The Manned Space Flight Network

TLI groundtrack map from Apollo 14.

Large (1MB), Larger (3.4MB).

Bryan Sullivan preserved this map which was in the Honeysuckle Creek Operations Room.

Note the terrain masks around each station – indicating the range at which a spacecraft in a 100 nautical mile orbit could be tracked. These terrain masks give a good idea of the terrain around each station. These also demonstrate the need for the tracking ships and the ARIA fleet during TLI and Re-entry. (The ARIA are not indicated on this map.)

Hamish Lindsay adds:

Note the ideal circular horizon profile around Carnarvon from its surrounding dead flat desert, while Honeysuckle Creek has a distorted horizon profile due to the mountainous terrain around it. Also it is interesting to note that the Carnarvon keyhole of the 9 metre dish antenna (two dips in the profile where the antenna can’t go, a feature of the XY mount of the MSFN stations) are north/south, and at Honeysuckle Creek the 26 metre dish has an east /west keyhole.

Scan: Colin Mackellar.