I knew about the memory, but an 8-track tape ? That is a surprise. But when you think of it, what else could you use for this in 1977.

What amazes me is the tape lasted almost 30 years. I knew tapes back then could last a while, 30 years being bombarded with cosmic rays ? inconceivable :)

A tape with eight tracks, yes. But not the audio cartridge format commonly known as "8-track"; that wouldn't have been suitable to the task. Here's a photo:

https://science.nasa.gov/image-detail/voyager-digital-record...

An old 1970's arcade game, Quiz Show, used an 8-track tape to store the questions and answers. There's a YouTube video about it, and audio dumps of the 8-track on archive.org I think.

What amazes me is the tape lasted almost 30 years

Yesterday I loaded a program on tape bought at Radio Shack in 1985 into my TRS-80.

That's 41 years ago.

I suspect the key is using commercial-grade recorders and thick tape.