posted 02-06-2007 06:04 AM               

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

To me, the Saturn V sounded like thousands of repetitive thunderclaps. The air pressure from the soundwaves can be heard pounding Dad's chest when he gave "a rebel yell" (of sorts). The Saturn IB, of course, being 1/5 as powerful as the Saturn V, was more subdued. However, coming up off that pedestal or barstool was quite impressive, too.

I remember being very proud to have seen Deke's first and, unfortunately, only ride into the heavens.

Dad also references the Saturns "rattling the panels" on the VAB. This was absolutely true. The Skylab Saturn V also rattled my Dad's 5-band radio off the roof of the Chevy. Being a longtime Ham radio operator with great curiosity, he used that 5-band to monitor the LUT closeout crews. It was funny to hear the occasional cursing of those guys as they would try to muscle a stubborn access panel or door closed.

On the recordings, my Dad's Instamatic 126 slide camera can be heard clicking during the first seconds of launch. During the ASTP recording, an unknown lady from Alabama and her family were parked next to us. She can be heard saying, "I'd die if I was in that THING!," and "With our luck, it'll be us to mess up and not the Russians."

Dad quipped, "They must be burning Esso Extry." Interesting.

With the STS, it is more of a muffled thunder...still extremely impressive, but in no way as intense as the Saturn V was. I imagine that a 5 x RS-68 + 2 x SRB Ares V shot, however, will rattle the cages pretty well.

I will never forget being present for the last Saturn V and the last Apollo/Saturn...period. It seems like it happened only yesterday to me.

Enjoy, but be prepared for a little enthusiasm on the part of my late Pop.

8-year old Joe and Dad, KSC NASA bus tour, May 13, 1973.

[Edited by Joe Holloway (February 06, 2007).]

posted 02-06-2007 08:45 AM               

fantastic
thanks again joe

posted 02-06-2007 09:41 AM               

May 14, 1973 - One of Dad's Kodak Instamatic shots of Skylab I, the last Saturn V launch. Distance from pad was 3-1/2 miles (next to the VAB).

posted 02-06-2007 09:45 PM               

I was kind of sad though when your dad said "That's the last one, though. Maybe forever. No more Saturn V's."

I would have loved to have seen a Saturn V go!

posted 02-07-2007 06:11 AM               

Incidentally, this was recorded on Dad's 1972-vintage Toshiba AM/FM/Cassette player (mono, unfortunately).

And finally, yes, AstroBrian, Dad's remarks were sad, indeed. That was my mother asking him a question...perhaps, "Will there be anymore of these launches?," or something along those lines.

However, perhaps the saddest day for me, personally was knowing that ASTP would be the last Saturn/Apollo launch. In those days (July '75), the Shuttle was still a pipe dream. No one was certain if it would ever fly.

posted 02-08-2007 12:29 PM               

Since I don't have a large home stereo, I have been playing safety copies of Dad's tapes in my van on the way to work each day. With max bass and volume, it makes for a "surround sound"-effect and is quite realistic.

Incidentally, here is a link to Dad's recording of the Skylab 3 (or "2" on the patch) launch...Bean/Garriott/Lousma. We made the drive down to KSC for that shot in July 1973, having also seen Skylab 1 the previous May.

For this launch, Dad left the patch cord plugged in and only captured the sound of WRMF-AM radio announcer Bob ??????.

posted 02-15-2007 03:28 PM            

Your post brings back fond memories of what is certainly one of my most memorable days. I was with you there on May 14, 1973 in front of the VAB to watch the last Saturn V liftoff. And I also taped the awesome sound of the Saturn V's roar--we had a little portable cassette tape recorder that we placed on the Crawler track in front of us. We placed a towel under it, as we suspected the concussion from the Saturn might bounce it up and down on the river rock surface of the track--and judging from the force of the sound, I'm confident that's exactly what would have happened!

