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NASA releases over 19,000 hours of Apollo 11 mission audio

NASA have just released over 19,000 hours of Apollo 11 mission audio, featuring conversations, commands, and quips passed between the Apollo 11 astronauts and Houston.

While most of the conversation between Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin can be quite mundane, they still always feel monumental.

Over 19,000 hours of audio from Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin has just been released by NASA for the first time ever.

Researchers from the University of Texas Dallas developed a technique for analysing the massive archive of sound from the Apollo missions, which included more than 200 14-hour long tapes, each with 30 tracks of audio.

The device could read only one track at a time. The user had to mechanically rotate a handle to move the tape read head from one track to another,” the researchers say of the digitising process.

By Hansen’s estimate, it would take at least 170 years to digitize just the Apollo 11 mission audio using the technology.

Listen to the audio for yourself through NASA’s archival page, or the much more user-friendly UT Dallas “Explore Apollo” website.

Via Vice.