Editing Openai/67c4e193-e008-8008-8d82-c239519e3d5a (section)

==== Summary and Conclusion ====

Surviving Tapes and Storage Locations: Across Apollo 1 through Apollo 17, very few original telemetry tapes remain. The only mission with known original 1-inch telemetry reels still in storage is Apollo 9, with a single box of nine reels at the National Archives (WNRC) containing tracking station datanasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=labeled%20%22NCG,the%20green%20ledger%20books%20to|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Apart from that, no other Apollo mission telemetry tapes are confirmed in NASA or NARA custody – a conclusion backed by NASA’s exhaustive 2006–2009 search that found that Apollo-era telemetry tapes had been largely destroyed or reusednasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The vast collections of Apollo data tapes (estimated at over 25,000 reels for all missions combinednasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=9|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>) were mostly erased in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This includes tapes for historic events like Apollo 11’s moonwalk (lost by 1980) and routine mission data from Apollo 7 through 17. Some fragmentary exceptions have emerged: a few Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 audio dump tapes turned up in Australia (private hands) and have been copiedhoneysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_8_mission/apollo8_onboard_audio.html#:~:text=The%20audio%20totals%20around%2035,minutes|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>honeysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_10_mission/a10_hsk_audio.html#:~:text=,to%20help|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>; a handful of Apollo 15–17 ALSEP experiment tapes were recovered from records centers and universitiesntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=ALSEP%20data%20archived%20in%20the,These|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>poikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>; and the Apollo 9 reels mentioned were found at WNRC. Additionally, 3 two-inch videotapes of Apollo 11’s broadcast were preserved by an ex-intern and auctioned (now held privately)en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=On%20July%206%2C%202019%2C%20Sotheby%27s,On%20July%2020|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. These isolated finds aside, the current status is that virtually all Apollo mission telemetry tapes are missing from official archives. NASA and the National Archives have acknowledged that the original magnetic tapes for Apollo missions are, for the most part, gonenasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.

Preservation of Apollo Data: Despite the loss of physical tapes, the information content from those tapes has been largely preserved through alternate means:
* Mission control audio tapes were kept and are now being digitized. Over 200 analog audio tapes (14-hour each, 30-track) holding Apollo mission voice loops were safeguarded at Johnson Space Centerengineering-research.utdallas.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|url=https://engineering-research.utdallas.edu/recovering-audio-from-the-apollo-moon-missions/#:~:text=The%20communications%20for%20Apollo%20missions,speech%20processing%20and%20language%20technology|publisher=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. These tapes (for Apollo 11, 13, etc.) have been played back with custom equipment, and the audio is publicly accessible in synchronized formats. This means all dialogues between astronauts and controllers, and controller-to-controller chatter, survive with high fidelity even though they were originally part of the telemetry stream. They are stored digitally and backed up for research and public enjoyment (e.g. the “Apollo in Real Time” interactive websites).
* Television and video from Apollo missions were recorded on broadcast tapes or film at the time and almost all of these are preserved. The only video that was lost in quality was Apollo 11’s original SSTV, but even that was mitigated by using the existing broadcast copies and modern restorationtvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=Nafzger%20appeared%20with%20Lebar%20at,stroll%20on%20the%20moon%E2%80%99s%20surface|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Later Apollo missions had direct TV that didn’t require special tapes, and those broadcasts remain available. NASA’s media archives (now often in digital formats) hold Apollo 7/8/9’s TV on kinescopes, Apollo 10/14/15/16/17’s color TV on broadcast tapes, etc. Many have been digitized into HD for anniversaries. Some Apollo video resides with the National Archives as well (for example, NARA’s motion picture division holds Apollo 11 EVA footage on film, Apollo 15 lunar rover video recordings, etc., as part of historical collections).
* Scientific data archives have been rebuilt. The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) data for Apollo 11, and Apollo 12–17 has been largely recovered and archived in digital form in the 2000sntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=ALSEP%20data%20archived%20in%20the,These|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>poikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. What happened is that while the raw tapes were lost, many secondary sources (like 9-track “work tapes”, microfiche prints of weekly data, and tapes held by principal investigators) were gathered by the Lunar Data Project. By 2017–2019, the team announced restoration of numerous Apollo datasetspoikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Today a researcher can obtain Apollo seismic data, heat flow readings, lunar atmosphere measurements, etc., from the PDS Geosciences Node, with documentation explaining that these were reconstructed from the old tapes and files. The condition of the recovered data is good – it’s been converted to modern formats (CSV tables, etc.) and validated where possible. Gaps that couldn’t be filled are noted, but they are relatively few considering the scope. This is a big win for Apollo science: decades after fearing the data lost, the Apollo ALSEP readings are again available for analysis.
* Paper and film records serve as backups for telemetry. During Apollo, mission data was often printed to hardcopy (for example, flight controllers had telemetry on strip charts or log sheets). NASA archived hundreds of thousands of pages of Apollo documentation which remain in libraries and online. These include things like the Apollo 15 PLSS telemetry strip charts (scanned and posted on NTRS)space.stackexchange.com<ref>{{cite web|title=space.stackexchange.com|url=https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22731/what-documentation-remains-from-apollo#:~:text=Mission%20Telemetry|publisher=space.stackexchange.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, mission status reports, and event logs. Such documents ensure that even without original tapes, the numerical values and events can be retrieved. The Apollo Flight Journals and Apollo Lunar Surface Journal are compilations that use transcripts and technical data to essentially recreate the telemetry timeline of each mission, available publicly.
* Remaining hardware data recorders: In a few cases, Apollo data was stored in hardware that still exists. For example, Apollo 17’s Lunar Sounder Experiment tape cassette (onboard the Command Module) was returned to Earth and read out post-flight, so its data was preserved independently of any ground-station tape. Similarly, film-based data (like panoramic mapping camera images on Apollo 15–17) were never at risk – the films are stored (e.g., at the National Archives and Johnson Space Center) and have been digitized at high resolution by Arizona State University’s Apollo archive project. Thus, certain types of “telemetry” that were recorded on non-magnetic media remain in excellent shape.

