Apollo 13 was a real test of men and equipment –

and was the mission when Honeysuckle’s resources
(as well as those of Tidbinbilla, Carnarvon, Parkes and elsewhere) were stretched to the limit.

and also some audio of the period up to re-entry.

The display in the background on this photo shows the ground track of the Apollo 13 Command Module during re-entry.

Click on the image for an enlargement of the track. Image supplied by Mike Dinn.

This article from The Canberra Times, April 9th 1970, shows how seriously training was taken at Honeysuckle.

Just a few days later, that training was needed as Mission Control desparately needed high bit rate data from the spacecraft to deal with the unfolding emergency.

Click for a larger (590kb) version.
(A scan of the original photo has been substituted for the lower quality newspaper rendering.)

This cartoon by Ed von Renouard was autographed by Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert when he visited Honeysuckle Creek.

Thankfully the Lunar Module’s descent engine did the job, and there was no need to try to light the SPS!

Click for a larger version.