# Technology on the Moon that hadn't been invented yet **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929 "2010-03-10T00:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/21 "2010-03-10T11:24:31Z")
[Calvin’s Dad]…of course, the world was in Black and White back then…[/CD] ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/22 "2010-03-10T11:30:02Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > [Calvin’s Dad]…of course, the world was in Black and White back then…[/CD] \< googles \> Aha! Found a copy of [that strip](http://www.freewebs.com/calvin-hobbes-org/dadbandwandcolour.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/23 "2010-03-10T13:20:57Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > … > > (AND Not one picture of a guy who wrote “Buzz waz HERE, BITCHES!!!” or something in the sand? NOT ONE? 'Cmon now. Not one? No one wrote “Fuck you Russia!” for all posterity? If they were on moon, they’d know that shit would stay for a million years.) > > … I think this qualifies as on topic: This part of your post is, I think, kinda brilliant in a twisted, Doper sort of way. 🙂 I hadn’t thought of this before, but now I’m actually wondering about it. Not every moment on the moon was filmed, and these guys knew that it would be a long, long time before anyone visited their landing site again. Even if trips to the moon continued with regularity. So, now I’m really wondering if someone like Buzz _did_ leave a message like this, to be found hundreds of years in the future, long after they’re dead, and every so often, still think about it and go 😃 Or, maybe go 😛 Some of those astronauts were actually real cut-ups! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/24 "2010-03-10T13:43:25Z")
Actually I think the History channel runs Hitler shows 8 hours a day , they only do 4 on UFOs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/25 "2010-03-10T13:49:13Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > I have seen some footage from various moon “visits”, and have always had a question about one certain clip. > > I know, it has been proven a zillion times we went to the Moon. Then why put quotes around visits? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/26 "2010-03-10T13:52:07Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > \< googles \> Aha! Found a copy of [that strip](http://www.freewebs.com/calvin-hobbes-org/dadbandwandcolour.jpg)! I find I’m turning into Calvin’s dad…and it’s great! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/27 "2010-03-10T14:02:10Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Actually I think the History channel runs Hitler shows 8 hours a day , they only do 4 on UFOs. 🙂 Not for most of a decade now. I long for the old Hitler days, now it’s all Ax Men and Monster Quest. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/28 "2010-03-10T14:03:50Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > (AND Not one picture of a guy who wrote “Buzz waz HERE, BITCHES!!!” or something in the sand? NOT ONE? 'Cmon now. Not one? No one wrote “Fuck you Russia!” for all posterity? If they were on moon, they’d know that shit would stay for a million years.) To address just this portion of the op - I don’t know if this qualifies, but personal messages certainly were left on the moon by various astronauts. For example - Charlie Duke, on Apollo 16, left a picture of his family on the moon (wrapped in clear foil, with the names printed on the back). And before he left, took a picture of it. See [here](http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a16/a16.data_trvl.html) for some background and a photo of the photo. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/29 "2010-03-10T14:30:50Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > COLOR WITH SOUND in Hi-Def no less." Also, film cameras were the original Hi-Def. Conversion to video degraded the quality. Going back to the film and recording to Hi-Def video restores that quality almost on par with the source. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/30 "2010-03-10T14:35:49Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Apollo 12 was supposed to the first one with color TV broadcast from the lunar surface but Alan Bean broke the camera by accidentally pointing it at the Sun as he was setting it up. Hahaha. That’s totally the kind of screwup I would make if I were an astronaut. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/31 "2010-03-10T15:46:33Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > I have seen some footage from various moon “visits”, and have always had a question about one certain clip. I’m guessing by your question that you’ve never seen the HBO miniseries _From The Earth To The Moon_. They have a scene in the last episode featuring this exact moment from Apollo 17, including how the “cameraman” back on Earth had to time the pan and zoom-out perfectly, _before_ the liftoff. Simple trick, actually, but neat that it worked. BTW, as anyone who has seen the series will attest, it’s one of the best things ever put on television-- can’t recommend it enough! ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/32 "2010-03-10T15:53:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Apollo 12 was supposed to the first one with color TV broadcast from the lunar surface but Alan Bean broke the camera by accidentally pointing it at the Sun as he was setting it up. That’s why we have to settle for oil paintings of the Apollo 12 mission.😉 ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/33 "2010-03-10T16:17:33Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > BTW, as anyone who has seen the series will attest, it’s one of the best things ever put on television-- can’t recommend it enough! I watch it several times a year. I really like the episode about Apollo 1. I was really bored yesterday & put _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_ in my Netflix instant queue. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that portions of this film score were recycled for use in a few episodes of _From the Earth to the Moon_. I suppose it made the Costner movie more entertaining, because I was sitting there going “Now that’s the music that played when Buzz Aldrin walked in space”. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/34 "2010-03-10T16:54:47Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I watch it several times a year. I really like the episode about Apollo 1. > > I was really bored yesterday & put _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_ in my Netflix instant queue. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that portions of this film score were recycled for use in a few episodes of _From the Earth to the Moon_. I suppose it made the Costner movie more entertaining, because I was sitting there going “Now that’s the music that played when Buzz Aldrin walked in space”. O/T, I know, but the late Michael Kamen composed both scores, and I think he was second only to James Horner in his brilliance/sheer laziness in incorporating/ripping off his previous scores. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929/35 "2010-03-10T17:28:29Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Huh…I didn’t know they had broadcast color back then. Thanks for the info…learned something there. I always thought the first broadcast color was in the early 50’s! The 1940s color broadcasts were just field tests. [Article in _Life_ magazine.](http://www.earlytelevision.org/life_9-22-41.html) The first color broadcasts shown to the general public occurred in January 1950, and the first commercially-sponsored color programs came in June 1951. (I wrote most of that history of color television article at Wikipedia.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technology-on-the-moon-that-hadnt-been-invented-yet/531929.md?page=1)