Apollo Re-Transmission and White Noise

To commemorate the moon mission of Apollo 11 40 years ago, NASA has set up We Choose The Moon. They are playing the audio of the mission radio communications as they happened in real time. It's amazing to think back to those times when computers were still very small and lacking in power. The systems used on the moon mission craft were only 64k of memory and the user interface provided by the DSKY is really silly by today's standards.

I remember very well where I was at the time of the landing (in Kansas City visiting my cousins) and watching the first steps on TV at night. It was a special time for me as I always had a good time with these members of my family and the space program of course was something that fascinated me beyond words at that age.

I am amazed at how much silence there is in the transmissions. There is a constant background of white noise that I find very comforting. Is there something psychological about this? Maybe it's a very old sound that we recognize subconsciously from our time in our mother's womb? Maybe not but at any rate, I like the sound. It's reassuring and makes me feel like I'm going somewhere to some important destination.