Do Not Attempt to Adjust Your Set

Jerry played with all the knobs, but the black bar near the top of the screen would not go away. The image fluctuated between positive and negative, turning the light landscape black and the black sky white. The picture scrolled first vertically, then horizontally, then a dazzling blend of both. He adjusted the contrast and tint, blacking out the moon or losing it in light.

"If they could land a man on the moon you would think they could do it in color," he complained.

My mother didn't share his enthusiasm. "There's no color on the moon."

The problem was with the transmission, not the viewers' televisions. Years later the footage would be 'cleaned up' by computers, making the record of the flight as flawless as the event in truth had been.

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