NASA has just released unearthed recordings of the moment that the Apollo 10 astronauts Eugene Cernan and John Young heard mysterious sounds while flying around the far side of the moon 47 years ago (May 1969).

The transcripts of astronauts’ strange experiences were first revealed in 2008, almost four decades after the incident. Now, the audio sound and the reaction of astronauts just being made public. So, why now? Probably because of a Science Channel show called “NASA’s Unexplained Files”.

A trailer for an upcoming episode discussed the “outer space music” and has the tone of a found-footage horror movie. It includes shaky footage of the vehicles, static-filled cutaways, anxiety-inducing music and sound effects, and a very alarmed-sounding narrator who refers to the whistling incident as “extremely unsettling.

Wrote space.com

That text from the transcript of their discussion released in 2008:

The incident was so rare that the mission team discussed whether or not to inform their superiors at NASA, out of fear that their suitability for future space travel is questioned.

The video of astronauts weird experience (clip from “NASA’s Unexplained Files” below)





So what was it? Unexplained? The origin of the weird sound is likely more scientific than sci-fi.

Radios in the two spacecraft [the lunar module and the command module] were interfering with each other,

NASA technician explained.

Michael Collins, pilot of Apollo 11 who flew by himself around the dark side of the moon, also remembered hearing strange sounds during that mission. He wrote in his book “Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys” that they didn’t spook him like they had the previous crew.

There is a strange noise in my headset now, an eerie woo-woo sound,

he wrote.

Had I not been warned about it, it would have scared the hell out of me (…) fortunately the radio technicians (rather than the UFO fans) had a ready explanation for it: it was interference between the LM’s and Command Module’s VHF radios.

However, some people still doubt NASA explanation. Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden:

Logic tells me that if there was something recorded on there, then there was something there.

To date, the origin of the noises mentioned in the Apollo 10 recordings remains a mystery.