【明報專訊】Three Apollo 10 astronauts heard some weird sounds when their spacecraft flew around the far side of the moon in 1969. Transcripts of the conversation between the astronauts were released in 2008. Though NASA claims the recordings have been available at the National Archives since the 1970s, they have recently drawn media attention.

When the astronauts Eugene Cernan, John Young and Thomas Stafford heard sounds from the radio on Apollo 10, they were out of radio contact with the Earth. The original recordings were recently played in an episode of NASA's Unexplained Files (《NASA未解檔案》) on the Science Channel.

In the recording, Cernan says to his colleagues, "You hear that? That whistling sound? Whoooooo." He describes the sound as "outer-space-type music". However, on 22 February this year, Cernan clarified to NASA that the incident was not exciting enough to have him take it seriously. "It was probably just radio interference," he said. To date, the source of the sound has remained a mystery. (source: Ming Pao, CNN, NASA, Mashable)

“ Bill: Can you hear that? ”

“ MoMo: I wonder what that is? ”

■Words

Apollo 10 阿波羅10號

astronaut 太空人

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

美國太空總署

■Quiz

Choose the correct answers.

(answers on next text)

1. In what year did Apollo 10 take place?

a. 2008

b. 1969

c. 2016

2. According to NASA, what did it release in the 1970s?

a. Transcripts of conversations between Apollo 10 astronauts

b. Recordings of conversations and sounds on Apollo 10

c. Online video clips of Apollo 10

3. Who described that weird sound as "outer-space-type music"?

a. Eugene Cernan

b. John Young

c. Thomas Stafford

4. Which of the following statements is correct?

a. The astronauts heard some radio interference.

b. When they turned on the radio on their spacecraft, outer-space-type music was played.

c. When the astronauts heard the sound, they were out of contact with the Earth.

■Glossary

spacecraft (n) 太空船

transcript (n) 抄本

whistling (adj) 像哨聲的

interference (n) 干擾