Madrid MSFN Station, circa 1973.

Note the antennae for Skylab – the Teltrac antenna at left, and the UHF command antenna and associated van in the foreground at centre. Photo by Larry Haug.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (completely unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Honeysuckle before the Antenna. 18 March 1966.

Full frame in Photos from the water tank.

Added a page for George Harris (Goddard Simulation teams) in the Space People section.

Added a page for Jack Duperouzel (Muchea) in the Space People section.

Image shows the Muchea Acquisition Team (the Three Jacks) in early 1962.

Added a page for Ken Anderson (Red Lake, Cooby Creek, CRO) in the Space People section.

Hamish Lindsay took this photo of Carnarvon Tracking Station from the Acquisition Aid boresight tower in 1965.

At centre is the Telemetry and Control Building constructed for Project Gemini, with the Acquisition Aid antennas in the foreground. At left, the ground is being prepared for the new Apollo extension.

In the background are the two tropospheric scatter antennas providing links to Geraldton. The Apollo USB antenna will be built between them and the T&C building.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (completely unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

The Royal Australian Mint in Canberra produced this video to display at their current Australia in Space Exhibition. With the Mint’s kind permission, it’s featured here.

In 2008, Mark Gray of Spacecraft Films travelled to Australia as part of his recording interviews for his documentary “Live From the Moon – The Story of Apollo Television”. The resulting 1 hour 38 minute video is a unique contribution to the history of Apollo TV. Recommended!

External link to Vimeo.

DSS41 Island Lagoon staff 1971 – numbered for ease of identification. (Can you help fill in the gaps? Contact.)

Ascension Island Tracking Station stands on the far side of the island from habitation, at Devil’s Ashpit, below Green Mountain. The 30-foot MSFN antenna is at left, and the DSN 30-foot antenna is at right.
The Operations building was still standing in 2007, and was being used by the Scouts. JPL photo via Mike Dinn.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

This 9 minute video tribute to all the Australian manned space trackers was shown at the Apollo 17 50th anniversary gathering in Canberra on 08 December 2022.

It’s worth repeating here for the anniversary of President John F Kennedy’s speech at Rice University, Houston, on 12 September 1962.

Watch in full screen on Vimeo.

NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal’s Dr. Eric Jones. In the Space People section.

The Linney files – tall tales and true of Honeysuckle Creek – as told by Mike Linney. In the Honeysuckle People & Stories section.

Remembering Tidbinbilla’s Les Whaley – and enjoying his 1965 or 1966 view of Canberra. In the Space People section.

The Manned Space Flight Network 56 years ago:
ARIA have an Important Mission in Apollo Program.
MSFN Technical Information Bulletin, Vol 5, No.18, September 18 1968.

David Hancock took this photo of the Cooby Creek antenna installation team in September 1966.

The Cooby Creek 40-foot antenna was used in experiments with the ATS series of satellites, and was also the Australian ground station for “Our World” in June 1967. Scan by Roger Hancock.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Australian Minister for Supply, Senator Denham Henty, shakes hands with an “Astronaut” at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, February 1968.

See more on the Houston visit page in the Lloyd Bott collection in the Department of Supply section.

Remembering Apollo 15, 26 July – 08 August 1971.

Fred Dykstra and Bill Bell at the the controls of Carnarvon’s Verlort Radar in 1965.

This Verlort Radar was moved to Carnarvon from Muchea when that station closed in 1964 at the end of Project Mercury.

This is one of a number of updated scans from Hamish Lindsay’s negatives in his album of photos in the Carnarvon section.

The 70 metre dish of DSS-43 at Tidbinbilla points far to the south on Wednesday 27th September 2017. It was tracking Voyager 2, at the time 155.7 AU from Earth, with a Round Trip Light Time of 32 hours and 4 minutes.

CDSCC is now the only DSN station capable of communicating with Voyager 2, due to the spacecraft’s southerly trajectory out of the Solar System.

The Manned Space Flight Network 61 years ago:
Control Center for Voice Network.
– MSFN Technical Information Bulletin, Vol 1, No.12, August 09 1963.

On 4th July 1969, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite (right) interviews Dick Kephart, NASA Goldstone Apollo Assistant Station Director.

The interview was recorded for a series of CBS News segments shown shortly before the launch of Apollo 11. Photo and scan by Bill Wood.

See the full set of photos by Bill Wood here.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

See the Apollo 11 Section.

and Hamish Lindsay’s Apollo 11 Essay – and see the new PDF version.

SCODOS on The Department of Supply’s part in Apollo 11.

In the Apollo 11 section.

How did Western Australia see the Apollo 11 EVA TV?
ABC Perth Senior Engineer Allan Hullett speaks about how they did it.

In the Apollo 11 TV section.

The Manned Space Flight Network 61 years ago:
New Site (Carnarvon) Gets New Radar
– MSFN Technical Information Bulletin, Vol 1, No.11, July 26, 1963.

Les Whaley took this photo of a model of a Surveyor spacecraft at DSS42 Tidbinbilla in 1966.
In the background is the Surveyor Command Console.

See the Surveyor section here.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

The Manned Space Flight Network 61 years ago:

First Gemini Acq Aid system to be shipped to Carnarvon
– MSFN Technical Information Bulletin, June 28, 1963.

Click the image for a 5.8MB PDF file.

DSS41 Island Lagoon, Woomera, circa 1963.

This is the original L-Band configuration which was used mainly for the Ranger missions. Photo: Don Gray.

See the Island Lagoon section here.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

The Manned Space Flight Network 60 years ago:

Carnarvon uses “Bush Telegraph” during GT-1
– MSFN Technical Information Bulletin, May 15 1964.

Read more about how Mrs. O’Donahue saved the day.

Remembering Apollo 10
18 – 26 May 1969.

(Picture: TV received at Honeysuckle.)

Exploring the Solar System:

Ames Research Center’s David Lozier shares his story

in the Space People section.

Spitfire Pilot who kept the lights on at Honeysuckle Creek:

Remembering Honeysuckle’s Kaz Kijak

in the Space People section.

Keeping everyone connected:

Photo – Circuits at the Deakin NASCOM Switch in Canberra, July 1967.

In the Other Stations section.

Orroral Valley Tracking Station, August 1965.

See this previously unpublished photo album showing equipment installation at Orroral, as well as scenes of Canberra.
(in the Orroral Valley section.)

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Video: Keith Aldworth and Mike Dinn in Conversation.

Recorded in December 2023, they remember the Surveyor Program which they both supported at Tidbinbilla.

They also touch on Apollo 13 (and its links with Surveyor!), Apollo 11, and Parkes. 33 minutes.

