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I've read that even with all the SF stories written about the first landing on the Moon, not a single one written before the Apollo missions were planned ever had any hint that the first landing would actually be televised so we could watch it (almost) live.

Is this true? Or did any stories written before the missions were planned (and when we'd know it would be televised) predict that there would be a video camera on the Moon to record that first footstep?

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    I'm pretty sure that Clarke wrote a story with live reporting of the first Moon landing, but it might have been radio only. What Clarke got wrong is that he thought there would be a British expedition.
    – user56
    Feb 14, 2012 at 6:53
  • @Gilles: If you can find the story, why not post it as an answer? It looks like nobody has come up with any other story that fits the point.
    – Tango
    Feb 18, 2012 at 2:18
  • @Lighthart: Did they show it being televised?
    – Tango
    Feb 25, 2013 at 1:04
  • I cannot find the reference anymore, so I've deleted my comment.
    – Lighthart
    Feb 25, 2013 at 1:20

3 Answers 3

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Yes, a televised moon landing was predicted in one Golden Age story that I know of: "All Aboard for the Moon" (novel, 55000 words) by Harold M. Sherman in Amazing Stories, April 1947, available at the Internet Archive. Apparently never reprinted.

The following excerpt is part of Gil Benson's ("playboy; devil-with-the-women; and rich") speech just before taking off for the moon in his atomic-powered spaceship, the Goodbye, World!:

"I'm also indebted to the General Electric Company of Schenectady for permitting me to install a hitherto untried sending and receiving radio set which beams radio waves of such high frequency that we are confident they can penetrate both the Heavyside [sic] and Appleton layers which surround the earth, at respective levels of sixty and two hundred miles, so that we can keep in constant touch with this planet during our travels and while on the moon.

"These new instruments, in conjunction with the television apparatus we are carrying, will permit us to scan some of the moon's surface and project back to earth the actual scenes as we are witnessing them. You know, of course, that television waves travel in a straight line and from the vantage point of the moon they can be beamed directly to earth. In fact, could a television station be established on the moon, we could then beam all television shows to the moon and relay them back to earth on a straight line so that they would be receivable everywhere."

P.S. Here's an earlier (1940) but less clear-cut example. Not a science fiction story, it's a non-fiction feature titled "An Elementary Course In Astronautics" in Planet Comics #9, November 1940, available at Comic Book Plus. It doesn't mention moon landings per se, but predicts that spaceships of the future will maintain radio and televisual contact with earth. According to a statement in the previous issue, this issue went on sale September 10, 1940, a good five years before Project Diana, on January 10, 1946, demonstrated the feasibility of transmitting through the ionosphere by bouncing radar off the moon.

Quoting from the 4th and 5th panels on p. 30:

OBSERVERS ON EARTH WOULD CHECK ALL DETAILS WITH THE SHIP'S COMMUNICATION OFFICER.

A FORM OF ULTRA-SHORT WAVE RADIO AND TELEVISION WOULD KEEP THE ROCKET IN CONSTANT CONNECTION WITH THE EARTH.

P.P.S. This one is even earlier, but it's a rocket to Venus, not the Moon: The Swordsman of Sarvon by Charles Cloukey, published as a 3-part serial in Amazing Stories for August, September, and October of 1932 (links to the Internet Archive). The excerpts below are from the September installment.

They had entered di Bargi's plane, and were flying north. The professor spoke. "You might be interested to know that at last I have solved the problem of radio across empty space. Years ago, when I first tried to communicate with Venus, I had no success. My waves never reached even the moon. I know, because I got no reflection. But I find that by using undreamed-of frequencies, I can get a reflected signal from the moon ! I can get signals through the 'heaviside layer.' This indicates that we will have no trouble keeping in touch with the earth. Benny's televisor will function all right with a few radical changes in the apparatus and circuits."

The technician of the gang was at the controls of the radiovision unit. The announcer had his mike in his hand. The visorman was focusing his lens for an in- terior shot. Benny Jacobs hovered around, directing the gang efficiently. Six minutes after the take-off they were ready — Boyd nodded, releasing them from their promise of secrecy. It was time to let the world know that after all the Venus-rocket had not been destroyed.

The technician, alert, flipped the necessary switches and twirled his controls. In ten seconds they were connected with the main office of the Universal News Company, who in turn relayed their speech and images to the thousands of radio-television units in the world. The news was spread while it was being made.

The announcer, a being blessed with the gift of spontaneous loquacity, made the most of the situation.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the world. This is News-Unit Thirteen of the Universal News Corporation, speaking from Cabin R of the Interplanetarian, the first passenger carrying vehicle to venture into extraterrestrial space. The rocket was not destroyed by the explosion of the liquid hydrogen factory, as was broadcast several months ago. Universal, of course, is pledged to strict honesty in the presentation of news events, but on this exceptional occasion we greatly exaggerated the damage done by the explosion in order to make the criminal, who was undoubtedly listening in, believe that his plan was successful. We apologize to our public for this justified deception.

