It took five decades for NASA to release the ‘space music’
Astronauts from two separate lunar missions reported hearing unsettling music that frightened them.
If you’ve ever been curious about the sounds of space, a few astronauts have claimed to perceive some cosmic tunes while traveling to the moon.
However, this raises a significant question, given that sound waves cannot propagate in a vacuum, as space lacks the air needed to carry them or produce what could be considered music.
The Apollo 10 crew was the first to experience these not-so-pleasing sounds (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images).
This issue is so critical that astronauts can’t rely solely on their ears to communicate effectively during spacewalks. Instead, they use radio signals, though they can converse normally inside their pressurized spacecraft.
So how did two different astronaut crews report hearing music in space?
NASA astronauts on both the Apollo 10 and Apollo 11 missions claimed they heard peculiar ‘space music’ during their lunar journeys.
There are no sound waves in space (Getty Images)
Intially, the Apollo 10 astronauts—Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan—detected the unusual sounds in May 1969, during a rehearsal for the first human landing on the moon.
NASA delayed releasing what they encountered for 50 years, but it did not prevent them from forebodingly cautioning the Apollo 11 crew about the sounds when they launched months later.
For Apollo 10, the eerie noise began once the lunar module detached from the command module, as they planned to orbit the moon for over ten hours.
After circling the moon, they intended to return to the landing module.
Yet, while they were on the moon’s far side, away from mission control, the trio heard a distinct ‘whistling’ sound, clearly not a catchy tune or number one hit.
In footage from the shuttle, Cernan asked the others: “Can you hear that? That whistling noise?”
Stafford responded, “Yes,” prompting Cernan to mimic the sound with, “Whooooo!”
Young then asked, “Did you hear that whistling too?”
Cernan answered, “Yeah. Sounds like, you know, outer-space-type music.”
Apollo 11 astronauts said they were glad they were briefed about the music (Getty Images)
The footage was subsequently archived in a NASA database for decades.
When Apollo 11 was gearing up for launch, NASA allegedly warned the crew to prepare for the ‘space music’ as well.
Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong experienced the same peculiar sounds when their lunar module separated from the command module, and it ceased once they landed on the moon.
In his book, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys, Collins later recounted, “There is a strange noise in my headset now, an eerie woo-woo sound.”
He added, “Had I not been forewarned, it would have terrified me.”
NASA has since clarified that these noises were a result of interference between the VHF radios of the lunar and command modules.
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Encyclopaedia Britannica
