The Science Channel series NASA’s Unexplained Files is airing an episode on a mysterious incident from the 1969 Apollo 10 mission. Declassified in 2008, NASA tapes reveal the three-man crew heard weird “outer space-type music” while orbiting the dark side of the moon. For the entire hour, the astronauts discuss and describe the music, even debating whether to inform NASA command.
“It’s unbelievable! You know?”
“Shall we tell them about it?”
“I don’t know. We ought to think about it.”
It’s a genuine mystery that remains unsolved. For one thing, Apollo 10 was out of radio contact while orbiting the far side of the moon, so the music couldn’t have been a transmission from Earth. Also, the moon has no magnetic field or atmosphere that could interfere with their radio. Unfortunately, actual recording of the strange music isn’t publicly available.
Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden keeps an open-mind on the mystery:
“The Apollo 10 crew was very used to the kind of noise that they should be hearing. Logic tells me that if there was something recorded on there, then there was something there. NASA would withhold information from the public if they thought it was in the public’s best interest.”
However, there’s one explanation that is highly likely. Could the Apollo 10 crew have heard the sounds of Jupiter? All of the planets emit radio waves that can be reproduced as sound. NASA’s Voyager and Cassini spacecraft have recorded the ‘music of the spheres’, eerie hums and whistles reminiscent of the “outer space-type music” described aboard Apollo 10. It’s very likely, but until we hear what the astronauts actually heard, there’s no way to know. It may as well be Hitler playing Wagner on the moon.
Previously, on the Daily Grail:
