Apollo 11 TV images as seen at Honeysuckle Creek

showing the television picture from the Moon on monitors at the
Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station
Monday 21st July 1969 (Australian time)

For a further discussion of Apollo 11 TV, see the Apollo 11 TV section.



Scanned by John Saxon (Operations Supervisor at Honeysuckle during the Apollo missions), August 2003.

Some of these photos were taken of the Fairchild slow scan monitor (10 frames per second, 320 lines resolution – the photos with a white background), while most were taken of the scan-converted video on the adjacent NTSC monitor (30 frames per second, 525 lines resolution).

The photos of the slow scan monitor are actually upside-down – we’ve included them the right way up here. This is because the TV camera was upside-down when it was mounted in the MESA. The toggle switch used to invert the picture was installed on the scan-converted, and therefore only the scan-converted pictures were the right way up.

After the TV camera was removed from the MESA, the toggle switch was used to change the TV back to the correct orientation.

Irrespective of which monitor was used, the images below comprise the bulk of known images of the Apollo 11 EVA taken at the tracking stations in real time.

As of December 2005, only two stills taken at Goldstone, and one taken at Sydney Video of the Parkes slow scan video, are known.

Update:

In 2006, Bill Wood scanned a series of 35mm photos he took at Goldstone of a replay from the scan converter shortly after the EVA.



Most, probably all, of the photographs were taken by Honeysuckle’s video technician Ed von Renouard,
using his Konica single lens reflex 35mm camera.

He writes that they were “taken off the slow scan monitor from a replay of the M22 tape after the pass”.
Copies were made for various members of the Honeysuckle staff.
Others were taken on the day by Bernard Scrivener, Honeysuckle’s Admin officer.

Ed von Renouard

Ed von Renouard at the Honeysuckle Creek video console
during Apollo 12.

The slow scan rack is at the left. Photos 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are of the top slow scan monitor (white background) – the others are of the scan-converted monitor directly in front of Ed (yellow background).

The smaller monitor to the left, at Ed’s eye level, was used to check various station configurations.



The descriptions (possibly penned by Honeysuckle Admin officer Bernard Scrivener)
are those written on the back of the prints held by John Saxon, and are included below in blue bold.

Timing notes by Colin Mackellar are in red, as well as more accurate descriptions
(after careful review of the video of the EVA) in brackets.

Ground Elapsed Time, determined with reference to the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal,
is also included below most of the images.

The images have been cleaned up to remove dust and marks and were slightly enhanced. They were scanned at 300dpi.

Notes:

The first frame was taken while the international TV audience was still seeing poor quality pictures from Goldstone.

The second and third photos were taken during the period Sydney Video and the international audience were taking Honeysuckle –

and the fourth and fifth were taken while the international audience was taking Goldstone.

The sixth photo was taken about a second after the switch to Parkes.

Note the lights inside the Operations Building at Honeysuckle reflected at the top of the screen in the scan converted monitor photos – and at the bottom in the slow scan photos (which are upside down).

 


A11TV01.jpg
A11TV01.jpg
“Armstrong descending

GET: 109:22:59

Scan converted image

42s after “TV on” (Both Australian TV viewers and the international audience are seeing Goldstone, which has just switched from an upside-down picture).

A11TV02.jpg
A11TV02.jpg
“Armstrong on Lunar soil

GET: 109:24:39

Scan converted image

Actually, immediately before “the groundmass is very fine”. Houston TV had switched to Honeysuckle’s picture by this stage.

A11TV03.jpg
A11TV03.jpg
“Armstrong

Unconverted slow scan image

GET: 109:25:30

“some evidence of rays emanating”
(just before the international audience switches back to Goldstone)

 

A11TV04.jpg
A11TV04.jpg
”Armstrong

Unconverted slow scan image

GET: 109:27:40

Neil is explaining that the backlight into the Lunar Module enables him to see everything clearly, even though he is standing in the shadow.

A11TV05.jpg
A11TV05.jpg
“Armstrong depositing contingency sample

GET: 109:29:18

Unconverted slow scan image

Actually, Neil is retrieving the Hasselblad 70mm camera from the LEC before mounting it on the RCU bracket on the front of his suit.

At this point, international viewers were seeing Goldstone’s picture again.

A11TV06.jpg
A11TV06.jpg
“Armstrong talking Aldrin down”

GET: 109:31:00

Unconverted slow scan image

Just after Sydney Video has switched to the picture coming via Parkes, and the Houston has switched back to the Sydney feed.

A11TV07.jpg
A11TV07.jpg
“Armstrong checking Aldrin’s position

GET: 109:31:11

Unconverted slow scan image

A11TV08.jpg
A11TV08.jpg
“Armstrong getting ready to take Aldrin’s photo

Scan converted image.

Note that this is nowhere near as sharp as the A11TV07 slow scan image, taken moments before.

A11TV09.jpg
A11TV09.jpg
“Aldrin descending”

 

Scan converted image

Checking he can get back up to the first step. Note Armstrong, overexposed, standing in the sun in the background.

A11TV10.jpg
A11TV10.jpg
“Aldrin reaching for the moon”

GET: 109:42:42

Scan converted image

Checking he can get back up to the first step. Note Armstrong, overexposed, standing in the sun in the background.

A11TV11.jpg
A11TV11.jpg
“Footsteps on the moon (after camera repositioning)

Scan converted image

This frame was taken just before the camera was swung further to the right, and before the panorama taken by Neil.

A11TV12.jpg
A11TV12.jpg
Aldrin

GET: 109:58:55

Scan converted image

A11TV13.jpg
A11TV13.jpg
Aldrin setting up solar wind experiment

Scan converted image

A11TV14.jpg
A11TV14.jpg
Aldrin removing cover from solar wind experiment

Scan converted image

A11TV15.jpg
A11TV15.jpg
Armstrong returning after setting up camera

Scan converted image

A11TV16.jpg
A11TV16.jpg
Armstrong (right) and Aldrin

Scan converted image

A11TV17.jpg
A11TV17.jpg
Armstrong and Aldrin saluting after the President’s speech
.

Scan converted image

Actually, this is setting up the US flag.