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  Apollo Spacecraft seen and heard from Earth

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Author Topic:   Apollo Spacecraft seen and heard from Earth
holcombeyates
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Posts: 253
From: UK
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 05-17-2016 04:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for holcombeyates   Click Here to Email holcombeyates     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have read that Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 were seen in flight from Earth-based telescopes.

Apollo 8 was seen as a star circling the moon.

An observatory (and tv camera) on the roof of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston famously captured the loss of the first oxygen tank during Apollo 13's flight to the moon. Henry SF Cooper referred to it in the first chapter of his excellent book "13: The Flight that Failed."

On a separate note, I read a long time ago, that an amateur radio enthusiast was able to capture some of Apollo 14's transmissions from lunar orbit. Does anyone know any more about this or similar stories from that time?

Ian Limbrey
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Posts: 130
From: England
Registered: Nov 2012

posted 05-17-2016 06:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ian Limbrey   Click Here to Email Ian Limbrey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I posted about my sighting of Apollo 15 in lunar orbit the night before they landed using my 3 inch refractor telescope, which was focused on Mare Crisium and I saw a very sharp point of light which lasted no more than a couple of seconds and could only have been Apollo 15!

Buel
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Posts: 653
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 05-17-2016 07:08 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Buel   Click Here to Email Buel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've got an audio clip somewhere of a Ham radio enthusiast who claimed to have listened to some of the conversations between Aldrin and Armstrong while they were on the surface.

I'll try and dig it out...

holcombeyates
Member

Posts: 253
From: UK
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 05-17-2016 10:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for holcombeyates   Click Here to Email holcombeyates     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks — to have seen with your own eyes Apollo 15 orbit the moon is really something.

Be great to hear the audio clip.

I should add that the telescope tracking Apollo 13 was actually tracking the third stage on route to lunar impact, they also happened to pick up the oxygen tank loss of containment.

I know that the venting third stage from Apollo 8 was also picked up by a telescope in Hawaii.

Space Cadet Carl
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Posts: 225
From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 05-17-2016 11:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I seem to recall Apollo 8 being spotted by telescopes as it was heading outward toward the Moon. But as far as I know, none of the attempts to spot Apollo 8 in lunar orbit were successful. I distinctly remember CBS News trying to get a live television shot of Apollo 8 in lunar orbit on Christmas Eve night, about an hour or two after the famous "Genesis broadcast". But again, the attempt to see it did not work.

SkyMan1958
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Posts: 880
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 05-17-2016 12:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SkyMan1958   Click Here to Email SkyMan1958     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here's an article about telescopic tracking of Apollo spacecraft.

Buel
Member

Posts: 653
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 05-17-2016 04:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Buel   Click Here to Email Buel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Owen Garriott, Sputnik, Armstrong, Aldrin, what more do you want?

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