Apollo 16 - External Noises

[Tsuki]

Source: https://youtu.be/w5O43FkzYZc


The argument is that because there is no oxygen on the moon for sound vibration to travel through, the apparent external sounds (sounds which are claimed to have originated outside the EVA Suit) suggest that the moon landings were faked in an oxygen rich environment.

Firstly, I will give as much information as I can. This is all, of course, from the Apollo 16 mission.

The clips in the video that (allegedly) show external noises:
0:22 - clip not given (explained by the vibration of the lunar rock travelling the suit into the microphone)

0:27 - clip not given (the first sound is explained by vibration but there seems to be a second stray sound)

0:32 - clip not given (currently no explanation as far as I’m concerned)

0:43 - clip a16v.1455424 (explained again by vibrations traveling through the suit)

1:05 - clip a16v.1431336 (no current explanation)

1:08 - clip a16v.1431336 (likely explained yet again by vibrations of the astronaut opening the lid, but I’m unsure how much noise it would make)

1:12 - clip a16v.1655407 (the noise seems to happen after it should when the astronaut isn’t touching it)

1:16 - clip a16v.1655407 (explained by the vibration of closing the lid gets through the suit into the EVA suit)

1:21 - clip a16v.1443610 (explained by vibrations entering the suit)

1:26 - clip a16v.1253420 (explained by the astronaut coming in contact with the rover which would cause audible vibrations)

1:33 - clip a16v.1242320 (explained by the astronaut noticeably coming in contact with the rover)

1:40 - clip a16v.1244215 (explained by the other astronaut off camera coming in contact with the camera)

1:44 - clip a16v.1684045 (no current explanation)

1:47 - clip a16v.1684045 (no current explanation)

1:54 - clip a16v.1213017 (explained by the astronaut stepping around which brings vibrations)

1:58 - clip a16v.1464821 (the sound occurs because vibrations are created when the astronaut is hitting something with a rod multiple times)

Everything beyond this point is explainable by the fact that the vibrations travelled through the EVA suit and into the microphone attached to their Snoopy Cap.

I’m looking to discuss the seemingly unexplained sounds and come to a conclusion. That is my goal here.

I should note that there are many other ways of knowing they’re really in a airless environment. Take for example the way the dust behaves, the amount of time the flags wave (the flag always waves for known reasons of course), the hammer and feather experiment, the bag thrown, etc.
Though, this may not be so relevant to this specific argument.

To clear things up, I do know that the Apollo missions were entirely authentic. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m just attempting to debunk their claims. But I can’t do it alone, admittedly. I’ve been trying to debunk this alone for months with no luck.

 

[deirdre]

I’m just attempting to debunk their claims. But I can’t do it alone, admittedly. I’ve been trying to debunk this alone for months with no luck.

did you first check to see if the sounds were real?

i just checked two of your sounds on the original footages, which is alot louder -sound wise -and i dont hear the sounds in your video at all. the library is here https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a16/video16.html and the file numbers are numerical in order.
the first clip a16v.1244215 the clip is located at timestamp approx 3min20secs
the second clip i show here a16v.1655407 is at timestamp approx 1min28

1:40 - clip a16v.1244215 (explained by the other astronaut off camera coming in contact with the camera)

1:12 - clip a16v.1655407 (the noise seems to happen after it should when the astronaut isn’t touching it)

 

[deirdre]

0:43 - clip a16v.1455424 (explained again by vibrations traveling through the suit)

this clip -on the original- timestamp 0:07 i hear a sound but it sounds like his spacesuit crinkling..doesnt really sound sharp like a rock.

 

[Tsuki]

Oh yes, I had forgotten to mention the Lunar Viseo Library! I knew about it, but I was unable to get the clips working on my devices.
If only I had the ability, that would be the 1st thing I would do. Thank you for looking though!

If it turns out that none of the sounds were real and the conspiracy theorists were BS-ing me, I’m gonna laugh at myself. （╹◡╹）

I’ve heard that many of the conspiracy theorists often fake their own evidence to make their theories more believable. Ain’t that odd?

 

[deirdre]

the 1224215 clip he makes an exhale sound, that may be the so called rock drop (they are bags of dirt apparently not rocks) but he does the exhale after he picks up the bag.

the 1655407 clip i hear nothing but some faint mic moving sounds. dont hear anything like a lid closing.

and the 1455424 one, like i said sounds, to me, like his glove or suit arm moving. Unfortunately even if i had reisnstalled my cheap recording program after i last wiped my computer, my computer isnt very high tech so the sound wouldn't transfer well here. And i dont know how to make short gifs anyway that load easily here.. there are several space geek members though who can maybe upload the real clips for you.

Didnt check the rest of them, it's late here for me. I'm sure someone else will check the rest of the examples for you.

i had trouble getting the clips working at first too. had to refresh my computer to download the VLC player they recommend using at the top of the library page.

