A Tribute to the men and women of
Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, Canberra, Australia
the wider Australian involvement
in manned and unmanned space exploration, and more!

Updated 19 March 2023. | News & Events 15 March 2023.

 

Featured for March 2023

Tidbinbilla’s Opening Day, 19 March 1965.
Click here for a full screen version.
Also see the Opening Day page and audio.


Honeysuckle Creek’s Opening Day, 17 March 1967.
Click here for a full screen version.
Also see the Opening Day section.


Prime Minister Gorton’s statement
John Lovering

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


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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Previously unpublished photos by Hamish Lindsay.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.


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Photos from the Honeysuckle opening album.


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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.


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Goddard Simulation flights to Honeysuckle Creek.

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


Apollo 9 – 3rd - 13th March 1969
featured featured featured

Apollo 9 54th anniv
Launch audio

Apollo 9 TV
Slow scan pictures

Apollo 9 and HSK
by Hamish Lindsay


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Honeysuckle Creek in its Deep Space configuration.


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Carnarvon from the Air.

A page of aerial photos of Carvarvon township, Tracking Station, and Satellite Earth Station.



See Previous featured items at this link. (Newest at the bottom.)


Also see some related (and some unrelated!) video at vimeo.com/honeysuckle.

Some of them are collected here.


Site Menu

Updates | News

Honeysuckle Creek

Intro
Early Days (Location, Construction, Early scenes, Opening)
The Station (Technical descriptions, photos)
Honeysuckle People, Stories. (incl. Visitors, StaDirs, Reunions, and more.)

Apollo Missions

The Manned Space Flight Network,
Mission Control Center - Houston
,

Preparing for Apollo, Goddard Sims, Station Readiness Tests,

Apollo Summary,

Apollo 1, Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 11 TV, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17, ALSEP, Skylab,

Leaving the MSFN.

Deep Space Missions

Last Days Honeysuckle Today The Books

Videos

Interviews

Space People

Other

Other Stations
Tidbinbilla
, Goldstone, Madrid, Carnarvon, Guam, Ascension Island, ARIA, Deakin Switch, Parkes, Muchea, Red Lake, Island Lagoon, Orroral Valley, Cooby Creek, Carnarvon OTC, OTC (Aust), BFEC, Santiago, Darwin.

Missions Supported by Other Stations
Mercury: Friendship 7, Faith 7.
Gemini:
Gemini 3, Gemini 4, Gemini 5, Gemini 12.
Mariner IV, Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, Surveyor, Pioneer, Viking, Voyager.

Department of Supply
Pioneers
, WRESAT, Woomera.

About / Contact

Tips on navigating the site
Links


Featured

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


Honeysuckle featured photo
Honeysuckle featured photo

Honeysuckle Creek
The story of Tom Reid, a little dish, and Neil Armstrong’s First Step
– by Andrew Tink, 2019.

Click for more about the book.

Royal Australian Mint Moon Landing Coins commemorate the Moon landing. 2019.

Click for more about the coins.


Honeysuckle in 1971

Neil Armstrong on the footpad – as seen at Honeysuckle Creek

Honeysuckle Creek:
a beautiful setting

Website by Colin Mackellar – photo taken 09 October 1971.


Prime Minister Gorton’s statement
Prime Minister Gorton’s statement

Australian Prime Minister John Gorton visits Honeysuckle Creek on the day of the Moon Landing, Monday 21 July 1969. Silent film (14MB MPEG4 file).

The Prime Minister after his tour inside Honeysuckle’s Operations building. Unedited news film runs for 5'14". A 21MB MPEG4 file.

Both clips courtesy of the ABC. See more of the Prime Minister’s visit here.


One Small Step: The Australian Story

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Watch “One Small Step: The Australian Story”, produced by Freehand TV in Sydney for the BBC, for the 40th anniversary in 2009.
This is a unique account of Australia’s role, and features key players from Honeysuckle Creek, Tidbinbilla and Parkes. Recommended.

(If you’ve seen the much-loved Australian comedy “The Dish”,
watch this to discover what actually happened.)


The Honeysuckle antenna today

Honeysuckle featured photoThe old Honeysuckle antenna was used for its last official track in January 2010.

DSS46 photos.

And here’s a tribute page of photos on the occasion of the shutdown.




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