"We are now in the earth's atmosphere. The television views we present now show in detail the interior of this cabin with our elaborate furnishings. Everything is fastened down. Our remote-control televisor — " (click- click-snap-buzzzzz from the technician’s control board,) " — will show you the landscape as seen from the rocket now. The large body of water is Hudson Bay. We are approaching the ceiling of the rocket, that is, with the internal-combustion motors. In a short while we will begin to use the terrific energy of exploded liquid hydrogen to lift us beyond gravity.

"We have made arrangements so that our visors and mikes will be cut off the regular transmitter as soon as we leave the earth, and automatically hooked up to a transmittter capable of sending voice and pictures across the void. News-Unit Thirteen will be in constant communication with the earth, serving you as Universal has always served the public. We will now cut in on the mike of Professor di Bargi and ask him to say a few words from the control-room."

Click-snap. BUZZzzzzz . . .

"I am very busy at present, and will have no time to explain the rocket. In a few minutes I will press the alarm signal, so that everyone on board will tie himself in a very strong hammock. The acceleration will probably render everyone aboard unconscious. I have just rechecked for the last time the exceedingly strongly constructed robot that will handle the controls while we are unconscious."

Click!

"Our interior televisor now shows one of the hammocks which will be used as Professor di Bargi has just told you. We want to show the public as many interesting details as possible about our life aboard the rocket. You notice the strong supports for the hammocks. If we tied ourselves in solid chairs, for example, we might be crushed against them. The elastic hammocks will give under the pressure, and minimize the danger. If we have time, we will also show you a view of our air-purifying apparatus before — "

BRRRRRRRRRNNNNNGG!

You have just heard the alarm signal. We must tie ourselves in the hammocks at once. While we leave the earth, of course, no announcements can come through to you, but we shall leave the remote-control televisor on, and we hope you will be able to see the earth dropping away from the rocket."

Click-click-snap. Click.

Below, in United Utilities' Hudson Bay office, Robert Huston was listening to the news report, and watching the receiving screen of the news-machine. Without moving from his seat he could see the searchlights outside that were trained upon the great ship. He went to the window and looked up in time to see a brilliant blue flash at the rocket's tail. Another. Three more. The rocket was moving fast now, very fast. Five more flashes, and then a steady stream of blue flame. In a few seconds it had dwindled to nothing, disappeared. Burton Boyd was on his way to Venus. Huston was home, with a terrific war threatening. Bob Huston shook off the thought of war and returned to the instrument, staring at the clear, sharp picture it presented of the earth falling away rapidly. The convexity of the pictured scene was apparent. The earth dwindled until all of it could be seen on the screen. A globe, with the outlines of the continents upon it.

Click! The picture vanished. A voice came through the loud speaker. "This is the main office of Universal News. We are now out of communication with News-Unit Thirteen. As soon as a further message comes through, we will broadcast the words and pictures to all the world. The public will notice that again Universal is the first to present a news event of exceptional importance; again we lead the field. Through Universal you will be placed at the receiving end of the first interplanetary television circuit. Universal is always the first — " Robert Huston snapped off the news-machine, left the office, and made his way toward the UU-7. The big quintimotored monoplane was soon roaring southward to New York.

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    Thank you! It's great someone found a reference like this.
    – Tango
    May 1, 2013 at 3:02
  • Great catch! As an apropos, the television-station on moon idea is propably inspired by the contemporary Moon Relay or similar ideas: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_Moon_Relay
    – Abulafia
    Aug 30, 2013 at 7:34
  • And afaik predates satellite TV as well.
    – Paul
    Jul 16, 2016 at 10:40
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Once Alley Oop's adventures (in his eponymous comic strip) started taking him through time and space, he ventured to the Moon. The comic strip below was originally published in 1949, so after the dates in the accepted answer. Still, it shows an excited group of civilians watching their TV set at home.

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A later example is Michael Shaara's "Four Billion Dollar Door" (SATELLITE, Dec. 1957, full text at https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/SF/SAT_1956_12.pdf ). In the story, the first man to reach the moon can't get out of his spaceship because the door is stuck. But, along the way: "There were television cameras mounted on Old Sam's ship beaming it all back to Earth. At least fifty million people were following Old Explorer Sam and his crew on their spectacular journey."

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  • Michael Shaara has written some fine stories. I don't think this is the one he got a Pulitzer Prize for.
    – user14111
    5 hours ago

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