Lost vs. Found: To directly answer which tapes are confirmed lost or missing: Essentially all missions from Apollo 1 through Apollo 17 have their primary telemetry tapes listed as missing. Not a single mission has a complete set of original telemetry tapes preserved. The Apollo 11 tapes (with the moonwalk video) are confirmed eraseden.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=developed%20the%20Apollo%20Lunar%20Camera,3|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Apollo 13’s tapes were almost certainly reused. Apollo 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 – all were part of the bulk erasure/reuse. The confirmed lost list includes Apollo 11 SSTV reels, Apollo 12–17 ALSEP raw tapes (most of them), and generally the whole collection of flight telemetry tapes that once resided at Goddard/WNRC (over 2,600 tape canisters)nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=station%20in%201969%2C%20the%20accompanying,They%20found%20nothing%2C%20confirming%209|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. NASA’s final report in 2009 explicitly states that aside from a few Apollo 9 tapes, no original Apollo telemetry tapes remainednasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.

On the other side, known existing tapes can be summarized as:
* Apollo 9: Nine telemetry reels (Canary Islands station data) at WNRCnasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=labeled%20%22NCG,the%20green%20ledger%20books%20to|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* Apollo 8 & 10 (partial): Some telemetry-derived audio tapes held by Honeysuckle Creek alumni (now digitized)honeysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_8_mission/apollo8_onboard_audio.html#:~:text=The%20audio%20totals%20around%2035,minutes|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>honeysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_10_mission/a10_hsk_audio.html#:~:text=,to%20help|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* Apollo 11: Three 2-inch video tapes (NTSC recordings) in a private collectionen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=On%20July%206%2C%202019%2C%20Sotheby%27s,the%20three%20tapes%20were%20sold|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. (No 1-inch data tapes known.)
* Apollo 12–17 ALSEP: ~440 ARCSAV tapes recovered from WNRCntrs.nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=ntrs.nasa.gov|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190032593/downloads/20190032593.pdf#:~:text=ALSEP%20data%20archived%20in%20the,These|publisher=ntrs.nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref> – these contain data from multiple missions (Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 during 1975). These tapes, after data extraction, are likely stored at Goddard or Johnson Space Center now. Some PI tapes for experiments (like Apollo 12 and 15 dust detector tapes Brian O’Brien hadpoikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=Image%3A%20ALSEP%20dust%20detector%20data,O%E2%80%99Brien%20PI%20and%20SpectrumData|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>) also exist in private or academic hands but have been copied to digital and returned or retained by those individuals.
* Mission Control Audio tapes (Apollo 1, 7–17): A full set stored at JSC. These weren’t typically called “telemetry” but rather audio logs. They are effectively part of the recorded mission data. They’ve been preserved and are being migrated to digitalengineering-research.utdallas.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|url=https://engineering-research.utdallas.edu/recovering-audio-from-the-apollo-moon-missions/#:~:text=The%20communications%20for%20Apollo%20missions,speech%20processing%20and%20language%20technology|publisher=engineering-research.utdallas.edu|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* Miscellaneous: The Curtin University in Western Australia found one Apollo-era 14-track tape in a science lab in 2006 and sent it to NASA – it had no video but some data, proving the tape format could still be readen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=On%20November%201%2C%202006%2C%20Cosmos,25|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. That tape was not specifically tied to a mission in reports (possibly a Apollo 10 test tape). It’s now presumably at Goddard’s Data Evaluation Lab. Additionally, NASA’s Goddard facility still maintains a few working 1-inch 14-track tape drivestvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=store%20it|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=The%20machines%20used%20by%20NASA,not%20believed%20possible%20in%201969|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, so if any more Apollo tapes ever surface, there is capability to read them (as of 2009, at least one such lab was kept operational).

