FACTS · 《月亮的傳真》 The Moon's Fax
Every real claim on screen or behind the story, its source and the quoted wording. The newspaper's name and masthead are not shown; the control room, the log and card wording and the front page are invented (the headline in the film is not the paper's real headline of 5 February 1966, "THE EXPRESS CATCHES THE MOON", which is neither shown nor quoted).
| On screen / in the film | Claim | Source | Quoted wording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Log: "Luna 9 down at 18:45 UT" | Luna 9 soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum at 18:45:30 UT on 3 February 1966 | NSSDCA (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-006A ; Siddiqi, Beyond Earth, NASA SP-2018-4041, pp. 55–56 https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf | "coming to rest in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) … on February 3, 1966 at 18:45:30 UT"; "The impact time was recorded as 18:45:30 UT on 3 February 1966" |
| Log: "Tone changed at 18:58" | Around 18:58 UT after landing the signal changed character and was recognised as facsimile | Tim O'Brien (Jodrell Bank), archived https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://proftimobrien.com/2013/12/how-times-change-change-3-and-luna-9/ ; Sven Grahn, jb.man.ac.uk https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/history/tracking/part2.html | "At 18:58, the nature of the signals changed."; "Ten minutes later it changed character and the signal was recognized as facsimile" |
| New log line "2 月 4 日 · 月球 9 號 · 信號 / 4 Feb · Luna 9 · signal"; card "報社傳照片的信號？ / A newspaper picture signal?" | The picture signal was received on 4 February, 15:30–16:55 UT, in the format newspapers used to send photographs | Grahn (above); BBC On This Day http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/3/newsid_4063000/4063471.stm | "The pictures from Luna 9 were received on 4 February 1966 at 1530-1655 UT"; "they realised the signals were sent on equipment using the internationally-agreed system used by newspapers for transmitting pictures." |
| Crate "圖片接收機 / PICTURE RECEIVER" | A newspaper lent the observatory a facsimile receiver | Science Museum Group https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8406873 | "a facsimile machine leant to Jodrell Bank by the Daily Express newspaper" |
| The telescope: a 76.2 m bowl on a circular track (called the Mark I in 1966) | Bowl diameter 76.2 m; the whole telescope turns on circular railway tracks; renamed the Lovell Telescope only in 1987 | jb.man.ac.uk: https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/aboutus/lovell/facts.html ; https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/aboutus/lovell/anatomy.html ; https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/aboutus/lovell/build.html | "Diameter of bowl 76.2 metres"; "The whole telescope rotates on circular railway tracks"; "in 1987, the Mark IA was renamed the Lovell Telescope" |
| The Moon: a 58 cm spherical station, four petals, the Sun at 7°, a horizon about 1.4 km away | Station 58 cm across, 99 kg; the four petals opened after about 250 s; the first panorama was taken with the Sun 7° up; the horizon 1.4 km away | NSSDCA (above) | "a spherical body with a diameter of 58 centimeters and a mass of 99 kg"; "After about 250 seconds the four petals … opened outward"; "with the Sun 7 degrees above the horizon"; "the horizon 1.4 km away from the spacecraft" |
| Verdict "柴郡版 · 比例靠猜 / ratio guessed", "比例錯了 / WRONG RATIO"; the stones stretched taller | The observatory did not know the aspect ratio, guessed it, and guessed wrong: the surface came out as jagged peaks | Paul Spudis, Scooping the Soviets, Air & Space (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/2022/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/scooping-the-soviets-16255658/ ; Grahn (above) | "they had to guess at the ratio of the horizontal to vertical dimensions of the image. They guessed wrong. The resulting image showed a jagged, rough peak-like surface"; "The difference in horizontal/vertical ratio was sometimes given as a factor 2 and sometimes as a factor 2.5." |
| "官方版 · 2 月 5 日 / Official · 5 Feb", "官方版 · 次日 / Official · next day", "早了一天 / ONE DAY EARLY" | Jodrell Bank published the (distorted) pictures first, on 4 February; the Soviet side presented correctly formatted pictures about a day later | RussianSpaceWeb https://www.russianspaceweb.com/luna9.html ; O'Brien (above) | "astronomers at Jodrell Bank … were the first to publish intercepted images from Luna-9 on February 4, though in distorted form. … Soviet scientists were able to present properly formatted images only a day later"; "The photographs were broadcast on British TV in the evening of Friday February 4th and published on the front page of the Daily Express on Saturday February 5th, before any official release from the Soviet Union." |
| The Moon rises in the east at the start and sets in the west at the end | Full Moon on 5 February 1966 at 15:58 UT: a nearly full Moon at dusk on 4 February, the full Moon setting in the west at dawn on 5 February | NASA GSFC Moon phases (Espenak) https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phases1901.html | "Feb 5 15:58" (Full Moon column, UT) |
Readings and choices
- "One day early" compares Jodrell Bank's first publication on 4 February with the Soviet version "a day later"; the stamp lands on the Jodrell Bank print, not on the newspaper. Only RussianSpaceWeb gives the Soviet timing ("a day later"); the date 5 February on the official print's tag is derived from it.
- Sources give the distortion as a factor of 2 or 2.5. The film writes no factor and draws the Jodrell Bank print stretched twice as tall (the direction follows "peak-like").
- On the evening of 4 February the Moon had already risen some way (moonrise 13:33 UT on 3 February, Grahn); the low Moon at the start is a choice of picture.
- The photographs on paper are rendered from the film's own 3D Moon; no Luna 9 photograph is used.