Don Gray

1931 – 2014
Island Lagoon, Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek

Donald Joseph Gray Honeysuckle Creek Station Director 1970–78. Photo: by Hamish Lindsay.

Don Gray Station Director at Tidbinbilla – photo taken 1967 or 1968. Scan by Colin Mackellar.

Don Gray and Mike Dinn (circled) are among this gathering of MSFN StaDirs and Assistant StaDirs at Houston in 1968. Between them is Jack Dowling, StaDir at MILA. Preserved and scanned by Mike Dinn.

Don Gray presents commemorative posters to Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott (left) and Alfred Worden. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Read the story in Hamish’s Apollo 15 essay.

Happy days at Honeysuckle – celebrating a successful Apollo 16 mission with some Swan lager. From left: Jerry Bissicks (USB), Don Gray (Station Director) replenishing Saxon’s glass, Geoff Seymour (Computer/Telemetry Engineer), John Saxon (Ops Supervisor), Ian Grant (Deputy Station Director), and Milton Turner (Departmental Admin Officer). Photo and text: Hamish Lindsay.

Don Gray and Mike Dinn at the 40th anniversary of the opening of DSS-43 at Tidbinbilla, 13th April 2013. Photo: Colin Mackellar.

Don Gray at the 40th anniversary of the opening of DSS-43 at Tidbinbilla, 13th April 2013. Photo: CDSCC.

Don Gray and Mike Dinn on the steps of the Tidbinbilla Operations Building, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Deep Space Network, 19th March 2014. Photo: Mike Dinn.

Don Gray and Mike Dinn in front of the Tidbinbilla Operations Building, 19th March 2014. The huge 70 metre dish of DSS-43 towers behind them. Photo: Mike Dinn. Large, Larger (700kb)

Mike Dinn shared this eulogy at Don’s funeral in Canberra on 14th November 2014 –

A colleague was telling me the other day that a group at the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station was set a task by Don which they carried out so well that he took them to the Queanbeyan Leagues Club for lunch. Typical of Don. A great person.

I knew him well through his space tracking career. He started at Woomera in 1963, working at the Island Lagoon Deep Space station and then came to Tidbinbilla in 1966 as Deputy Director, for Manned Flight – the Apollo moon landing program. (You young ones will have to ask your parents what this was all about). I was the other deputy at Tid at the time.

In 1967 he became Director at Tidbinbilla and was there through the first landing and step on the moon. In 1970 he moved to Honeysuckle for the remaining Apollo missions, then Skylab, then Honeysuckle as a Deep Space Station until 1978.

During the Woomera period, Don and family spent several months at JPL’s Goldstone station, and lived in Barstow – Mojave Desert. Don led a team of Australians accepting new equipment for Woomera. His personality was such that he had no problems whatsoever in dealing with all levels of JPL and made many life-long friends.

When Don took on his Manned Spaceflight role at Tidbinbilla he brought a wealth of relevant experience with him, and this time got to know all the Goddard and Houston individuals, developing more life-time relations. He was on first name terms with all the players. However he still ensured that Australia’s independence in management of the stations was protected, though doing this with his usual good humour.

He and I had a memorable visit to Goddard and Houston in 1968. (Col has a picture of us on the Honeysuckle website). This was a Station Directors’ get together, and Don really made sure that the lunar “new boys” knew how best to use the new S Band system for lunar missions.

Don was the perfect working colleague. Technically completely competent, could look at the broad and detailed pictures as needed, got to know everybody as personalities, and took an interest in their welfare.

The best summaries of how the spacetracking world saw Don came in a number of emails I received recently:

From John –
“Don was an unflappable spacetracker who never let problems, regardless of their severity, spoil his day. He was one of the best”. J.H.

From Keith –
“I vividly remember him from the Tidbinbilla days as the able and personable station director who seemed never to let anything phase him. An infectious sense of humour and always a gentleman!” K.B.

Then from Jeff –
“I have nothing but pleasant memories of Don, quietly competent and very helpful when one had problems. One of the best.” J.N.

So, Peg and family, I know you will miss him terribly, but if it’s any compensation, Don played a major role in human-kind’s exploration of space. He will be remembered by many.

Mike Dinn

14 November 2014.