I also had a little Kodak Instamatic camera and my liftoff photos look much like your's. I suspect if you could blow your photo up enough, I might be in it. My friend Phil and I were at the edge of the Crawler track, next to a man named Bill Rademakers, as I recall. I think he was from New York and had worked on both the LEM and on Skylab and it was interesting to hear his stories as we awaited the launch.

My overriding memory of the launch itself is, ironically, more of the sound than the visual aspects. That is partly because the Saturn quickly vanished into that low cloud deck, thus depriving us of the sight of it climbing out and staging. Its disappearence into the low clouds was unexpected to me and I regret to this day that I took pictures of it lifting off instead of just watching it for those precious few seconds it was visible.

But the sound! It stayed with us for well over a full minute and at its peak, you could barely hear the person next to you. You could feel it beating on your chest. I'm told the F-1 engine had a unique low frequency component to it and that's what rattled your ribcage--as well as those VAB doors! Someone described the sound as stacatto popping and that's pretty accurate, except "popping" doesn't quite convey the awesomeness of the sound. Awesome in the literal sense of the word.

We were disappointed that the Saturn 1B launch scheduled for the next day was cancelled, but as it turned out, that was the only remaining Saturn launch I missed. I went back in July and November for the second and third Skylab launches and finally in July 1975 returned for the last time to that now familiar spot of lawn in front of the VAB for ASTP and the last Saturn.

The July launch was also a cloudy (and foggy as well) morning, and again, the Saturn disappeared quickly, although the low clouds magnified the sound of the engines, it seemed. But that November and in July 1975, we finally lucked out with clear skies both times and saw, not only the launch, but the climbout and staging--very impressive. Both times, when the launch vehicle reached a certain altitude, the exhaust suddenly condensed into a thick white contrail, then just as suddenly as it started, it abruptly ended. Very dramatic. Staging was this very impressive puff of smoke and you could see the first stage fall away.

They didn't (and still don't as far as I know) let visitors use that VAB viewing area for Shuttle launches. I remember being told by someone that NASA figured the exhaust from the SRBs might drift into that area--not good for visitors. Indeed, I remember many a car covered with a tarp over at the nearby Press Site during the early Shuttle launches to protect them from the SRB fallout. That's a shame as I miss that beautiful lawn, the view of the VAB behind you and Pad 39 right there in front of you, a scant three to three and a half miles diastant--plenty close to get a full view of those magnificant Saturns as they roared skyward.

If the Ares 1 and Ares V ever roar off Pad 39, I hope NASA will let me again view them from the VAB viewing site. That would make me very happy.

posted 02-15-2007 11:34 PM               

As a low-fidelity "bonus," check out the following NBC News/Gulf Oil space coverage themes as recovered from Dad's audio cassettes of the Apollo 16 and Skylab 2 missions:

http://four.fsphost.com/newfrontier/gulf_oil_apollo.wav

http://four.fsphost.com/newfrontier/gulf_oil_skylab.wav

This stuff was ORCHESTRAL! NBC and Gulf must have laid out some big cash for these arrangements and performances.

Ah, yes...those WERE the good ol' days of the space program.

[Edited by Joe Holloway (February 15, 2007).]

posted 02-18-2007 09:18 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joe Holloway:
tfrielin, I'm glad to have linked up with someone else who was there that day! Your recollections dovetail with mine, for certain.

As a low-fidelity "bonus," check out the following NBC News/Gulf Oil space coverage themes as recovered from Dad's audio cassettes of the Apollo 16 and Skylab 2 missions:

http://four.fsphost.com/newfrontier/gulf_oil_apollo.wav

http://four.fsphost.com/newfrontier/gulf_oil_skylab.wav

This stuff was ORCHESTRAL! NBC and Gulf must have laid out some big cash for these arrangements and performances.

Ah, yes...those WERE the good ol' days of the space program.

[Edited by Joe Holloway (February 15, 2007).]

[Edited by Joe Holloway (February 15, 2007).]

---

This discussion has reminded me that in addition to the Skylab 1 launch audio cassette, I also have the second manned Skylab launch that I taped. I didn't tape ASTP, but the fellow next to me did--a guy named Brent Houston, as I recall, and he made me a copy that I still have.

