What In The World Is Up With Moon Music?

New findings have left scientists and conspiracy theorists wonder what in the world is up with moon music? It seems that there is more to know about the Apollo 10 mission to the dark side of the moon, the precursor to Apollo 11, the legendary quest that led to man landing on our only natural satellite.

• Apollo 10 orbited around the moon back in May 1969
• The crew on Apollo 10 established the record of distance from Earth, around 220,820 nautical miles away
• When the spacecraft ventured within 5,000 feet of the moon, radio communications were shut down for 60 minutes
• The new recordings unveiled by NASA’s Unexplained Files feature an odd whooshing sound during the one hour of silence
• Astronaut Eugene Cernan called it “weird music”

Back in May 1969, three astronauts ventured as far away from our planet than everyone ever has been. That record of 220,820 nautical miles away from Earth still stands to this day. It’s not hard to imagine that every slight anomaly would weigh heavily on the mind of Apollo 10’s crew members. A sound, a feeling, and sheer instinct that they have been trained to repress could express itself in unimaginable ways.

However, one particular detail seems to be rather believable in a new recording released by NASA.

When Apollo 10 entered within the moon’s orbit and reached within 5,000 feet of its surface, their communications with Earth went silent for 60 minutes. For a full hour, the craft no longer had radio communication available. That’s why astronauts Eugene Cernan, John Young, and Tom Stafford found it odd when they could hear noise.

The weird “outer spacey” music was more of a whooshing sound that could not be explained. It left the astronauts baffled. The sound was rather frightening, but it seems the astronauts stood strong in the face of such an odd occurrence when they were very far away from home and alone. There was no one to tell during that hour.

However, back in 2008, NASA released the transcripts from the mission, including the 60 minutes during which radio communications went silent. The astronauts mention the sounds and how “no one would believe them”, but it was only recently that the actual recording was made public.

The video including tidbits of the weird space music were showed on NASA’s Unexplained Files, shown on the Science Channel. While perhaps it’s a show known for overdramatizing every detail and delving deep into the ‘what ifs’, there are some interesting explanations that seem convincing.

For starters, the show suggests that the sounds might’ve been caused by charged particles interfering with the radio communication. Something similar happened to the Cassini spacecraft around Saturn. However, the unlike the planet, the moon has no atmosphere so these particles shouldn’t exist, so it still stands to question what caused the sounds.

On why the recordings were never revealed to the public before is also a question on the minds of some. Why now? It’s quite feasible to think that the astronauts were afraid of revealing this bit of information. It was the age when being a NASA crew member meant having the “right stuff” and many adopted a policy that implied a “lie to fly” belief. Both astronauts and pilots knew that even a small mistake and crack in their stoic behavior could lead to them being deemed unstable for flight.

A NASA technician still believes that the odd sounds, or space music, was caused by radio interference from within the actual spacecraft. However, conspiracy theorists attribute it to alien life making the sounds from around the galaxy. Though, if aliens made those sounds, perhaps we don’t really want to meet them.

 

Image source: blueyonder.co.uk