Claim: Data tapes from the Apollo missions were lost
95%Based on my research, I can verify the accuracy of this claim.
Reasoning:
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Apollo 11 slow-scan television (SSTV) tapes were lost - The original raw telemetry data tapes that recorded Apollo 11's slow-scan television telecast in 1969 were lost. An exhaustive three-year search concluded they were likely erased and reused by NASA in the early 1980s due to a severe magnetic tape shortage during the Landsat program12.
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Thousands of ALSEP data tapes were lost - At the conclusion of the Apollo program in 1977, thousands of open-reel magnetic tapes containing raw instrument data from the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) were scattered in various locations. Since the decision was made not to archive the raw data, most of these tapes have been lost in the decades since3.
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Over 700 boxes of Apollo data tapes are missing - The missing tapes were among over 700 boxes of magnetic data tapes recorded throughout the Apollo program that have not been found1.
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Some data has been partially recovered - In 2010, 440 of the previously lost ALSEP magnetic tapes were recovered, and the data was extracted and archived3. However, this represents only a fraction of the lost data.
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The distinction between raw and broadcast data - While NASA has preserved the broadcast-quality footage (which was converted to a format suitable for TV), the original raw telemetry data with higher quality was stored on data tapes that were subsequently lost or destroyed42.
Overall validity: 95%