Fading History: Vintage Films And Photos Crumbling To Dust, Forbes
Between 1966 and 1967, NASA sent five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to the moon to capture images before the arrival of Apollo 11, which landed on the lunar suface July 20, 1969. Forty years later, while preparing for the historic anniversary, NASA began a frantic search for those images after a well-publicized loss of the original video of the Apollo 11 landing. Fortunately, the Lunar Orbiter tapes were found. Because the compatible tape players hadn’t been manufactured since 1975, it took a multi-year effort to refurbish a player in order to read the obsolete tapes. The results were stunning images at digital resolutions never seen before.
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3113_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3113_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 07:53 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3110_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3110_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 04:28 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3110_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3110_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 04:28 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3025_M
This newly retrieved medium resolution image, frame 3025_M, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 13:32 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3117_M
This newly retrieved medium resolution image, frame 3117_M, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 11:23 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3113_M
This newly retrieved medium resolution image, frame 3113_M, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 07:53 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3096_M
This newly retrieved medium resolution image, frame 3096_M, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 18 February 1967 at 11:01 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter III Image 3005_M
This newly retrieved medium resolution image, frame 3005_M, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 15 February 1967 at 10:00 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter 2 Image 2072_H3
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 2072_H3, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 2 on 20 November 1966 at 02:12 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter II Image 2072_H2
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 2072_H2, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 2 on 20 November 1966 at 02:12 GMT at 16:49 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
Lunar Orbiter II Image 2072_H1
This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 2072_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 2 on 20 November 1966 at 02:12 GMT at 16:49 GMT LPI reference. Images: [large at LOIRP] [Very Large at NASA NLSI]
