Sounds from Space

 

Historical Sounds from famous Space Objects

In the following table you will find some really historical sound files from famous space objects. This page started when I received an audio cassette with some historical sound files from my friend Alois Ochojski DL3PD (+ April 2007). They were derived from a phono-card, which he had received in 1962 from the national broadcast service of CSSR. Alois was kind enough to record them to tape and I finally converted them to digital audio files. You can hear an introduction to these files read by Alois DL3PD by clicking on his picture on the right. The original comments are in Czech language. Please excuse the partially poor quality of the sound files. Keep in mind that most of the records are quite old.

Many thanks for the recordings to Alois Ochojski DL3PD, Roy Welch W0SL, Sven Grahn, Maik Hermenau, Jean-Louis Rault F6AGR, Dick Flagg AH6NM, Don P. Mitchell, Bill Chaikin KA8VIT and Dick Daniels W4PUJ.

Picture

Object name
#NORAD

Remarks

Launch
Date

Weight

Sputnik 1
Sputnik I
1957-001B
#00002 

This first man made satellite in space was launched by USSR into an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 240 km and an apogee of 965 km. The spherical satellite had a diameter of 58cm and carried 2 radio beacons transmitting on 20.005 MHz and 40.010 MHz. The batteries powering the transmitters had a lifetime of 3 weeks. Recording kindly provided by Alois DL3PD.

Oct 4th 1957

84 kg

This audio file was recorded by Roy W0SL in Dallas, Texas on October 7th, 1957 at 0457Z using a military surplus AN/FRR3A HF RTTY receiver tuned to 20.007 MHz. Thanks Roy for providing this recording.

This recording is from an unknown German ham-radio amateur. It was filtered and provided by Don P. Mitchell.

An unknown British SWL is commenting the reception of Sputnik 1 on October 11th 1957 at 10:58pm. The original source of this recording is unknown. The recording was kindly provided by Bill KA8VIT. (Please note that this recording is 5MB large).

Sputnik 2
Sputnik II
Physical lab
PS 2
1957-002A
#00003

Sputnik 2 was the first spaceship which brought an animal in space. The elliptical orbit had an apogee of 1770 km and an apogee of 320 km. The dog named Laika lived for one week and part of the downlink telemetry was her heartbeat. Like Sputnik 1 this satellite transmitted on 20.005 MHz and on 40.010 MHz. This recording was provided by Alois DL3PD.

Nov 3rd 1957

508 kg

In June 2010 I received from Dick W4PUJ
(ex WA4DGU) together with a number of other unique audio recordings enclosed recording of Sputnik II. Thanks Dick for providing this recording.

Explorer 1
Explorer I
1958-001A
#00004

Explorer 1 was America's first orbiting satellite launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida by an Army Jupiter C four stage rocket into an elliptical orbit with an perigee of 320 km  and an apogee of 2735 km. The cylindrical satellite was 1.5m long and had a diameter of 15cm. The transmissions of Explorer 1 on 108 MHz included information about the satellites temperature, cosmic rays and meteorites. The batteries lasted about 3 months. This recording was made by Roy W0SL in Dallas, Texas on February 11th, 1958 at 0100Z using a home-made VHF converter in front of a National NC-300 receiver. Thanks Roy !

Jan 31st 1958

14 kg

Another recording of Explorer I was kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.

Vanguard 1
Beta 2
1958-002B
#00005

This is the oldest man-made satellite which is still in orbit. It is expected to last about another 190 years before it finally decays. This spherical Navy test satellite has a diameter of 15cm and was launched by a Vanguard 3 stage rocket into an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 640 km and an apogee of 4020 km. The satellite had 2 power sources: the first transmitter operated from a mercury cell supply and had a life time of 3 weeks. Thanks to solar cells used to power the second transmitter it operated 6 years and 3 months. The output power of the transmitters was 100mW (on 108.0 MHz) and 50mW (on 108.3 MHz). The telemetry transmitted was the package temperature indicated by the difference between the two transmitter frequencies. Therefore, the recordings were made with the receiver Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO) turned on in order to produce an audible tone heard in the recordings. Thanks for the audio-file to Roy W0SL.

Mar 17th 1958

1.5 kg

This recording of Vanguard I was done while it was battery powered and kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.

This recording of Vanguard I was done while it was solar powered and kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.

This recording of Vanguard I was done after it was already 3 months in operation and kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.

