Rare HD Footage of Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-115 (2006) — NASA/ABC Broadcast Demo Transfer

Long ago I digitized a batch of original Panasonic high-definition demo tapes supplied by NASA during the early HD broadcast era. One of the clips turned out to be a clean HD reel from Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-115 (2006), including crew prep, pad shots, and launch footage.

Notably, several frames carry an ABC News watermark, which strongly suggests this material was captured or assembled in cooperation with ABC’s embedded coverage of STS-115. ABC was deeply involved in shuttle-era launch coverage during the Return to Flight period, and this reel appears to have been used to demonstrate real-world HD broadcast workflows, not just internal NASA documentation.

The footage includes:

Crew suit-up and pre-launch prep
Human-interest moments (crew walkout, morale shots)
Pad and ascent footage of Atlantis
HD material that differs from the more commonly circulated NASA SD releases

STS-115 is historically significant as the first full ISS truss construction mission after Return to Flight, delivering the P3/P4 truss and solar arrays and marking NASA’s return to large-scale ISS assembly operations.

What makes this clip unusual is its source and format:

Derived from a Panasonic broadcast HD demo tape
Likely assembled using network-quality footage rather than raw mission cameras
Digitized directly via HD RGB from the original tape (no AI upscaling)

If anyone here remembers ABC’s HD coverage of STS-115 or has insight into how NASA and broadcast networks collaborated on these early HD demo reels, I’d love to hear more.

The ABC watermark was present on the original tape itself — I didn’t add it — which suggests this reel may have been used as a joint NASA/broadcast demonstration of HD acquisition during the Return to Flight era.