Click the image to see it on Vimeo.

See also this animation of Surveyor III sunset images preserved by Keith Aldworth.

Remembering Apollo 16
17 – 28 April 1972.

Photo: Swan Lager at Honeysuckle after John Saxon spoke with the crew on the lunar surface.

Offical Opening of DSS43, 13th April 1973.

In the DSS43 Tidbinbilla section.

Allan Bailey (Tidbinbilla) shares his story

in the Space People section.

Enjoy these external photos of the late stages of Honeysuckle’s construction in August – September 1966.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Remembering Tom Stafford, 1930-2024.

NASA video tribute.

Special event – Saturday 20th April 2024 at
CDSCC / Tidbinbilla Tracking Station

Apollo 11 Special Screening, Q&A and Dish Tour

Join us for a special screening of the award-winning documentaries of Apollo 11 and Apollo 11: Quarantine. Featuring stunning, never-before-seen footage, filmed in glorious 70mm, presented as if it were captured today, experience the journey to the Moon like never before.

Following the screening, enjoy and Q&A with Apollo 11 producer, Stephen Slater, and the Deputy Director of Canberra’s Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, Mike Dinn. They’ll share their respective experiences in making the films, and for Mike, actually being there on the console in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon.

Then enjoy an exclusive tour of the original ‘Moon dish’ that received and broadcast those amazing TV images around the world.

Bookings are essential and seating is limited to 100.

**** SOLD OUT ****

Suitable for all ages.
Map location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RFWvUEeJ6VoPvwKu9
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex – 421 Discovery Drive, Tidbinbilla ACT 2620
Enquiries: pr@cdscc.nasa.gov

Itinerary
12:30 - Arrival and Seating
1:00pm - Apollo 11 screening (1h37m)
Break
2:00pm Apollo 11: Quarantine screening (23m)
Q&A: Stephen Slater and Mike Dinn
Break
3:15pm - Tour of the Moon dish (tour participants must be mobile and require enclosed footwear)
4:00pm – End of Event

Intuitive Machines thanks Parkes
for their support of the IM-1 Odysseus lunar lander

Sunset at Surveyor 3 – via DSS42 Tidbinbilla.

Full screen version on Vimeo.

Also see the Surveyor section.

NASA Remembers Dick Truly, Pilot of STS-2 (tracked by Orroral Valley) – and much more. NASA tribute video here.

Merritt Island Launch Annex (MILA) Tracking Station, adjacent to Kennedy Space Center, 1967. This photo by Goldstone’s Bill Wood features the 30-foot S-Band antenna.

See the beginnings of a section on MILA here.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Humanity's First Time Around the Moon … And our Next?

Coming up on Friday 23rd February 2024 at Mt Stromlo Observatory Visitors Centre in Canberra:

Stephen Slater, film producer (with credits including Apollo 11), will give an exclusive look into Apollo 8 and one of humanity’s riskiest journeys. Using unseen archival film clips, Stephen will take us on an out-of-this world multimedia experience.

Joining him will be Mike Dinn, former Deputy Station Director of Honeysuckle Creek.

Brad Tucker will reflect on where to now with Artemis II and beyond.

With Super Bowl LVIII being played this weekend in Las Vegas, Stephen included the above footage of the Apollo 8 crew at Super Bowl III in Miami on 12 January 1969, fresh from their flight around the Moon.

Book in for the event at this link.

On January 25 1986, Voyager 2 passed 81,500 kilometres above the cloudtops of Uranus. At Parkes Paul Mullen (left) and Peter Churchill (centre) from Tidbinbilla monitor signals from the spacecraft. Photo preserved by Mike Dinn.

Image from the 2024 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

Remembering Hamish Lindsay

A brief video to remember Hamish (LOS 22 January 2022) – on Vimeo.

See also words of appreciation delivered at his funeral – also on Vimeo.

Remembering Walt Larkin, “Mr Goldstone”

New entry in the Space People section.

Hamish Lindsay took this photo of Honeysuckle’s 26-metre dish, looking down from the apex of the quadripod.

John Hart with the theodolite is at centre. Tony Salvage (white overalls) assists. The occasion is the Paraboloid Survey of the dish in preparation for joining the Deep Space Network – August 1974.

Image from the 2023 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks (unofficial) Calendar on my personal website.

We are very sorry to hear of the loss of Honeysuckle’s
Ed von Renouard (“Video Von”) in London earlier this month.

In memory of Ed, above is a 6 minute video of Ed’s recollections of the day of the Apollo 11 Moonwalk. On the video console, he was the first to see the television arriving from the Moon.

Watch above, or on Vimeo.

See a tribute to Ed in the Space People section.

Apollo 8 – short video made for the 55th anniversary.

Astronaut Harrison Schmitt reads a Christmas poem to Apollo 8.

Mike Dinn remembers Apollo 8.

External link to Vimeo. Video recorded 05 December 2023.

Tributes to Ken Mattingly and Frank Borman

Apollo 17 Astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmitt has recently published tributes to Frank Borman (Apollo 8 Commander) and Ken Mattingly (Apollo 8 Capcom, and Apollo 16 CMP). Click the links to see them on his website, americasuncommonsense.com.

Gemini Program audio recorded at Carnarvon Tracking Station.

Website launched 14 December 2003.
Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so wonderfully to help preserve the history of Honeysuckle Creek, the other tracking stations, and others involved in the missions.

(Photo by Hamish Lindsay.)

Remembering President John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
29 May 1917 – 22 November 1963.

It was President Kennedy who made the commitment that the United States of America would land a man on the Moon, and return him safely to the Earth, before the end of the decade.

In the above image, courtesy of Stephen Slater, he is delivering his famous speech at Rice University in Houston on 12 September 1962.

Many Australians took part in helping reach President Kennedy’s goal. Click the image to see a video made last December with an excerpt from his speech and views of the Australian stations of the Manned Space Flight Network.

Goddard News for 2nd December 1963 marks the loss of President John F. Kennedy.

This edition also notes the use of the Relay satellite to send “a film clip NBC telecast of the life of the late President Kennedy” to Japan just five hours after the assassination.

October 1969 – Apollo equipment is delivered to Parkes and installed by a Tidbinbilla team in time for Apollo 12.

LOS Ken Mattingly – sad news from NASA.

David Johns took this photo of Carnarvon Tracking Station from NASA 421 in November 1972, prior to Apollo 17. It was the last flight of a Goddard simulation team to Australia.

Station staff have come out to see the Super Constellation skim just above the height of the USB antenna.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

David Johns shares his recollections of Carnarvon 1970-1974.