Condition and Accessibility: The condition of surviving Apollo tapes varies. The nine Apollo 9 reels found in 2006 were in a box that was “slightly damaged” but the tapes might be readablenasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=to%20peer%20into%20the%20back,had%20something%20to%20work%20with|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The recovered ALSEP tapes from 2010 were readable with professional help, though one can imagine some oxide shedding or brittleness – still, the fact that data was recovered indicates they hadn’t degraded beyond use. Tapes stored in climate control (like at NARA) can last many decades. The personal Honeysuckle tapes (1/4″ audio) were in decent shape as they could be digitized successfully after ~50 yearshoneysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_10_mission/a10_hsk_audio.html#:~:text=,In%20the|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. The three Apollo 11 video reels sold at auction were said to be in excellent condition – they were played before sale to verify content (and indeed contained the EVA as televised)en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=On%20July%206%2C%202019%2C%20Sotheby%27s,On%20July%2020|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Generally, if any Apollo telemetry tape is found now, it likely would require careful baking and cleaning but could yield data, as magnetic tape life can extend past 50 years if stored well.

As for accessibility: For tapes held by government archives (like the Apollo 9 reels at NARA), a researcher could theoretically request access, but since those tapes are un-digitized and in an obsolete format, one would need to coordinate with NASA to play them. NASA’s Goddard Data Evaluation Laboratory was specifically kept running to handle old tapes (it had the 14-track players)en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=The%20Goddard%20Center%27s%20Data%20Evaluation,1|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. That lab was slated for closure in 2006 but remained available a bit longer due to interest in the Apollo searchen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#:~:text=The%20Goddard%20Center%27s%20Data%20Evaluation,1|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. It’s uncertain if, in 2025, such capability is still on standby – likely NASA could resurrect a machine if needed, given historical importance. For all practical purposes, however, researchers don’t need the physical tapes for most Apollo data. NASA has made the relevant content available in other forms, which are much easier to access:
* The Apollo Experience Reports and Mission Reports (available via NTRS or historical archives) compile telemetry-derived performance data.
* The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ) and Flight Journal provide annotated transcripts and some logged data, which is useful for historical researchers.
* The Planetary Data System (PDS) and National Space Science Data Center provide Apollo experiment datasets (e.g., seismic events catalogs, heat flow readings, lunar particle fluxes) in user-friendly formatspds-geosciences.wustl.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=pds-geosciences.wustl.edu|url=https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/apollo/index.htm#:~:text=Apollo%20Data%20from%20Individual%20Investigators,SEED%20and%20ASCII%20table%20format|publisher=pds-geosciences.wustl.edu|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* The Apollo mission audio is accessible through interactive websites (Apollo 11, 13, 17 in Real Time, etc.) as well as raw audio files downloadable from archive.org for some missionshoneysucklecreek.net<ref>{{cite web|title=honeysucklecreek.net|url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/msfn_missions/Apollo_8_mission/apollo8_onboard_audio.html#:~:text=,Honeysuckle%20tape%20is%20quite%20good|publisher=honeysucklecreek.net|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* Video footage is accessible via NASA Image and Video Library, YouTube channels run by NASA or third parties (many Apollo videos are public domain), and the National Archives’ digitized film collections.

