Apollo 12 Audio Recorded at Honeysuckle Creek


 

Some Apollo 12 audio for your enjoyment – here are some clips digitised from 1/4-inch tapes recorded at Honeysuckle Creek.

(Some audio is via the other MSFN stations, and heard over the Network when Honeysuckle was not tracking.)

They are all encoded at 64kb/s from the original uncompressed transfers. They have also been speed-corrected, using Quindar tones as a reference.

These tapes were recorded by Honeysuckle’s Admin Officer Bernard Scrivener on a reel to reel machine in the Station Director’s office.

 

Bernard Scrivener at 112A

Bernard Scrivener in Station Director Tom Reid’s office during Apollo 8.

In front of him is the Western Electric 102C speaker connected to the 112A intercom station next to it. On the desk behind the telephone Bernard is using is the reel-to-reel tape recorder which made these recordings.

Photo from Goddard News, January 13 1969. Photo probably by Don Witten, Goddard PAO.

Preserved by Mike Dinn, scanned by Colin Mackellar.
102C speaker ID thanks to Frank Sullens.

 

At some point Rosemary Scrivener gave them to Mike Dinn. They were digitised by Colin Mackellar in November 2022.

Bernard Scrivener recorded these tapes (often adding voice anotations) to help him in his role as Honeysuckle’s media liason. Generally, they do not run continuously – you can easily hear where the recordings stop and start. In the table below I have separated them into recording sessions (each of which may have many breaks).

 

Tape 1 Track 1 – Apollo 12, November 1969.
Segment Notes
   
01

Launch.

Last 17 seconds of the terminal count, launch, first 5 minutes of flight, including the vehicle being hit by lightning and the call to select “SCE to AUX”.

Duration 5:00. (2.7MB)

02

Rev 1 through Carnarvon and Honeysuckle.

Duration 12:05. (6MB)

03

Rev 2 through Carnarvon.

Go for TLI. ARIA will pick up before Hawaii.

Duration 3:16. (1.8MB)

04

Trans Lunar Coast Day 1.

Honeysuckle is prime. After TD&E. Descriptions of the view of Earh and Moon. At 8:40, description of Australia.

Duration 22:28. (11MB)

05

Trans Lunar Coast Day 2.

Honeysuckle is prime. Duration 4:00. (2.3MB)

   
  More to be added as time permits.