Photo: David tracing sunspots at the Carnarvon SPAN
(Solar Particle Array Network) site.

Orroral Valley Tracking Station (“Canberra STADAN”), August 1965, as equipment was being installed.

Other photos in this set to come.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

Hear Helen Garriott’s prank tape played from Skylab 3 on 10th September 1973.

In the Skylab section – which also features Hamish Lindsay’s Skylab essay.

Neil Armstrong visits the Goddard Space Flight Center after the Apollo 11 mission. Updated photos.

See “One Last Step – The Honeysuckle Legacy” – Scott Holgate’s short film on preparations for the Apollo 11 50th celebrations in 2019.

Features Mike Dinn and John Saxon.

Honeysuckle’s antenna and cherrypicker circa 1972.

Guests at the Opening of Carnarvon Tracking Station, June 1964.

See this 8mm footage taken by Philip Clark covering most of the life of Orroral Valley Tracking Station. On Vimeo – and also on this page.

Timeline of Orroral Valley, as well as a page for the late Philip Clark who did so much to preserve Orroral’s history.

Just after the Apollo 11 EVA on Monday 21 July 1969, David Cooke, Parkes Senior RF Engineer, stepped outside to take this handheld photo. It’s around 5:00pm and the storm which had threatened Parkes’ Apollo support has moved away.

For more, see Hamish Lindsay’s essay in the Apollo 11 section.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

Flight Director Gene Kranz celebrates his 90th birthday this month.

In July 2019, he sent this message to the Apollo 11 lunch in Canberra.

See also his wonderful essay “Our Time”.

Sixty-one years ago this month (August 1962), a joint NASA / WRE team searched for a site for a new tracking station in Western Australia. Brown’s Range, Carnarvon was selected.

In 1967, then Carnarvon Station Director Lewis Wainwright wrote this account for the 5th anniversary of the survey.

“The party was welcomed at the Port Hotel in Carnarvon by Mrs Jenny Tuckey, and later, in the hotel lounge, provided with light entertainment by Jack Dowling at the piano. …
Plans were made, and the party retired, growing accustomed to the gentle aroma which drifted over the town from the whaling station on Babbage Island. …

[The next day] a rough survey was made and sites proposed for equipment, such as the FPQ-6, Range & Range Rate and for the T&C Building and Power Station. Torn pieces of a sheet, purchased from Anne’s Frock Shop by Larry Brown, were left fluttering on the bushes of the range, and the survey drawing discussed and perfected in the Shire Council’s Board Room.”

Photo: On Brown’s Range: Nigel Tomlinson, Fred Mentha, Lewis Wainwright, Jack Dowling, Dale Call, Don Anderson, Basil Monckton (kneeling). See the Report for more photos.

Right: The Honeysuckle Creek antenna tracks Eagle at Tranquility Base on Monday July 21 1969 as the station prepares to receive live television from the lunar surface.
Left: Part of the Honeysuckle team, just after Apollo 11.

Photos: Hamish Lindsay.

For more, see the Apollo 11 section.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

The Tidbinbilla (HSKX) USB team for Apollo 11.

Radio Astronomer Dr David Jauncey has had a long history of working with Tidbinbilla in VLBI – Very Long Baseline Interferometry.

In this April 2023 interview, he speaks glowingly of the partnership of everyone at Tidbinbilla. A story worth telling.

Watch here. 54 minutes.

Stan Anderson tells the story of the ARIA – the Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft – in this 2009 interview.

See also Stan’s newly updated account of how ARIA saved Apollo 5 – in the ARIA section.

Stan Anderson also spoke at the Apollo 11 40th anniversary luncheon in Canberra on 21st July 2009.

He is introduced by Patrick Helean. With special thanks to Geoff Crane for this footage.

For the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Skylab Orbital Workshop, the Space Association of Australia’s President Peter Aylward organised several video interviews with Dr. Joe Kerwin.

Dr Kerwin, one of the first Scientist Astronauts, flew on the first manned Skylab mission. He was later the NASA Senior Scientific Representative to Australia.

At various times, Mike Dinn, John Saxon and Colin Mackellar participated in these unique interviews which have now been posted on the Space Association’s Youtube channel. Fascinating and enjoyable.

Direct links to Youtube: Interview 1, Interview 2, Interview 3.

A most unwelcome update (Space Association of Australia Facebook), 5th July 2023, with the news that Peter Aylward has died in Melbourne after a brave battle with cancer. Many will mourn him – and will miss his friendship and great enthusiasm for space exploration and space history.

Peter, and fellow members of the SAA, visited Tidbinbilla in February 2023. From left: Michael Abdilla, Peter Aylward, Mike Dinn, John Saxon. Photo: Betty Saxon, taken at the Southern Cross Club in Woden.

Walter Cronkite and his CBS News team visit Goldstone Apollo on July 4 1969 to film Apollo 11 preparations.

Left: Cronkite with M&O Supervisor Tom Turnbull. Right: An interview with the family of BFEC dispatcher and mechanic Robert Burton. Photos: Bill Wood.

See Bill Wood’s photos of the visit.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

This 9 minute video tribute to all the Australian manned space trackers was shown at the gathering in Canberra on 08 December 2022.

Honeysuckle Creek Skylab configuration after a snowfall.

Photo by Paul Mullen from the cherrypicker positioned adjacent to the 26-metre antenna. Scan by Nick Mullen.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

The Honeysuckle Creek antenna at stow on 2nd May 1968.

Photo by Hamish Lindsay. 2021 scan from Hamish’s 4x5 inch negative.

Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt visits Honeysuckle Creek on 3rd May 1973.

Project Mercury Aeromedical Flight Controllers, May 1960.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 5, 03 May 1963.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 8, No. 7, 03 May 1971.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Madrid Apollo station. Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website).

Essay by Hamish Lindsay; Pre-mission Simulations;
Launch video; Audio interviews; Honeysuckle Comms;
Re-entry; Thanks for support of the mission.

Image from the 2023 HSK calendar (on my personal website) – Prime Minister Harold Holt on Opening Day at Honeysuckle, 17th March 1967.

NASA Senior Scientific Representative to Australia, Willson Hunter, waves as he, Ed Buckley and Chris Kraft take a ride on the Honeysuckle cherrypicker on Opening Day, 17th March 1967.

Previously unpublished photos by Hamish Lindsay.

On the Official Guests page in the Opening Day section.

Photos from the Honeysuckle opening album.

Prime Minister Robert Menzies and NASA’s Edmond Buckley unveil a model of DSS42 at the Opening of Tidbinbilla, 19th March 1965.

On Opening Day page in the Tidbinbilla section.

Also hear the speeches given on the day.