This recording of Vanguard I was done after it was already 1 year in operation and kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.

Lunik I
Luna 1
Mechta
1959-012A
#00112

Luna 1 was the first of a series of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon. It actually landed on the Moon.

Jan 2nd 1959

361 kg

This recording of a Lunik probe was kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ. It is possibly from Lunik I but we are not sure. It could be also based on transmissions of Lunik II or Lunik III.

Space Ship Vostok with Sputnik 9
1961-008A
#00091

The Space Ship Vostok carried a dog named Chernuska in space. Recording provided by Alois DL3PD.

Mar 9th 1961

4700 kg

Russian Spaceship
Vostok 1
with
Jurij Gagarin
1961- 012A
#00103

The first man in space: Jurij Gagarin. Recording provided by Alois DL3PD.

Apr 12th 1961

4725 kg

Vinyl single made in USSR
"12-IV 1961 CCCP Gagarin" side 1 with Russian comments. Recording provided by Maik Hermenau.

Vinyl single made in USSR
"12-IV 1961 CCCP Gagarin" side 2 with German comments. Recording provided by Maik Hermenau.

Colorvox "Schallbildkarte"
"Reportage über den Weltraumflug Juri Gagarins". Recording provided by Maik Hermenau.

Report in German language about the phase between the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 and the first man in space Juri Gagarin. From a Schallfolie "Der Weg in den Kosmos" which was provided in the 60s by a Eastern German magazine called "Frösi". Recording provided by Maik Hermenau.

US Spaceship
Friendship 7
Mercury Atlas 6
with John Glenn
1962-003A
#00240

Report in German language about the first US astronaut John Glenn circulating in MA 6 (Mercury Atlas 6) the Earth 3 times. Heftbeilage der Hauszeitschrift "Die Brücke" Nr.2 vom Oktober 1962 der Pharmazeutischen Medizinischen Abteilung der Farbwerke Hoechst AG. Recording provided by Maik Hermenau.

Feb 20th 1962

1900 kg

Gemini-9
(crew: Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan)
1966-047A
#02191

This US mission faced some problems but nevertheless with a duration of more than 2 hours a new record for an EVA was established. Gemini-9 also tried to dock with ATDA, a test satellite. It returned to Earth on June 6th. Audio received on June 3rd 1966 by Dick Flagg (currently AH6NM) on 296.8 MHz at the University of Florida Student Satellite Tracking Station. Recording provided by Sven Grahn.

June 3rd 1966

3750 kg

Apollo 8

first manned mission to fly and orbit the Moon
(crew: William Anders, James Lovell, Frank Borman)

CSM-103
1968-118A
#03626

Originally Apollo 8 wasn't going to the Moon but was supposed to have a low-earth orbit to test the Lunar Module and Command Module. However, since the Lunar Module wasn't ready, NASA decided to change the mission objectives and send Apollo 8 to orbit the Moon 10 times. The crew William Anders, James Lovell and Frank Borman was retrained in record time for a completely new mission. They were the first three humans to see the dark side of the Moon and their voyage was the first ever to escape Earth's gravitational force and visit another celestial body.  On Christmas Eve 1968, when approaching lunar sunrise, the 3 crew members sent a famous broadcast message back to Earth when taking turns reading the first 10 verses from the book of Genesis. Audio courtesy of NASA (3MB).

Dec 21st 1968

28817 kg




Apollo 11

irst manned mission to land on the moon
(crew: Neil. A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Michael Collins)

Command & Service Module
CSM-107
1969-059A
#04039

Lunar Module
LM/EASEP
1969-059C
#04041

Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon. The LM (landing module) spacecraft transmitted at S-band with a carrier frequency of 2282.5 MHz both live television (FM modulated) as well as telemetry (on PM modulated sub-carriers). This communication system was collectively referred to as the Unified S-Band Communication System.

Jul 16th 1969

40894 kg

The audio file enclosed documents the successful launch sequence. Recorded on July 16th 1969.

The famous words of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, when he stepped on the moon. Recorded on July 20th 1969.

The second man to step on the moon was Edwin E. Aldrin. This video shows him climbing down the ladder. This video was received by Parkes Observatory in Australia. Video courtesy of NASA.

President Nixon talks with the Astronauts and wished for ".. peace and tranquility on the Earth." This video was received by Parkes Observatory in Australia. Video courtesy of NASA.

