transmission using the Westinghouse Color Camera.
The text then discusses the use of the Westinghouse black and white camera on Apollo 9, which was used to capture images of the first steps on the Moon. It describes how the signals were received on Earth by 64-meter diameter antennas in Goldstone, USA, and Parkes, Australia, and how the signals had to pass through a geostationary INTELSAT satellite located over the Pacific Ocean, adding a delay to the transmission.
The text concludes by discussing the last three missions of the Apollo Program and the use of Lunar Roving Vehicles equipped with a color camera. It also addresses the "lost Apollo tapes" conspiracy theory, explaining that while the raw transmission data was indeed lost, other recordings existed that had already been converted to television format.
1. The Apollo 11 mission, which included Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, was watched by 600 million people worldwide as they descended the stairs of the Eagle Lunar Module and took humanity's first steps on the Moon.
2. The Apollo missions used moving image capture devices on film and video. The best quality footage was from a 16mm film camera called the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera.
3. The film cameras used in the Apollo missions worked in a similar way to Super 8 cameras, recording on smaller photographic films than the standard 35mm films. These cameras used 16mm cartridges, which were a little better quality but still maintained their compact format.
4. The cameras had different recording modes, including 1 frame per second, 6 frames per second, 12 frames per second, and 24 frames per second.
5. Transmitting data between the ground and spacecraft has been a challenge since the first manned missions. The system created for the Apollo Program was called Unified S-Band System, or USB.
6. On Apollo 7, a camera produced by RCA captured a video signal at 10 frames per second in black and white and with a resolution of 320 lines.
7. Apollo 8 made 6 transmissions that totaled around 90 minutes using the same camera as the previous mission.
8. Apollo 10 carried a new camera: the Westinghouse Lunar Camera, which also transmitted in black and white and in a similar way but was designed to be used on the surface of the Moon.
9. Apollo 11, but was only used inside the Command Module during the way to the Moon.
10. The images of the first steps on the Moon were taken by Westinghouse black and white, the same one used on Apollo 9.
11. The signals were received here on Earth by 64-meter diameter antennas in Goldstone, in the USA, and Parkes, in Australia.
12. If there was a disaster, there would be time to cut signal transmission so that the world would not witness a catastrophe.
13. Apollo 15, 16 and 17 had new equipment onboard: the Lunar Roving Vehicles.
14. The Westinghouse Color Camera was mounted on the Command Module door and broadcast images of this event live.
15. The raw transmission data, with images at 10 frames per second and 320 lines, was received by antennas in Australia and the United States and was recorded on tapes at the same time as the transmissions took place.
16. The images from the Moon landing were adapted to current video standards and can be seen in its entirety right here on YouTube.
17. At a certain point in the development of the Apollo Program, some of those involved in the project did not consider transmissions from the Moon's surface to be essential to the Program.