Goddard Simulation flights to Honeysuckle Creek.

Undated Polaroid photo: Ian Grant, John Saxon, Mike Dinn and a Goddard Sim team member.

Honeysuckle Creek in its Deep Space configuration.

Remembering Friendship 7, 20-21 February 1962

Apollo 14, February 1971.

Ed von Renouard at the Honeysuckle Creek video console in its Apollo 14 configuration.

Honeysuckle Creek, November 1970.

August 1964, two RAAF Bell Huey helicopters head out from Tidbinbilla searching for a suitable site to build the Apollo station. The next year the site selection team settled on what is now known as Honeysuckle Creek. Photo: Dick Collins.

Preparing for Apollo – Essay by Hamish Lindsay.

Photo: Honeysuckle Station Director Tom Reid and Goddard Simulation Team Leader George Harris on 29 September 1967.

Hamish Lindsay took this Polaroid photo at 10:35pm on Friday 30 July 1971, during Apollo 15’s live television broadcast on lunar orbit 8.

LOS Walt Cunningham, Apollo 7.
Sad announcement from NASA.

Update: Buzz Aldrin has written a touching tribute in The Washington Post – “Without Walt Cunningham, there would be no moon landing”.

Walt visited Honeysuckle on 5th May 1969. Although there don’t seem to be any photos of his visit, this signed picture was probably given to the Department of Supply’s Lloyd Bott at that time. (Image thanks to Ken Sheridan.)

Carols at Honeysuckle Creek at the end of Apollo 17.

DSS41 Island Lagoon Last Track, 22 December 2022.

Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot Dr Harrison Schmitt sent this video greeting to the space trackers’ gathering in Canberra on 08 December 2022.

This 9 minute video tribute to all the Australian manned space trackers was shown at the gathering in Canberra on 08 December 2022.

Laurie Turner speaks with the crew on their way to the Moon.

Here’s a new scan of the Apollo 17 Flight Plan.

Apollo historian the late Bill Mellberg was a guest at the launch of Apollo 17. He provides an eyewiteness account (PDF file) at www.americasuncommonsense, the website of Apollo 17 LMP Harrison Schmitt.

Also related to Apollo 17

Mike Dinn’s Apollo 17 memorabilia.

Apollo 17 in Real Time.

A NASA presentation resource for the anniversary.

Download a free 2023 Honeysuckle and NASA Networks Calendar from the Christmas page of my personal website, www.mackellars.net.

Also from 1972, here’s a photo of the Pioneer FAB 50 – the team who brought you Pioneers 10 and 11!

Prime Minister Harold Holt at the Honeysuckle Creek opening day, 17 March 1967.

Down Under Comes Up Live – The first satellite TV broadcast out of Australia – from Robinson Street, Carnarvon, 26 November 1966.

See also:

Photos of the Historic Carnarvon – Goonhilly TV Broadcast by Guntis Berzins.

Establishment of the OTC(A) Carnarvon Earth Station and the Historic
Carnarvon – Goonhilly TV Broadcast by Guntis Berzins.

Down Under Comes up Live by Cyril Vahtrick.

Technical Information Bulletin of the MSFN, Volume 1, Number 18, 01 November 1963. (Click the image for a 4.7MB PDF file)

In this issue:

Goddard Computing Center. WWV, ‘Big Ben’ of Network. SCAMA 304 switchboard features 220 line capacity AND built-in ashtrays!

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

Senior staff at DSS41 Island Lagoon, Woomera, 1968.

Vale Jim McDivitt. Sad news, 18 October 2022.

In this slow scan TV image received at Goldstone Apollo Station, Jim McDivitt (right) demonstrates drinking from a pouch in weightlessness, as Rusty Schweickart watches, during the Apollo 9 mission.

As well as commanding Apollo 9 in March 1969, he had previously commanded Gemini IV in June 1965, when Ed White performed the first American EVA.

Interview with Tidbinbilla Comms Supervisor Tony Saville.

Cooby Creek staff, 1969. Updated photo key.

12 September 1962.
President John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University, Houston, Texas.

“We choose to go to the Moon, we choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one in which we intend to win, and the others too.”

Digital image with thanks to Stephen Slater.

Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft support for Apollo 17, December 1972.
Fascinating account by Michael Zeitfuss.

The Ladies supporting the NASA Tracking Stations in Australia.
Photos for International Women’s Year, 1975.

Building DSS43 at Tidbinbilla – photos by Eric Counahan.

Bryan Sullivan’s overview of the station.

Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan spoke at CDSCC in June 2016.

Remembering Apollo 15, 26 July – 08 August 1971.

Thanks to OTC for Apollo 11 support.

Interview with OTC (Australia) Engineer Bill Woods.

Prior to Apollo 11, NASA released twenty four Audio News Features hosted by broadcaster Willard Scott. Each interviewed a key figure in the upcoming mission.

Honeysuckle Creek Apollo 11 timeline.

The Honeysuckle Creek construction camp, May 1966.

Two prime movers are needed to haul the counterweight for Honeysuckle’s 85 foot antenna up the first track, mid-1966.

A snowy Orroral Valley, 1965.

Carnarvon tracker Tito Teraci with a nervous joey, 1965.

The description on the back of NASA photo B-65-72 reads,
“An engineer of this northwestern Australian tracking site poses with the station mascot. Commonly known as a ‘wallaby’, the baby kangaroo is unique to this part of the world.”

LOS Jack Duperouzel, who we believe was the last of the Muchea Men.

Carnarvon trackers and local publican Wilson Tuckey pose with their racehorse, “St. Mondray”.

The Honeysuckle Creek antenna at stow on 2nd May 1968.

Photo by Hamish Lindsay

2021 scan from Hamish’s 4x5 inch negative.

Honeysuckle Creek timeline for Apollo 16. In the Apollo 16 section.

Celebrations at Honeysuckle after John Saxon speaks to John Young and Charlie Duke on the lunar surface.

John Young recalls his conversation and shares a Swan with John Saxon at the Apollo 11 25th anniversary dinner in Canberra.

(If full screen doesn’t work, see it on Vimeo.)

Apollo 16 EVA TV seen only at Honeysuckle. Read the story here.

(If full screen doesn’t work, watch on Vimeo.)

At EDINBURGH RAAF AIRFIELD, SALISBURY, S.A.

Capt. Don Anderson, Noel Rossiter, Ozro Covington, Don Anderson, Robin Berry, Jack Dowling, First Officer Dick Evans, Capt. Nelson Hill, Fred Mentha.

