The sound of Saturns

[Evan Burton]

This really has nothing to do with the reality or otherwise of the Apollo missions, but I found it interesting and thought others might find it likewise.

From the collectSpace forum:

From my mother, I recently acquired my late-father's 30+ year old audio recordings of when our family watched the launches of Skylab (the last Saturn V), Skylab 2 (Saturn IB), and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (the last Saturn IB) from the VAB viewing site. Our Senator, Howard Baker of Tennessee got us the vehicle passes to pull in there in the family truckster, a 1967 Chevy Bel Air station wagon.

Dad recorded the launches using a Toshiba portable (mono) cassette recorder with a hand mike. For the ASTP recording, he switched from the mike to a patch cord into the local AM coverage. (Perhaps some of you Space Coast-ers can identify the local radio announcer during the ASTP recording?)

Linked below are low-fidelity WAV versions of the Skylab (Saturn V) and ASTP (Saturn IB) launch recordings, both from 3.5 miles away. I was eight years old for the Skylab shot and 10 for the ASTP, and can be heard in the background ("Wow!", "Aw man!", "It's burning a hole in the cloud!," etc.)

http://members.aol.com/josephholloway65/skylab1_lo_fi.wav

http://members.aol.com/josephholloway65/astp_lo_fi.wav

Though the recordings are not a patch on the actual audio, it does give you some idea what it must have been like to have been there.

[Dave Greer]

This really has nothing to do with the reality or otherwise of the Apollo missions, but I found it interesting and thought others might find it likewise.

From the collectSpace forum:

From my mother, I recently acquired my late-father's 30+ year old audio recordings of when our family watched the launches of Skylab (the last Saturn V), Skylab 2 (Saturn IB), and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (the last Saturn IB) from the VAB viewing site. Our Senator, Howard Baker of Tennessee got us the vehicle passes to pull in there in the family truckster, a 1967 Chevy Bel Air station wagon.

Dad recorded the launches using a Toshiba portable (mono) cassette recorder with a hand mike. For the ASTP recording, he switched from the mike to a patch cord into the local AM coverage. (Perhaps some of you Space Coast-ers can identify the local radio announcer during the ASTP recording?)

Linked below are low-fidelity WAV versions of the Skylab (Saturn V) and ASTP (Saturn IB) launch recordings, both from 3.5 miles away. I was eight years old for the Skylab shot and 10 for the ASTP, and can be heard in the background ("Wow!", "Aw man!", "It's burning a hole in the cloud!," etc.)

http://members.aol.com/josephholloway65/skylab1_lo_fi.wav

http://members.aol.com/josephholloway65/astp_lo_fi.wav

Though the recordings are not a patch on the actual audio, it does give you some idea what it must have been like to have been there.

A Saturn V launch being the loudest noise ever created (after nuclear explosions).

[Steve Ulman]

"It rattled the doors on the VAB!"

Nothing more needs to be said.