NASA Television Receives Philo T. Farnsworth Primetime Emmy Award
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WASHINGTON -- NASA Television has been honored with a Primetime Emmy
Award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The 2009 Philo T.
Farnsworth Award recognizes the agency for engineering excellence and
commemorates the 40th anniversary of the technological innovations
that made possible the first live TV broadcast from the moon by the
Apollo 11 crew on July 20, 1969.
The prestigious Emmy Award, named after the man credited with
designing and building the world's first working television system,
honors an agency, company or institution with contributions over a
long period of time that have significantly affected the state of
television technology and engineering.
"I congratulate the many NASA staffers who are being recognized by the
academy with this award for contributions to television engineering
excellence," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "From the first
landing of man on the moon in 1969 to today's high definition
broadcasts of America's ongoing space exploration initiatives,
television has been a powerful communications tool that enables the
agency to share its achievements in exploration and discovery with
the world."
In 1927, Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television
image comprised of 60 horizontal lines. He developed the dissector
tube, the foundation of the modern electronic televisions. In a 1996
interview, his wife Elma, whose nickname was Pem, said the two of
them watched with pride the televised Apollo 11 moonwalk. "We were
watching it and when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon Phil turned to
me and said, 'Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.' Before then, he
wasn't too sure."
Over the agency's 50-year history, NASA TV has served as a vital
engineering and mission support resource and a valuable
communications outlet.
"I am honored to have been selected to accept this award on behalf of
NASA and the hundreds of engineers and technicians who made the
telecast of this historic event possible," said Richard Nafzger, an
engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,
Nafzger was 28 years old when he worked with the team that brought
television from the moon to a world-wide audience estimated at more
than 600 million people.
Joining Nafzger in accepting the honor will be Apollo 11 Lunar Module
Pilot and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.
Today, NASA TV is available on four digital channels, serving the
general public, educators and journalists. It also is streamed
continuously over the agency's Internet homepage.
The Primetime Emmys are awarded by the Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences in North Hollywood, Calif. Recipients of the Engineering
Awards will receive their statues during a special ceremony on
Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles.
This is NASA Television's second Emmy Award for 2009. In January, the
Midsouth Chapter of the National Television Academy awarded NASA TV
the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement at a ceremony in
Nashville, Tenn.
For more information about NASA TV, including program schedules and
how to watch programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
For information about the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, visit:
http://www.Emmys.com
