Other tracking stations



The other Prime (85 foot) Apollo stations

Tidbinbilla
Goldstone
Madrid
Tidbinbilla
DSN
and HSK’s Apollo wing
Goldstone
Apollo and DSN
Fresnedillas (Madrid)
Apollo and DSN

 

Other Apollo MSFN stations

Carnarvon
Guam
Ascension
Carnarvon
Gemini and Apollo
Guam
Apollo
Ascension Island
Apollo and DSN

Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft
ARIA
Apollo

 

Other stations and centres

Muchea
Sydney Video, OTC Sydney
Red Lake
OTC Sydney
Apollo (to come)
Parkes Radio Telescope
Apollo and DSN support

Muchea
Red Lake
Island Lagoon
Muchea
Project Mercury
Red Lake – Woomera
Mercury and Gemini

Orroral Valley
Cooby Creek
Carnarvon OTC
Orroral Valley
STADAN, Apollo
Carnarvon OTC
Apollo comms support


Please note: Not all the tracking stations are covered here. If you worked at one of the
others, or on one of the tracking ships, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Other Centres

Bochum Radio Observatory, (West) Germany

 

Manned Space Flight Network Tidbinbilla Goldstone Madrid

Tidbinbilla Goldstone Madrid



A diverse array of tracking stations was called in to support the Apollo Program, but three new 85 foot (26m) tracking stations were built especially to support the missions – Honeysuckle Creek, Goldstone, and Fresnedillas (near Madrid).

These sites were near the existing DSN stations at Goldstone (DSS 11), Tidbinbilla (DSS 42), and Robledo de Chavela (DSS 61). Each of these had new buildings and receivers and other equipment were added to these DSN stations.

These nearby Unified S-Band tracking stations were known as “wing” stations. They were not complete MSFN stations but provided redundant antenna and USB equipment (transmitters and receivers). They had no Telemetry or Command computers and associated equipment – or the communications links to / from Houston and Goddard.

There was another reason for the wing stations. At lunar distances, the narrow beam width of the antennas at S-band meant that one antenna would be needed to track the orbiting Command / Service Module, while the other would track the Lunar Module.

In addition to the 85' antennae, there were many smaller stations in support roles. As well, NASA used the 210' (64 m) DSN antenna at Goldstone (DSS 14) and the 64m CSIRO Radio Telescope at Parkes, to assist with reception of TV and other data.



If you have any photos or info on these tracking stations –
or on others that supported Apollo – any input would be greatly appreciated.
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