The other Apollo tapes I have were all taped off of radio or TV and they are the launch of Apollo 14. This is a great tape, as Alan Shepard does a great job calling out abort modes and other calls on the way to orbit--he obviously was going to relish every minute of the experience and it comes through on the tape, unlike some of the more taciturn crews who said little on ascent.

I also have Apollo 14's lunar landing, taped off of the NBC radio network (WAPI AM, the Birmingham, AL affiliate). You may recall that on that landing the LEM's landing radar didn't come on when it was supposed to, causing a potential abort condition. Finally, Houston tells the crew to "cycle the landing radar breaker" and it comes on finally. Ed Mitchell, says, "boy that was close" and the clueless radio comentator takes the comment to mean they flew over a lunar mountain close, completely missing the drama of the near abort he just heard but didn't understand.

Also have some Apollo 15 on tape as well.

They were all taped off of NBC radio, who in my opinion had superior coverage of Apollo. Walter Cronkite and CBS got all the glory on space coverage in the Apollo days, but for my money, NBC's Frank McGee was the best--he realy knew his stuff and conveyed it all in a relaxed, folksy manner. Too bad we no longer see his like on TV and radio these days.

And too bad the NBC Rado Network no longer exists-it had a great news department that provided superior coverage of the space missions but also had that great weekend program, Monitor.

Well, anyway, I need to find a way to get all these cassette tpaes burned onto a CD before they completely deteorite. When I can find someone to do that, I will be happy to post them on this list.

posted 02-19-2007 05:04 AM               

You know, it tells a lot about our news media when most of the "Big Three" network news outlets will only cover the Shuttle launches through SRB sep. Further, they only started doing that again after the Challenger accident.

As much as I hate to say it, CNN, with O'Brien and Zarella, offers the best television coverage of the STS program.

Regarding the audio cassettes, I have pretty extensive network coverage (radio and TV) of the following from my Dad's inventory:

Apollo 16/Apollo17/Skylab 1-4/ASTP/Early Shuttles

I, too, hope to transfer them to CD.

Take care!

posted 02-19-2007 07:50 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joe Holloway:
tfrielin, regarding NBC News, you are absolutely right. Frank McGhee did an outstanding job on the coverage. I remember him well, as I also remember the TODAY Show's news anchor, Frank Blair. Both gentlemen were real class acts. Also prominent in the Skylab/ASTP days was Jim Hartz...remember him? From JSC, he teamed with Shepard on NBC coverage.

You know, it tells a lot about our news media when most of the "Big Three" network news outlets will only cover the Shuttle launches through SRB sep. Further, they only started doing that again after the Challenger accident.

As much as I hate to say it, CNN, with O'Brien and Zarella, offers the best television coverage of the STS program.

Regarding the audio cassettes, I have pretty extensive network coverage (radio and TV) of the following from my Dad's inventory:

Apollo 16/Apollo17/Skylab 1-4/ASTP/Early Shuttles

I, too, hope to transfer them to CD.

Take care!

[Edited by Joe Holloway (February 19, 2007).]

---

Yes, I am remiss in failing to mention Jim Hartz, who teamed with Frank McGee for a lot of the Apollo coverage on NBC, until McGee's untimely death in 1974. Hartz and McGee were a great team. Not only did they know the technical aspects of Apollo, I always thought you could discern a real camradiere between them. You really appreicated their excellent coverage when you saw John Chancellor's coverage--he just didn't know what he was talking about most of the time.

Going back to the Gemini days, I have to mention Peter Hackes as another good NBC space reporter. I still remember his explaining the concept of rendezvous using little models of a Gemini capsule and and Agena mounted on a model train set. Really. They had the train tracks set up to simulate orbits and ran the train/Gemini/agena models around and around until they effected a "rendezvous" and docking. It's not as hokey as it sounds--it was actually a pretty effective demonstration. At least this ten year old viewer at the time thought so.