Apollo 10 Whining Sound Was Radio Interference, Not Outer Space Music

Summary: The strange Apollo 10 whining sound heard by three astronauts May 22, 1969, likely was radio interference, not outer space music.

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy in ascent stage as viewed Thursday, May 22, 1969, from Command Module Charlie Brown prior to docking in lunar orbit; lunar surface in background; red-blue diagonal line is spacecraft window; NASA ID AS10-34-5112: NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

An episode of “NASA’s Unexplained Files” airing Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, on the Science Channel revisits the strange Apollo 10 whining sound heard by the mission’s three-member crew May 22, 1969, in their dress rehearsal for the subsequently successful Apollo 11 moon landing.

After insertion of the Apollo 10 spacecraft into lunar orbit, John W. Young remains as pilot in Charlie Brown, the command module. Commander Thomas P. Stafford and pilot Eugene "Gene" Cernan undock and descend to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 kilometers) of the moon’s surface via Snoopy, the mission’s lunar module.

After Snoopy passes over the far side of the moon's Mendeleev Crater, also known as Basin IX, Stafford and Cernan have an exchange about brownies.

Six seconds later Cernan says: “That music even sounds outer-spacey, doesn’t it? You hear that? That whistling sound?”

Stafford replies, “Yes.”

Cernan imitates: “Whooooooooooo.”

Then Young asks from his orbital perch in command module Charlie Brown: “Did you hear that whistling sound, too?”

Cernan responds: “Yeah. Sounds like, you know, outer-space-type music.”

Young ponders: “I wonder what it is.”

Four minutes and 40 seconds later, after Cernan takes a photograph of the back side of the moon's Crater 216, now known as Crater Green, for geologist-astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, he comments about the Apollo 10 whining sound: “Boy, that sure is weird music.”

Young says from Charlie Brown: “We’re going to have to find out about that. Nobody will believe us.”

Cernan responds: “No. It’s a whistling, you know, like an outer space-type thing.”

Young suggests: “Probably due to the VHF ranging, I’d guess.”

Cernan says: “Yes. I wouldn’t believe there’s anyone out there.”

On Monday, Feb. 22, NASA responds in a Tumblr post to interpretations of the Apollo 10 whining sound and to the supposedly decades-long non-availability of Apollo 10 mission audiotapes and transcripts. NASA explains that, despite a confidential listing at the height of the Space Race in 1969, Apollo 10 mission audiotapes and transcripts have been available to the public since 1973.

NASA explains the recent availability of Apollo 10 mission details as due to technological advances:  “Since the Internet did not exist in the Apollo era, we have only recently provided digital files for some of those earlier missions. The Apollo 10 audio clips were uploaded in 2012, but the mission’s audio recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970s.”

NASA’s Tumblr post includes a statement made by Apollo 10 lunar module pilot Gene Cernan to NASA on the posting date: “I don’t remember that incident exciting me enough to take it seriously. It was probably just radio interference. Had we thought it was something other than that we would have briefed everyone after the flight. We never gave it another thought.”

An explanation that is less eerie than the suggestion of NASA's deliberate withholding of the Apollo 10 whining sound from the public identifies radio interference as the cause of the “outer-space-type music.”  The VHF (very high frequency) rangefinder that enables the command and lunar modules to keep track of each other creates frequency-sweeping interference that falls within the human hearing range.

Nevertheless, Apollo 15 astronaut Alfred “Al” Worden awaits another explanation for the Apollo 10 whining sound. “I suspect there’s a very very clear cause of what they heard on Apollo 10 which maybe we haven’t uncovered yet. I just think we don’t understand it,” Worden tells “NASA’s Unexplained Files.”

(left to right) Apollo 10's Lunar Module pilot, Eugene A. Cernan; Commander, Thomas P. Stafford; and Command Module pilot John W. Young at Kennedy Space Center; Thursday, April 3, 1969: NASA History Office @NASAhistory, via Twitter Feb. 22, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy in ascent stage as viewed Thursday, May 22, 1969, from Command Module Charlie Brown prior to docking in lunar orbit; lunar surface in background; red-blue diagonal line is spacecraft window; NASA ID AS10-34-5112: NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_10_Lunar_Module.jpg

(left to right) Apollo 10's Lunar Module pilot, Eugene A. Cernan; Commander, Thomas P. Stafford; and Command Module pilot John W. Young at Kennedy Space CenterThursday, April 3, 1969: NASA History Office @NASAhistory, via Twitter Feb. 22, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/701772182834249728

For further information:

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Available @ http://www.space.com/32007-alien-moon-music-apollo-10-explained.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side's Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/jettisoned-lm-snoopy-descent-stage.html

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Available @ https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/701772182834249728

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Available @ https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/701772434270191618

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VideoFromSpace. "Apollo 10's Mysterious 'Moon Music' Was Radio Interference." YouTube. Feb. 22, 2016.
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