Discovery Channel Celebrates NASA’s 50th Anniversary

WHO: Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) will host Discovery Communications Founder and Chairman John Hendricks’ official presentation of over 100 hours of newly HD transferred NASA archives to NASA’s Administrator Michael Griffin.

WHAT: In preparing for its epic new special series, When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, Discovery Channel sourced over a hundred hours of original film and audio from NASA’s vaults including film rushes and all the key on-boards filmed by the astronauts themselves. In addition, fragile original audio tape recordings from early space missions, nearly lost to degradation, have been catalogued and painstakingly restored.

Footage both iconic and intimate; from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, through the Soyuz link up, and the first un-tethered space walk; can now be seen for the first time in High Definition. These priceless national treasures will now officially be back with NASA as part of their permanent archives. This film library will be available to the public at unprecedented quality and resolution for the future generations of scholars, filmmakers and students to learn more about NASA’s 50 years of challenge and accomplishment and what the future holds for America in space.

Members and press will screen clips of the newly HD transferred footage as part of this special event.

WHERE: The Capitol Building, Room # S-115

WHEN: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. et