The Boniecki Tapes
On the day of the first lunar landing and EVA, Dwight Steven-Boniecki’s Dad, Bugomil Boniecki, watched and listened in his home in the Sydney suburb of Carlingford. He used his reel to reel audio tape recorder to preserve some of the radio and TV coverage of Apollo 11.
Here are some highlights from his tape, which was rediscovered by Dwight in early 2005.
These tapes capture some of the incredible excitement and anticipation of that day. Dwight’s Dad was obviously aware he was recording history – and he has added his own time markers to the tapes (listen for them).
Another very nice feature of these recordings (especially “A11_1_15_MESA_TV_on.mp3”) is that you can hear Dwight’s family reacting with wonder and excitement at what they were seeing as Neil Armstrong came down the ladder.
Lastly, it is obvious in some of the files that, with everyone else, the ABC’s commentators (with the exception of Bob Leslie) were having trouble working out exactly what was happening.
With thanks to Dwight Steven-Boniecki.
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Dwight Steven-Boniecki with Buzz Aldrin in 2005. |
These short mp3 files can be downloaded from the links below. To save these files to your hard disk –
Windows users: right click on each link,
Mac users: control click and “Save As”...
A11_1_01_intro_part.mp3 52 sec / 112kb |
| Bugomil Boniecki tells us that it is Monday 21st July 1969. We then hear the start of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s radio news bulletin – most probably the main bulletin which was broadcast at 7:45am on 2BL in Sydney. Rod McNeill is the Newsreader. |
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A11_1_02_AustTV.mp3
1 min 49 sec / 232kb |
| Bob Leslie (the first Station Director of Tidbinbilla, and in 1969 the head of the Australian Space Office) explains that the EVA has been brought forward. |
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A11_1_03_HSK_will_view.mp3 2 min 11 sec / 280kb |
| Recorded just after 8:00am. ABC Science unit members Dr. Peter Pockley and Michael Daley, along with Bob Leslie. The EVA will be early – and if it is around 11:00am, Honeysuckle Creek, but not Parkes, will see it. |
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Bob_Leslie_A11.mp3 38 sec / 156kb |
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Bob Leslie points out that Australian TV will probably be coming from Australian tracking stations. (He was right. Except for a few moments of Goldstone’s pictures at the start, Australian viewers only saw video from Honeysuckle and then Parkes – both coming from a split to the ABC from Sydney Video in the Paddington OTC exchange.) |
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A11_1_06_TV_test.mp3 54 sec / 116kb |
| The TV is turned on, while still in the MESA, to make sure all is working. This appears to have been recorded off air from TCN-9 television in Sydney. Newsreader Brian Bury gives the commentary. |
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A11_1_11_Brian_Bury.mp3 2 min 19 sec / 288kb |
| A wonderful announcement from Brian Bury – in a day when live satellite TV was rare, viewers could now see Houston – with the prospect of television from the Moon only minutes away. |
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A11_1_15_MESA_TV_on.mp3 6 min 33 sec / 812kb |
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“Standing by for your TV.” Hear the family’s reaction from 1'10". Even though the picture was very dark, there was someone coming down that ladder! ABC Newsreader Martin Royal joins the commentary team. The radio commentators were having a hard time working out exactly what was going on. Bugomil Boniecki adds a time marker at 4'41". |
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A11_1_19_Parkes_up.mp3 3 min 50 sec / 476kb |
| As Aldrin prepares to join Armstrong on the surface, it is noted that Parkes should have acquired by now. (Indeed they have – Sydney Video and then Houston TV have just switched to them.) The audio is a mix of ABC Radio, The Voice of America’s Rhett Turner, and the family enthralled by what they are seeing. |
To save these files to your hard disk –
Windows users: right click on each link,
Mac users: control click and “Save As”...
Apollo 11 Re-enters the Earth’s Atmosphere
– Friday July 25 1969
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A11_3_07_Capt_Brown1.mp3 2 min 46sec / 304kb |
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(See this newspaper clipping from the Sydney Sun Herald newspaper, page 24, Sunday 27 July 1969, for the background.) |
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A11_3_09_blackout.mp3
2 min 30 sec / 232kb |
| Qantas 707 Captain Frank Brown describes his view of the Command and Service Modules as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. During blackout, there is no communications with the spacecraft – and it is still some time before the ARIA (Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft) have visual contact. |
As
the Apollo 11 Command Module nears re-entry, ABC Radio waits to hear
a live report from Qantas 707 Captain Frank Brown, flying in
darkness over the Gilbert and Ellis Islands.