“In the evening of the 16th August, a NASA/WRE party took off from Perth airport in a DC-3 aircraft on charter from MMA (MacRobertson Miller Airlines). The destination, Carnarvon, was three hours away, allowing comfortable time for the serving of dinner, followed by liqueurs and ‘Old Grandad’ bourbon whisky.”

In 1967, Carnarvon Station Director Lewis Wainwright penned this account for the fifth anniversary of the Carnarvon Site Survey in August 1962.

Crossing Paddy’s Creek – the Road to Tidbinbilla, July 1963.

Honeysuckle Creek / DSS44 Paraboloid Survey, August 1974.

A 2003 tribute to WRE’s Tom Lawrence (second from right), a key figure in laying the groundwork for US – Australian space tracking co-operation.

The very first TIB – Volume 1, Number 1, 8th March 1963.

The Technical Information Bulletins were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division, for Network personnel. This one was preserved by John Lambie.

Those TIBs already online can be found here, with many more to come.

Hear unique audio of the Friendship 7 mission recorded at the Red Lake Tracking Station (Woomera).

Warren Bishop’s Newspaper Clippings Scrapbook. New.

And to mark the 60th anniversary of Friendship 7, Canberra music studio HR Arts Factory has released vocal and instrumental versions of a new song, “Splashdown John Glenn”.

Remembering Apollo 14, February 1971.

Ed von Renouard at the Honeysuckle Creek video console in its Apollo 14 configuration.

DSS42 (left) and DSS43 at Tidbinbilla in December 1975.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 3, 20 February 1969. (Click the image for a 4.2MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. This TIB was preserved by Honeysuckle’s Bernard Smith. Those already online can be found here.

LOS Hamish Lindsay.

A brief video tribute to Hamish – on Vimeo.

Here is a print-it-yourself Honeysuckle Creek Wall Calendar for 2022.

The MSFN Inspection Team at Honeysuckle Creek, 6th January 1967.

The Operation and Maintenance of Cooby Creek A.T.S. Ground Station – a paper by David Hancock.

The (unique) Honeysuckle Creek Simulation System.

The Gemini 4 Flight Control Team at Carnarvon in June 1965 – updated scan.

Sydney Video during Apollo 12.

July 1970, Ken Lee is (apparently) farewelled from Honeysuckle Creek.

Here is a 1976 photo of Dr. James Fletcher; Dr. George Low; Dr. Thomas Paine and Mr. James E. Webb, past Administrators of NASA;

as well as – Robert F. Seamans, Jr, Administrator of NASA and Dr. T. Keith Glennan, first Administrator of NASA.

In recognition of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA photo 76-H-415. Preserved by Hamish Lindsay, scan by Colin Mackellar.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 5, No. 22, November 15 1968, has a significant announcement –

“The Manned Space Flight Network will be linked to the moon by a Unified S-band signal on Christmas Day, 1968, if everything goes as planned.

NASA Acting Administrator Thomas O. Paine announced on November 12 that the AS-503 (Apollo 8) mission will be a lunar orbital mission lasting up to six days. The earliest possible date for the mission will be December 21 and if all goes as planned, three astronauts – Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders – will orbit the moon 10 times during a 20 hour period beginning December 24.”

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

Sixty years ago:

The Parkes Radio Telescope is opened – October 31 1961.

Sixty years ago this month:

In his Arcadia, California, hotel room on 3rd October 1961, Bell & Howell’s Frank Mellberg drew this sketch for the Surveyor TV camera zoom lens assembly – the night before he submitted his company’s proposal to Hughes Aircraft.

Frank was responsible for design and development at Bell & Howell and his company won the contract.

Orroral Valley panorama taken during construction.

Photos by Andy Kenner.

Edwin P. Hartman
The first NASA Senior Scientific Representative to Australia

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 1, No. 16, 04 October 1963.

New Display Consoles to Support Gemini; Final Mercury Conference Held.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

Honeysuckle Creek 50 years ago – 9th October 1971.

Photo by Ken Mackellar.

A schematic of the MSFN 26 meter Apollo antennas (installed at Honeysuckle Creek, Goldstone and Madrid).

Scanned and processed by Glen Nagle.

More on the antenna here.

Hamish Lindsay took this photo of five of Tidbinbilla’s ladies in front of the DSS43 console in May 1975. Details here.

Brian Riehle and Ed Proctor Jr. of Guam Apollo Tracking Station at the airport in Agana on November 2nd or 3rd 1969, as the Apollo 11 crew visits Guam.

US television legend Willard Scott has died.

While he was best known as the weatherman on NBC’s Today Show, and as the first Ronald McDonald, Scott also did some media work for NASA.

Prior to the Apollo 11 mission he introduced these NASA Audio News Features which were designed for radio stations to use to familiarise the public with the many aspects of the mission.

(Apparently Scott also made similar features prior to Apollo 10.)

In the Apollo 11 section.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 5, No. 18, 18 September 1968.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on this front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

Continuing to remember Apollo 15 on its 50th anniversary.

On Wednesday 4th August 1971, Hamish Lindsay took this photo of Honeysuckle Creek tracking the CSM in lunar orbit.

After the sun had set, Hamish took this classic photo of Honeysuckle tracking the CSM in its 68th revolution of the Moon.

As Honeysuckle continued to track Endeavour in lunar orbit, Hamish took this photo from between the boulders next to the antenna pad.

Photos scanned by Colin Mackellar. (Levels pushed in this scan to bring out the Moonlight.)

Hamish Linday took this photo of the Honeysuckle USB Area on Friday 6th August 1971 at around 1925 AEST, on Day 2 of Apollo 15’s Trans Earth Coast.

___________________________

Honeysuckle’s John Saxon was interviewed on ABC Radio Canberra on Saturday 31 July 2021. Audio used with their kind permission.

Voyager 2 encountered Neptune on 25 August 1989.

This team from Tidbinbilla was stationed at Parkes to man that end of the Parkes–Canberra Telemetry Array (PCTA).

Sunset at Surveyor 3 – via DSS42 Tidbinbilla.

Full screen version on Vimeo.

Remembering Apollo 15 on its 50th anniversary.
Includes a new scan of the Apollo 15 Flight Plan.

Honeysuckle’s John Saxon was interviewed on ABC Radio Canberra on Saturday 31 July 2021. Audio used with their kind permission.

Larger image.

The start of the Apollo 11 EVA – with air/ground audio on the left channel and Honeysuckle Creek Alpha comms loop and Net 2 on the right channel.

Begins about 10 minutes before the TV starts and runs to 30 minutes into the EVA.

Watch in full screen on Vimeo.

More on the TV here.

A slideshow of Prime Minister John Gorton’s visit to Honeysuckle Creek on the morning of the Moon Landing.
For full screen, watch on Vimeo.

