WRESAT – Australia’s first satellite

The flight

 

After a frustrating delay the previous day when the countdown was scrubbed 30 seconds before liftoff, WRESAT was launched at 2:19pm Central Australian Time on Wednesday November 29, 1967.

Dr Peter Pockley of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Science Unit gave a live commentary of the launch on ABC Radio.

 

Frames from a WRE film

Driving to the pad
Back at Woomera, WRESAT is driven to the launch site.

Mating to the rocket
Mating to the rocket.

Rollback
Rollback.

Raising the launch vehicle
Raising the vehicle.

Raising the launch vehicle
Raising the vehicle.

Raising the launch vehicle
Raising the vehicle.

Aerial view
Aerial view of the pad.

Nearing launch
Nearing launch.

WRESAT in flight
Off she goes.

WRESAT launch sequence

WRESAT launch sequence

WRESAT roars off the pad at 2:19pm Central Australian Time on Wednesday November 29, 1967.

From Des Barnsley’s collection, scanned by Colin Mackellar.

WRESAT launch

WRESAT launch footage

This 11.2MB MPEG4 video file is from a WRE / Department of Supply film.
(Click the image to open it in a new window.)

WRESAT impact areas

WRESAT impact areas

WRE illustration.
From Des Barnsley’s collection, scanned by Colin Mackellar.

WRESAT launch

WRESAT’s orbital track
was launched from Woomera at 2:19pm Central Time on Wednesday November 29, 1967.
From Des Barnsley’s collection, scanned by Colin Mackellar.

orbital elements

Orbital elements

From Des Barnsley’s collection, scanned by Colin Mackellar.