NASA is currently in the midst of preparing for its upcoming mission to the Moon under the Artemis program, following the successful Apollo space program decades before. From the many stories behind the scenes during the Apollo program, one particular incident in the Apollo 10 mission was revealed to have been classified for years.
The “NASA’s Unexplained Files” program reveals one particular unusual incident that occurred among the astronauts of the Apollo 10 mission, which was launched as a “dress rehearsal” to prepare for the historic Apollo 11 mission. The astronauts were orbiting the Moon when at one point, the spacecraft lost all contact with Earth for an hour as it reached the far side. They would only reemerge an hour later unharmed. This incident was recorded and classified for decades until it was declassified and in 2008, the recordings surfaced and revealed the disturbing incident in the Apollo 11 mission’s predecessor.
Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden shared why the incident was not reported at the time, saying that NASA thought that it was in the best interest of the public. “It’s about an hour on the backside of the Moon away from Earth where you lose radio contact. They record everything that goes on during the orbit of the backside of the Moon, then you a do a data dump when you come around,” explained Worden. “Houston, or Mission Control, can see what happens when you are around the backside.”
As for what was in the tapes, the program revealed that the recordings were of strange music from the radio. The astronauts would then be heard as saying that this was unlike anything they have ever heard.
Fast forward to Apollo 17, where it would be the last mission under the space program, and astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan would be among the last people to land on the lunar surface for a while. Previously, another strange occurrence had been revealed on the Moon, as photos taken by the Reconnaissance Orbiter back in 2009 showed something unusual, which was a set of footprints that were neither Schmitt’s or Cernan’s.
The footprints were found miles away from their landing spot. Upon closer observation, the footprints also appeared to look as if someone had been walking on the Moon before the last astronauts.


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