Viking 1 45th anniversary.
Includes new scans of the Honeysuckle Viking teams.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 9, 23 July 1971.

Apollo 15 aims at widespread objectives.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on this front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

The Lewis Wainwright story.

Lewis was Station Director at Muchea, Carnarvon and Orroral Valley, as well as Deputy Assistant Controller of the Department of Supply’s American Projects Branch.

Covering the Friendship 7 mission from Muchea.

Darcy Farrell, founding News Editor at TVW Channel 7 Perth, was at Muchea for John Glenn’s flight in February 1962. Here’s his story.

Remembering Gemini IV:

Essay by Hamish Lindsay. 

Gemini IV audio recorded at Carnarvon – including Ed Fendell giving the GO for EVA.

Gemini IV network audio.

Gemini IV memories from Carnarvon – from Ed Fendell, Paul Dench, John Lambie.

See also this enhanced footage of Ed White’s EVA (external link).

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 8, 17 June 1971.

Tidbinbilla completing giant DSN Antenna. Honeysuckle Isolated by Cave-in. (Using Hamish Lindsay’s photo.) Guam Laser Facility. Apollo 15 will use Electric Drill.

24 May 2021: We’re saddened to report that Dr Ross Taylor, a giant in the field of lunar geochemistry, has died in Canberra.

In July 1969, Dr Taylor from ANU performed the first chemical analysis of the lunar samples returned by Apollo 11.

Hamish Lindsay took the above photo and recorded a 65 minute interview with Dr Taylor in 1994.

Christopher Kraft and Tecwyn Roberts at Carnarvon in March 1967. They
Kraft and Roberts were in Australia for the opening of Honeysuckle Creek.

Left to right:

1. Chris Kraft Jr. (NASA’s first Flight Director)
2. Lewis Wainwright (Carnarvon Station Director)
3. Tec Roberts (Chief of the Manned Flight Operations Division)
4. Unsure. (Can you help?)
5. John South (Goddard Representative to Australia)
6. Claus Petersen (UNIVAC Implementation Engineer)*

* Thanks to Bryan Sullivan for the ID.
Photo courtesy Lewis Wainwright’s family. Scan by Colin Mackellar.
Lewis Wainwright’s story coming soon. (Please check back.)

The Baker-Nunn Camera at Island Lagoon, Woomera.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 7, 03 May 1971.

Geodetic position determination for 30-Foot stations using Mars 71.
Young to command Apollo 16 mission.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on this front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

NASA announcement.

See our Apollo 11 section, and listen to Mike explain that “everything’s going just swimmingly” (The descent and landing) just prior to the lunar landing.

(During the Apollo 11 EVA, Mike Dinn confirms to Network, Ernie Randall, in Houston that President Nixon’s voice is going up to Mike Collins in the CSM through HSKX Tidbinbilla. This is to allow Collins to hear the President’s conversation with Armstrong and Aldrin. Their audio is going through Goldstone. Audio clip here.)

Essay by Hamish Lindsay; Audio and Video; Honeysuckle station log.

12 – 18 April 1970.

See the Apollo 13 section.

Photo: Ops Supervisor John Saxon and Deputy Director Mike Dinn in a pre-mission simulation at Honeysuckle Creek.

Bruce Window’s notes on audio items of interest from the newly-released MOCR console audio recordings.

Launched 12 April 1981.

Tracked by Orrroral Valley.

Photo: Orroral Valley Station Director Lewis Wainwright is presented with a photo of the launch, by John Young and Bob Crippen.

08 April 2021:
Dr. Phillip Chapman, the first Australian-born NASA Astronaut, has died in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In this photo Honeysuckle Creek Deputy Director Ian Grant gives him a tour of the station some time after the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 6, 21 April 1971.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on this front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

03 – 13 March 1969.

See the Apollo 9 section.
Hear the launch.

Orroral Valley today.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 3, 26 February 1971. and Vol. 8, No. 5, 15 March 1971.

The TIBs were published (usually) twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on this front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

The site of Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, within the Namadgi National Park, remains closed a year after the devastating bushfire which began in the Orroral Valley.

In February 2021 we were allowed to visit the site to report on how the place is faring.

The amazing work of the firefighters, aided by airdrops of fire retardant, is evident.

Special thanks to Brett McNamara, Manager of Namadgi National Park, for allowing us access. He tells us that plans to reopen the park are progressing – and it may happen around Easter 2021. Stay tuned.

For full screen, watch on Vimeo.

01 – 10 February 1971.

Mike Evenett and Bill Kempees survey the mess after a section of the road to Honeysuckle Creek slid into the valley just after Apollo 14, in February 1971.

John Lambie’s Carnarvon stories – including establishing the Gemini Coffee Lounge.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 2, 03 February 1971. 5.1MB PDF file.

The TIBs were published twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

This TIB was preserved by Bernard Smith and scanned by Colin Mackellar. Those TIBs already online can be found here.

See Cyril Fenwick’s models and dioramas.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 8, No. 1, 07 January 1971. 1.5MB PDF file.

The TIBs were published twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

This TIB was preserved by Hamish Lindsay and scanned by Colin Mackellar. Those TIBs already online can be found here.

At Honeysuckle Creek.

At Tidbinbilla.

And at Orroral Valley.

This July 1965 Department of Supply booklet was given to prospective Honeysuckle Creek staff members to describe the functions of the planned station.

Honeysuckle’s early days.

A lonely figure walks beside the original track to Honeysuckle, along the side of Dead Man’s Hill, in this 1966 transparency by Ian Hahn.

See the updated scans of Ian’s slides here.

Remembering Tom Reid MBE, ten years on.
(Tom died in October 2010. This brief tribute was put together at the time.)

Full screen version.

1994 interview with Tom Reid, by Hamish Lindsay.

Published for the first time.

Apollo 16 TV as seen at Honeysuckle Creek.
For full screen, watch on Vimeo.

29 September 1967 – Station Director Tom Reid and the station mascot farewell Goddard Simulation Team Leader George Harris after gruelling simulations tested the station’s readiness.

Giving thanks for David Cooke.

Honeysuckle Creek: An idyllic setting.
Photo: Ian Grant.

Alan Shepard visits Honeysuckle Creek, 9th September 1968.
For full screen, watch on Vimeo.

Snapshots of Life at Honeysuckle Creek – with Bryan Sullivan and Hamish Lindsay – recorded in Canberra at Questacon, 21 July 2013.

Full screen version here. (Or click on “Vimeo” above.)

(Apologies for the occasional glitch in the video.)

Four of the original Tidbinbilla engineering team that was assembled in mid 1963.