 

[deirdre]

I’ve heard that many of the conspiracy theorists often fake their own evidence to make their theories more believable.

i'm a bit suspicious about the dirtbag clip because the exhale doesnt line up with the supposed bag/rock drop, but the other two could be legitimate mistakes and once he amplified the sound (your link is a mirror copy according to the 'about' blurb) and added a bit of cognitive dissonance and maybe a few enhancement filters... could be honest mistakes.

Mostly i'm giving him alot of credit for giving us the video numbers. Most fakers dont do that and it would take days to track down those clips!!

 

[Hevach]

Sound can travel through solids, transmitting from the ground to suits or vehicles and then to enclosed air spaces within them.

 

[Alexandria Nick]

I've heard, from people that would know, that spacesuits are fairly noisy inside. There's lots of moving parts inside them and their bulk makes you bump into everything you possibly can. All of that generates noise that could be picked up on your mic.

Something else to keep in mind, and I'm in generalities without watching the videos or examining their actual sources, but the video and audio were recorded separately (rather than recorded, encoded, and stored/transmitted together like they are today). There's tons of sync issues in Apollo footage that is attributable to storage and transmission differences combined with being mated by humans later on. And that's how you get "1:12 - clip a16v.1655407 (the noise seems to happen after it should when the astronaut isn’t touching it)."

 

[deirdre]

There's tons of sync issues in Apollo footage that is attributable to storage and transmission differences combined with being mated by humans later on

do you have a source link that discusses this?

 

[Alexandria Nick]

do you have a source link that discusses this?

I'm sure someone actually wrote it down, but I've only heard it come out of someone's mouth and understand how it makes sense based on what I know of the actual equipment they had available.

The audio recorders and the video recorders were separate devices encoding their data separately. The portion of the tape that would normally have carried video (and the same for the transmission to Earth) was used for telemetry data. All of the missions recorded their audio using the same piece of equipment in the same physical format (a 1" reel to reel tape). The audio recorders were incorporated into the LM and CSM, so they were fixed hardware.

The video cameras used a variety of types of equipment and recording methods from mission to mission. The video cameras, being portable devices, were upgraded over the course of the program. The video wasn't getting recorded onto the same tape and therefore not in the same transmission as the audio and telemetry data. Oddly, I can't seem to find any reference to what type of equipment actually recorded the video before it was relayed to Earth. That data was transmitted in a completely different way, encoded in a non-standard way compared to normal video transmission of the time period.

That's not exactly a foolproof scheme for alignment, because this is now getting recorded on different pieces of equipment down on Earth and someone has to dub it all later. It isn't going to be perfect. They even had a bear of a time syncing up the timestamps on the written transcripts based on minor differences in the times listed on the recordings.

 

[deirdre]

Apparently some of the Apollo 12 astronauts discussed sound through their suits while on the moon. hammer sound is at 18 mins in audio clip provided in link. clear hammer sound. Much cearer than anything i heard in the OP video.

Commentary in italics must be of the guys watching the footage at a later time, looks like it's from the 1969 Technical Debrief but not sure where that audio is.

https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/a12.sharp.html

”133:03:08 Bean: Okay. In this kind of pack you could almost drive it without a hammer; but, if you’ll hand it (the hammer) to me, I’ll…

133:03:11 Conrad: Yeah, just a second.

133:03:14 Bean: I want to take a couple more shots (that is, photos) of this before we leave. (Pause) There. (Pause) Okay.

133:03:28 Conrad: Get it all the way in (and) I’ll get the pictures.

133:03:30 Bean: All right. (The sound of hammering is audible) It’s driving in real easy, Houston.

[Bean – “I didn’t know that (they could hear the hammering in Houston)!”]

[Conrad – “That’s neat!”]

[Bean – “Coming through my hand, I guess…”]

[Conrad – “Yeah, it’s coming through your hand and getting into the air in the suit and it’s transmitting all the way (to the microphones).”]

[Bean – “Isn’t that something.”]

[Jones – “Now, you had the Snoopy helmets on over your ears.”]

[Conrad – “Yeah, but the microphones are out here (in front of their lips). I never heard that before, either. You can hear you hammering just loud and clear.”]

[Bean – “I would have said it wasn’t possible.”]


Conrad - "The other guy can't hear it. Did you hear yourself hammering?"]

[Bean - "I don't remember. I was so concentrated...The problem with hammering is that...Well, I'm a good carpenter, but you can't come straight down (with your arm in the suit). That's why they made the hammer bigger and everybody used the side. You can't do a nice smooth swing. You get it going (straight down) and then the cable cuts in and moves it over. So you try to adjust your swing and then you miss. Lot of missing."]

Content from External Source

 

[Thomas lewis]

Sound can travel through solids, transmitting from the ground to suits or vehicles and then to enclosed air spaces within them.

Yes their are a few examples during the Apollo EVA's were hard banging, vibrations from impacts were transmitted to the sensitive microphones. If you were put a microphone to the lunar regolith and dropped a large rock, you would likely pickup that vibration in the microphone. The conspiracists assume the sound is emanating from within the vacuum of space, it is not.