[Updated] NASA releases high resolution film of moon walk

Update: The videos are now online and can be viewed below.

Neowin recently reported that footage of the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk had been recovered after being lost for nearly 40 years. When NASA said that it was a hoax and nothing had been found many were left disappointed. Fortunately, NASA was either covering up the discovery or the person who made the announcement was uninformed.

At 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 16 NASA will hold a press conference and release the recently found footage. "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 initial video released Thursday is part of a comprehensive Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project expected to be completed by the fall. "

When the original story broke it seemed as if it could, indeed, be actually true. The events that were described seemed plausible and with the restoration project under way it seemed likely the footage may turn up. Thankfully it was not a hoax and we shall all soon see the lost footage.

When NASA put a man on the moon it was a triumph of achievement for the US as it showed its technical capabilities and its dedication to space exploration. NASA spent years planning for and developing specialized equipment for the mission. One such piece of equipment was a high resolution video camera that would send back images to Earth.

Because of the lack of technology at the time the video feed from the moon actually had to be compressed and scaled down to work on televisions across the world. After the initial recording of the high resolution stream from the moon the film went missing after its shipment back to the US. The only surviving record was a 16mm film that was shot at a black and white TV which gives us the only surviving recorded copy until today.

In Perth, Australia scientists were looking in old storage rooms for other data when they stumbled upon tapes from NASA which they thought would be information regarding moon dust from several later missions to the moon. To their surprise it was the long lost high resolution film from the first moon walk.

Thanks to Neowin member jameswjrose for the news tip