L to R – Keith Brockelsby, Receiver Engineer; Clive Jones, Facilities Engineer; Jeff Newnham. Analogue Instrumentation Engineer; and John Heath, Microwave Engineer. (The positions of the four were those they held in 1963).

Photo by Bruce Window at the Apollo 11 50th luncheon, Southern Cross Club, Woden, 21 July 2019.

Bill Wood (Apollo Goldstone) remembers the Apollo 11 EVA – recorded in Canberra at the Apollo 11 Lunch, 21 July 2009.

Full screen version here. (Or click on “Vimeo” above.)

The Polaroid photo Bill mentions can be seen here.

See also his photos of the scan converted TV at Goldstone.

Footage of the speeches at Honeysuckle Creek for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 on Saturday 20th July 2019. External link to Vimeo.

Carnarvon’s Paul Dench remembered.

Honeysuckle’s Gillian Schoenborn (nee Morris) with her lovely Textile artwork interpretation of the HSK site. The ghost of the antenna is done in fine silk with machine stitched detail. The “One Small Step” installation depicted in her artwork was unveiled on July 20th 2019.

Photo was taken in the Shepparton Textile Artists Inc Exhibition at Shepparton Art Museum in March. Here’s another photo.

In July 1969, ANU’s Dr. Stuart Ross Taylor performed the first chemical analysis of the lunar samples returned by Apollo 11. Hamish Lindsay interviewed him in 1994. Audio now available – in the Interviews section.

Farewell to the Tidbinbilla Coll Tower – June 2020.

A return to Island Lagoon: Jan Delgado shares some footage she took at Island Lagoon, October 2019.

Hamish Lindsay speaks with Mike Dinn about Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek and Apollo. Recorded 29 May 1994 and now published!

Building Tidbinbilla: Les Tarn.

Members of the DSIF42 construction team, circa September 1964. More Tid construction photos coming soon.

Hear Hamish Lindsay’s 1994 interview with Kevyn Westbrook, Ground Communication Controller at Muchea Space Tracking Station during Project Mercury.

Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt visits Honeysuckle Creek on 3rd May 1973.

Essay by Hamish Lindsay; Pre-mission Simulations;
Launch video; Audio interviews; Honeysuckle Comms;
Re-entry; Thanks for support of the mission, Cheryl Moore’s Tidbinbilla story.

Apollo 13 explosion at 1:07pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday 14 April 1970

Bruce Window’s notes on audio items of interest from the newly-released MOCR console audio recordings.

Glen Nagle has produced a wonderful PDF booklet version of Hamish Lindsay’s Apollo 13 essay. Click the image for a 3.6MB PDF file.

“For Apollo 13, the MSF and NASCOM networks will provide continuous and instantaneous contact with the astronauts, launch vehicle, and spacecraft from launch to splashdown. The MSFN will also retrieve data from the experiments left on the lunar surface by the astronauts.
During the mission, 30-foot antennas at all 13 MSFN stations will track the spacecraft from launch to a distance of about 10,000 miles. At this point, 85-foot dishes at three prime sites will take over to provide a continuous link for voice, telemetry and tracking data to the Moon and back. It is these three prime antennas that will maintain contact with the two spacecraft during the lunar phase of the mission.

These 85-foot sites are located about 120 degrees apart near Madrid, Spain; Goldstone, California; and Canberra, Australia. Station Directors are Dan Hunter, Madrid; George Fariss, Goldstone; and Don Gray, Canberra. Additional support will come from the 210-foot antenna system at Goldstone.

Linking the MSFN stations, Goddard and the Houston Mission Control Center (MCC), are the nearly three million circuit miles of communication channels in the NASCOM Network. Using satellites, submarine cables, land lines, microwave systems, and high frequency radio facilities for access links, NASCOM is the link through which all Apollo data must flow to and from Houston MCC and the spacecraft.

The NASCOM control center is located here at Goddard. Regional communications switching centers are in London, Madrid, Canberra, Honolulu, and Guam.”

Goddard News for 13th April 1970. Click the image for a 3MB PDF file.

Other scans of Goddard News can be found here.

Related: Neil Armstrong visits Goddard.

Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert work on water management in Aquarius in this composite photo.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 1, 15 January 1970.

5.0 MB PDF file.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

MSFN Station Directors, July 1967.

Click the image for a 2.3MB two-page PDF file. Also on this page.

Apollo 8, onboard audio, as downlinked to Honeysuckle Creek.

Apollo 17 EVA 2, Shorty Crater, as seen at Honeysuckle Creek.

Skylab at Honeysuckle Creek – Super 8 footage from John Saxon.

Remembering Stan Lebar.

Stan Lebar, 1925 – 23 December 2009, was Program Manager for the Westinghouse Apollo TV Camera Program.

A Pinpoint Landing

50th Anniversary of the Apollo 12 Mission
15 – 25 November 1969.

Click here for a PDF file of the Manned Flight Awareness crew portraits.

Listen to:
The electifying launch of Apollo,
the “amazing, fantastic” lunar landing,
and Pete Conrad spot Surveyor from the lunar surface,

all recorded at Honeysuckle Creek.

Also see Hamish Lindsay’s Apollo 12 essay.

Goddard News for 2nd December 1963 marks the loss of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated just ten days earlier in Dallas.

Related: John Lambie on hearing the awful news about President John F. Kennedy.

Scans of Goddard News will be placed here.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 15,
25 November 1969. 4.6 MB PDF file.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Down Under Comes Up Live – 25 November 1966.

On November 25th 1966, viewers across the United Kingdom saw the first live television pictures to be sent by satellite from Australia – from the brand new OTC Earth Station at Carnarvon, via Intelsat IIa.

Read about it in the Carnarvon OTC section. See also, “Down Under Comes Up Live” by Cyril Vahtrick, in the OTC section.

Darwin stations not forgotten.

New sign on the Apollo Road.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 14, 22 October 1969.

5.1 MB PDF file.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 13, 15 September 1969.

The "Royal Golden Shellback Court" aboard the USNS Redstone assembles for the last time following the Apollo 11 mission. The Redstone will no longer be giving Apollo mission support, so the Royal Court held the last initiation of lowly pollywogs into the "Loyal Golden Order of Neptunus Rex" as the MSFN tracking ship crossed latitiude 000° 00' 000", longitude 180° 00' 00" on its return to Victor Pier, Pearl City, Oahu.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

See also the Tidbinbilla section.

Paul and Joan Dench remember their time in Carnarvon.

Wally Schirra at Carnarvon – updated photos.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 12, 15 August 1969.

