For the Apollo 10 astronauts, the 1969 mission around the moon was their chance to see what few people ever have: the dark side of the moon.
More than 40 years later, it’s not what the astronauts saw but recordings of what they heard that are making headlines.
Listen to the recordings here: http://bit.ly/1QecGhG.
When the Apollo crew entered lunar orbit, they were out of radio contact with Earth for about an hour. During that time, NASA could neither see nor hear the spacecraft, and vice versa.
That part of the journey was supposed to be radio silent, but the dark side was far from quiet.
Recently found recordings contain “strange, otherworldly music coming through the Apollo module’s radio.” That’s according to the upcoming Science Channel series, “NASA’s Unexplained Files” which airs Tuesday.
Astronauts apparently heard whistling sounds described as “outer spacey” and “eerie,” and can be heard on the transcript discussing the noises. They decided against telling Mission Control about the experience, choosing to stay quiet for almost four decades.
Some reports state that transcripts of the Apollo 10 Mission were kept classified until 2008. However, a tweet sent by the NASA History Office says that the mission was never classified, but that before the Internet, there was just no way to get them public.
#Apollo10 audio & transcripts were not classified, just no way to get them to the public before the internet. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/pEAyaDbklz
— NASA History Office (@NASAhistory) February 22, 2016
Many theories exist as to what the “music” might have been. Something as simple as radio interference or charged particles from Saturn’s rings. Or perhaps something even more out of this world, dare we say, alien?
Read the transcripts here: http://go.nasa.gov/1RZBbR0.