Vinyl single "First man on the moon" side 1 includes the speech of J.F.Kennedy announcing the plan to go to the moon. Record provided by Maik Hermenau.

Vinyl single "First man on the moon" side 2 includes the launch of Apollo 11 and landing of Eagle. Record provided by Maik Hermenau.

Part 1 of a report in German language about the first manned mission to the moon, Vinyl LP "Original Dokumente vom Weg zum Mond" war 1970 eine Beilageder Zeitschrift "Bunte Illustrierte". Record provided by Maik Hermenau (11 minutes).

Part 2 of a report in German language about the first manned mission to the moon, Vinyl LP "Original Dokumente vom Weg zum Mond" war 1970 eine Beilageder Zeitschrift "Bunte Illustrierte". Record provided by Maik Hermenau (15 minutes).

Apollo 13

aborted third manned mission to the moon (crew: James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr., Fred W. Haise, Jr. )

CSM-109
1970-029A
#04371

This mission to moon ended almost fatal. Due to an explosion of the oxygen tank in the service module the mission had to be aborted and luckily the crew returned safely on April 17th 1970. See here a short movie of the damaged service module when clicking on the picture to the right.
Famous words of Jack Swigert after the explosion of the tank: "Houston, we've had a problem here."

Apr 11th 1970

136077 kg

Soyuz-33
1979-029A
#11324

Launched to bring the "Saturn" crew N. N. Rukavishnikov (USSR) and G. I. Ivanov (Bulgaria) to the Space Station Salyut 6, Soyuz-33 failed to dock with Salyut 6 as there was a malfunction of the main engine during its final approach.
The "Proton" crew aboard Salyut 6 reported flames shooting sideways from the main engine, toward the backup engine, at the time of the shutdown. The docking was called off and the "Saturn" crew made ready to return to Earth.
Unfortunately also the backup engine had difficulties and as a result, Soyuz 33 made a steep ballistic reentry with acceleration up to 10G (98 m/s²). Listen to the crew reading the landing angles.
After the short mission of 2 days finally the "Saturn" crew arrived safely on earth.
Both audio files were recorded on April 11
th 1979 on 121.75 MHz by Sven Grahn.

Apr 10th 1979

6860 kg

STS-1
Columbia
1981-034A
#12399

German report about the first launch of a space shuttle: STS-1 Columbia which was broadcasted by Bayrischer Rundfunk. Record provided by Maik Hermenau.
You can find many more recordings from Spaceships like he Space Shuttle in the respective section of this website. 

Apr 12th 1981

81836 kg

MIR Space Station
1986-017A
#16609

The first crew to visit MIR were Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Soloviev. Their Soyuz T-15 spacecraft was launched on March 13th 1986 and they docked to MIR on March 14th. They stayed in space for 125 days and during that time even travelled from MIR to Salyut 6 and back before finally returning back to earth.
The first audio file was recorded by Sven Grahn on March 15th 1986 15:27 UTC on 121.75 MHz, apparently shortly after they entered MIR. Many thanks to Sven Grahn.
The second audio file was recorded the day after on March 16th 1986 14:14 UTC on 143.625 MHz also by Sven Grahn.

Feb 20th
1986 (core module)

140000 kg

Another way to use large space objects is to use them as passive reflectors. MIR indeed was large enough to scatter enough signal back to Earth. The audio file enclosed was recorded by Jean-Louis F6AGR on Feb. 21st 2001. He received CW (morse code) signals, which were transmitted on 144 MHz by F6ETI.
You can find many more recordings from Spaceships like MIR in the respective section of this website. 

International Space Station ISS
1998-067A
#25544 

The first crew of the ISS was the team of Commander William M. Shepherd, Soyuz Pilot Yuri P. Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev. They arrived with a Soyuz spacecraft on Nov. 2nd 2000 and stayed 136 days.
In the sound file enclosed Bill Shepherd is thanking the ground crews. Recorded shortly after arrival of the 1st crew on Nov. 2nd 2000 at 12:27 UTC on 143.625 MHz by Sven Grahn.
You can find many more recordings from Spaceships like ISS in the respective section of this website.

Nov 20th
1998
(Zarja module)

183283 kg

If you have further recordings from space objects please let me know. I will be happy to add them to my homepage. Many thanks in advance.

Vy 55 & 73 de Matthias DD1US               


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