MSFN performance for Apollo 11 was summarized in an operations message from the network operations manager to the MSFN on July 24, at 1630Z:

“There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that all of you comprise the greatest tracking network in the world. Your performance was magnificent.”

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Many are remembering and giving thanks for pioneering Flight Director, Christopher Kraft, who has died in Houston. NASA has a tribute here.

Dr Kraft visited Carnarvon as part of his trip to be present at the opening of Honeysuckle Creek in March 1967.

Message from Christopher Kraft, 14 March 1974, on the occasion of Honeysuckle leaving the Manned Space Flight Network.

Moon Week in Canberra

There’s plenty to see and do for everyone during Moon Week in Canberra with many events open to the general public.

The Australian National University has produced a comprehensive and very helpful booklet.

Learn more at this link.

Most of the Honeysuckle Creek team for Apollo 11.
Photo by Hamish Lindsay. Other photos here.

In the countdown to the Apollo 11 50th anniversary, listen to these 24 NASA Audio News Features, hosted by broadcaster Willard Scott.

For the Apollo 11 50th anniversary, here’s a vector version of the mission patch. It’s scalable to any size.

Kangaroos on the Moon. (Produced for the 40th anniversary.)

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 11, 20 July 1969.

Apollo 11 Mission a Success.
Honeysuckle Creek Engineer Develops 642B Utility Package.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

As the Apollo 11 50th anniversary approaches, here’s a vector version of the mission patch. Scalable to any size, it could be useful for designing banners – or for projecting onto the side of the VAB. :-)

Click each image for a 700kb PDF file. These were designed for the celebrations in Canberra. You are very welcome to use either. Credit or a link back here would be appreciated.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 8, 05 June 1969.

Australian Stations Since Project Mercury.
Parkes Antenna Will Support AS-506.
A5-506 Now on Pad.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

DSN Operations Manager Richard Mallis is remembered as a pioneer of the Deep Space Network. Richard died on 26th May. In this 2009 video interview, he spoke about the origins of the DSN.

Please also click here for a tribute.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 10, 25 June 1969.

“Two revolutions of the Moon have been added to the flight plan for the Apollo 11 mission to improve communications during critical maneuvers and to allow more time for decontamination of equipment exposed to the lunar environment.”

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Another version of Hamish Lindsay’s classic Honeysuckle photo.
Scan by Glen Nagle.

Honeysuckle Creek as seen from the Powerhouse before the opening. Transparency preserved by Bryan Sullivan, scan by Colin Mackellar.

Updated scan of the Cooby Creek staff, August 1969.

NASA Associate Administrator George Mueller, in Canberra on 1st December 1969 for a groundbreaking ceremony for DSS43, is presented with Hamish Lindsay’s photo of Honeysuckle tracking Apollo 8.

DSS42 and 43 Tidbinbilla Viking Shifts, 14th October 1976.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 5, 03 May 1963.

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 6, 01 April 1969. (Click the image for a 1.6MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Those already online can be found here.

Honeysuckle Creek and Venus, at dawn, December 1975. New scan.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 4, 20 March 1969. (Click the image for a 4.3MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago. This TIB was preserved by Honeysuckle’s Bernard Smith. Those already online can be found here.

50th Anniversary of Apollo 9, the first manned test of the Lunar Module, 03–13 March 1969.

Read Alan Gilham’s story of life in Carnarvon, 1965 – 1967.

Teletype Operator Glenis Wilkerson celebrates her 21st Birthday at Muchea Tracking Station, while waiting for the (delayed) launch of John Glenn’s Friendship 7.

RAAF Flight Surgeon Warren Bishop with US Flight Surgeon Ed Beckman and Capcom Astronaut Gordon Cooper celebrate at Muchea after Friendship 7.

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 3, 20 February 1969. (Click the image for a 4.2MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago. This TIB was preserved by Honeysuckle’s Bernard Smith. Those already online can be found here.

Caltex Distributor (and local identity) Val Jeffery, and assistant Rex Eades, deliver fuel to Honeysuckle Creek. From The Caltex Dealer and Distributor, Fourth Quarter, 1966.

People at Carnarvon, 1964. From a four-page liftout on the Dedication of Carnarvon Tracking Station.

Some aerial footage of Honeysuckle Creek, taken in early January 2019. To see it in full screen, here is a direct link to Vimeo.

Technical Information Bulletin of the MSFN, Vol. 6, No. 1, 03 January 1969. (Click the image for a 5.6MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

This TIB was preserved by Honeysuckle’s Bernard Smith.

Those TIBs already online can be found here.

Apollo 8 memorabilia. In the Apollo 8 section.

Click the image above for a special PDF version of Hamish Lindsay’s Apollo 8 Essay, for the 50th anniversary.

It is a 64 page, 8MB PDF file. Our very special thanks to Glen Nagle for producing this PDF version.

This is a 64-page file that would be ideal for printing, or viewing on a tablet. For best results, save the PDF to your device, and then the audio links will open separately in your web browser.

Apollo 8 Audio Highlights – recorded at Honeysuckle Creek.

Apollo 8 Onboard Audio – downlinked to Honeysuckle Creek.

Apollo 8 Recollections from space trackers.

Honeysuckle Creek tracks Apollo 8 on its first lunar orbit.

Photo by Hamish Lindsay, around 9:00pm AEST, Christmas Eve 1968.
Scan by Colin Mackellar.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy
Carols for HSK / HSKX.

Laurie Turner, Christmas 1972.

Honeysuckle Creek
The story of Tom Reid, a little dish, and Neil Armstrong’s First Step – by Andrew Tink

Released 01 November 2018.

“A wonderful and inspirational story, beautifully told. As hard as it is to do this extraordinary yarn justice, Andrew Tink has done it.” – Peter FitzSimons.

Click here for more about the book.

Royal Australian Mint Moon Landing Coins to commemorate the Moon Landing.

Released 01 November 2018.

Click here for the Royal Australian Mint catalogue page (PDF) – or here for a high res scan of the catalogue image of the coins (3MB jpg).

Also read the text on the back of the uncirculated coins set.

Click here for more about the coins.

Technical Information Bulletin of the Manned Space Flight Network, Vol. 5, No. 21, 01 November 1968.

The TIBs were published twice monthly by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago.

This TIB was preserved by Goddard’s Dick Nafzger and scanned by Goldtsone’s Bill Wood. Those TIBs already online can be found here.

JPL Deputy Director, Larry James, is speaking at Questacon on Wednesday 17th October at 6:30pm, as part of NASA’s 60th Anniversary celbrations. Details here.

This souvenir was produced to mark NASA’s 15th Anniversary in October 1973. Kept by Bernard Smith. Click for a 2 page PDF file.