In short, although an Apollo historian cannot go into a vault and pull out original telemetry tapes for, say, Apollo 15’s landing, they can retrieve essentially the same information through the preserved channels listed above.

Restoration and Future Outlook: The major restoration efforts regarding Apollo tapes have largely concluded in the past decade:
* The Apollo 11 missing tapes investigation concluded with no tapes found, but it spurred a high-quality video restoration of Apollo 11 EVA footage in 2009tvtechnology.com<ref>{{cite web|title=tvtechnology.com|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/search-for-missing-recordings-ends#:~:text=Nafzger%20appeared%20with%20Lebar%20at,stroll%20on%20the%20moon%E2%80%99s%20surface|publisher=tvtechnology.com|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>.
* The ALSEP data recovery project (also called the Apollo Lunar Data Restoration Project) ran from about 2004 to 2017, successfully recovering hundreds of tape drives of data and integrating them into modern archivespoikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=It%20is%20through%20the%20efforts,short%2C%20many%20raw%20data%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>poikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. This was a big success story – tens of thousands of hours of science data, once thought lost, were saved for posterity.
* The Mission Control audio digitization effort (led by University of Texas at Dallas and NASA) from 2012 onwards has so far completed Apollo 11 and 13, and is working through the remaining missions. This means eventually all those audio tapes will be available in digital form, preserving that aspect of Apollo telemetry in full. As of now, Apollo 11, 13 and parts of 17 are released; others will follow. The original audio reels themselves will likely be stored as artifacts or possibly deposited to National Archives after digitization (ensuring dual preservation).

NASA has also improved its records management since Apollo. The loss of the Apollo tapes became a cautionary example, and current missions have more robust archiving (often with multiple digital copies distributed). There is an ongoing effort to ensure even Apollo-related documents (not just tapes) are scanned and saved; for example, thousands of pages of Apollo engineering documents have been OCR’ed and put online.

For the average researcher or enthusiast today, the lack of original Apollo telemetry tapes does not impede access to Apollo mission data. Virtually everything (except maybe some obscure high-rate engineering parameters) is findable through the restored datasets or publications. However, the story of the Apollo telemetry tapes underscores the importance of proactive data preservation. It took special initiatives decades later to recover what was almost lost. In some cases – Apollo 11 SSTV being the prime example – the original quality is indeed lost forever, since no one can now go back and directly re-read those erased tapes to get a better image than the 1969 broadcast. We must settle for what was indirectly saved on film. In other cases, like ALSEP, the outcome was happier due to diligent recovery.

Conclusion: The Apollo program’s telemetry tapes largely no longer physically exist, scattered by reuse or deterioration, with only a few isolated reels surviving in archives or private hands. However, thanks to archival records, modern digitization, and restoration projects, the content from those tapes is broadly preserved and accessible. NASA’s archives (and the National Archives) hold Apollo mission documentation, and NASA’s data centers now host the rescued scientific telemetry in digital formpoikiloblastic.wordpress.com<ref>{{cite web|title=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|url=https://poikiloblastic.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-long-road-to-alsep-data-recovery/#:~:text=,data%20tapes%2C%20and%20reprocessed%20tapes|publisher=poikiloblastic.wordpress.com|date=2013-02-22|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Key Apollo recordings (audio, video) have been restored and released to the public. In effect, while the reels themselves sit as mostly missing artifacts of the 1960s, the data they contained lives on – ensuring that Apollo’s legacy of information is not lost to time, even if the magnetic tapes went missing.