Omega

The newspaper not the watch, and trying to keep AndrewD's post below fresh.

This message has been edited by Dr No on 2009-07-20 00:28:11

Hi Kevster,

 

Actually the Apollo 11 liftoff is now “t minus 11 hours and counting”. Well actually 40 years and 11 hours! So there would have been a lot of activity at Cape Kennedy at this time.

 

Thanks for the post.

 

A

Of this extraordinary adventure.

Thanks for sharing!

Best,

Nicolas

Can any expert here tell me which year does my watch come from? 1980's/early 90's? The bracelet is not the present type for sure. It's a 5th model.

.

Hi Rei

 

There’s no problem posting now; always good to see Speedmasters, particularly at this time.

 

I had planned to coordinate a giant Speedy thread with Neil Armstrong’s moon walk which occurs on July 21 at 02:56 GMT. Let's call it "The Eagle has Landed".

 

Perhaps we can respectfully request the Moderators to pin the post for a few days until the Apollo 11 crew arrive safely back on earth. That way we can accumulate as many images of this iconic watch as possible.

 

Andrew

Let's see as many Speedies as we can accumulate. Too bad I only got one...for now!

. . . cordially, Art

Hi folks, since i'm a space-addict here are some interesting facts about the Apollo moon-travellers. There where 9 flights to the moon. As we all know, 12 people set foot on the moon, alongside those 12, another 12 went to the moon without setting foot on our neighboor (poor blokes). Out of those 12 people that did the moonwalk, 3 have flown twice to the moon, John Young (Apollo 10) he walked on the moon during Apollo 16. Eugene Cernan flew around the moon on the Apollo 10 mission in 1969 and set foot on the moon in 1972 during the last Apollo (17) mission. On his Apollo 10-mission Cernan descended in the lunar-module to about 14 km of the surface ! There was one astronaut, Jim lovell (Apollo 8 - Christmas 1968) who went twice to the moon without setting foot on it !!! Second time was during the Apollo 13 mission, speaking of bad luck! Greetings from me & Buzz !

 

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - With the help of Hollywood, those historic, grainy images of the first men on the moon never looked better. NASA unveiled refurbished video Thursday of the July 20, 1969, moonwalk restored by the same company that sharpened up the movie ``Casablanca.'' NASA lost its original moon landing videotapes and after a three-year search, officials have concluded they were probably erased. That original live video was ghostlike and grainy.

NASA and a Hollywood film restoration company took television video copies of what Apollo 11 beamed to Earth 40 years ago and made the pictures look sharper.

NASA emphasized the video isn't ``new'' - just better quality.

``There's nothing being created; there's nothing being manufactured,'' said NASA senior engineer Dick Nafzger, who's in charge of the project.

But some details seem new because of their sharpness. Originally, Armstrong's face visor was too fuzzy to be seen clearly. The refurbished video shows his visor and a reflection in it.

The $230,000 refurbishing effort is only three weeks into a months-long project, and only 40 percent of the work has been done. But it does show improvements in four snippets: Armstrong walking down the ladder, which includes the face visor image; Buzz Aldrin walking down the ladder; the two astronauts reading a plaque they left on the moon; the planting of the flag on the moon.

The original videos beamed to earth were stored on giant reels of tapes that each contained 15 minutes of video, along with 13 other channels of live data from the moon. In the 1970s and 1980s, NASA had a shortage of the tapes and erased about 200,000 of those tapes and reused them. That's apparently what happened to the famous moon landing footage.

Nafzger praised the restored work for its crispness. The restoration company, Lowry Digital of Burbank, Calif., also refurbished ``Star Wars'' and James Bond films, along with ``Casablanca.''

The company noted that the latter film had a pixel count 10 times higher than the moon video, meaning the moon footage was fuzzier than that vintage movie and more of a challenge in one sense.

But the moon video also was three continuous hours, not chopped up like movies are, which made some of the work easier, said Lowry president Mike Inchalik.

Of all the video the company has dealt with, he said, ``This is by far and away the lowest quality.''

The restoration used four video sources: CBS News originals; kinescopes from the National Archives; a video from Australia that received the transmission of the original moon video; and camera shots looking at a TV monitor.

Both Nafzger and Inchalik said they went to extremes to enhance the video as conservatively as possible.

On the Net:

NASA restored video: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html

This remastering was done on video feed provided to various media sources. The original NASA tapes, as you mention, were probably recorded over in the 1970’s due to cost cuts and equipment shortages.

 

It has been reported today in the Australian media that the Parkes radio telescope that received the strongest signal from the moon may also have made a tape recording. This direct recording was sent to NASA at some stage and the hunt is again on for this tape in their archives.

 

Andrew

Hi Filip,

 

Thanks for the background. With the focus appropriately on the Apollo 11 mission at the moment we forget the many years of unmanned and manned missions that preceded the first landing. Each contributing to our knowledge and experience and inching towards the 1969 milestone.

 

Great to see your Buzz model, complete with replica Speedmaster.  Could I request a picture of Buzz’s watch on your wrist at some stage?

 

Andrew

this is as near a quote of the advert as i can remember. 'only 1 company were allowed to record the moon landings and this footage, lost for 40 years, has now been found, remastered in high definition and will be coming soon'. i've checked the TV programming and all i can find is a docu film entitled 'Moonshot' which must be it even though it has re enactments of events by actors.

just watched a conspiracy theory thingy criticising the shadows on some of the pics. i'm of the opinion that they went there and landed on the moon and did most of what we saw, but as there was no time for failure there were some 'staged' pics that they took with them just in case of failure and these were used along with the correct pictures. one pic i saw tonight was very odd as it had shadows coming from different angles which isnt possible with only 1 light source, ie the moon.

i'm still a believer.

Graham

Here are a couple of pictures of Speedmasters associated with the NASA space program, although not specifically Apollo 11. Can you add some more?

 

I plan to post a message titled “The Eagle has landed” at the exact time of the lunar landing July 20, 20:17 hours GMT. You can upload all your Speedy images then.

 

Andrew

...when I tell them about Omega and the history and the moonshots, etc.  Details, details.  Most assume Rolex to be the best (not so), or don't even think the astronauts even bothered to wear watches at all!  Just gotta edgejookate (educate)...

Collins

Armstrong

Aldrin

like it was yesturday

That is a cool "newspaper" too bad I don't live close to any ADs...would someone like to hook me up with a spare one if it comes up, please?