Visitors
Over the years, many visitors dropped in at Honeysuckle, including a number of astronauts.
Visitors included Alan Shepard, Harrison Schmitt, Walt Cunningham, David Scott, Jack Swigert, Tom Stafford, Thomas Paine, Christopher Kraft and many others.
Here are photos of some of Honeysuckle’s visitors –
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Honeysuckle had visits from many of the astronauts, some giving the station staff a talk. On 3 May 1973 Laurie Turner from the Telemetry section is pictured talking to Harrison Schmitt from Apollo 17, the second last man to leave the Moon’s surface. (And the last man to step onto it! ) Schmitt was the only geologist astronaut to visit the Moon. Photo and caption: Hamish Lindsay. |
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Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
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Dr. Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17) signing the master signature sheet during his visit to HSK on 3 May 1973. Standing L–R: (obscured?), Gerry Spear, Jim Kirkpatrick, Bill Waugh, Les Paal, Les Hughes, Martin Geasley, Don Gray (Station Director), Bernard Smith. Seated L–R: Bryan Sullivan, Cyril Fenwick, Tony Gerada. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Bryan Sullivan. |
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Dr. William Pickering is pictured being seen off by Station Director Tom Reid on 12th January 1969. Born in 1910 in Wellington, New Zealand, Dr William Pickering joined JPL during WWII and with his people, engineering skills and expertise in telemetry, became its Director in 1954. It was his Explorer 1 satellite that first put America in space on 31 January 1958. He died in March 2004. Photo by Hamish Lindsay. Visitors’ Book entry. The picture below shows Pickering (left) holding a model of Explorer 1 with James van Allen and Wernher von Braun. |
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Australia’s first astronaut, Dr Philip Chapman (left) came to have a look at Honeysuckle Creek and was shown over by Deputy Director Ian Grant. Dr Chapman was born in Melbourne in 1935 but grew up in Sydney. He graduated from Sydney University and in 1958 was stationed at our Mawson Base in Antarctica for two years. In May 1967 he became an American citizen to realise his dream to become an astronaut with NASA. He was selected in the 6th intake on 4 August 1967 and joined the elite band of Apollo astronauts. Unfortunately the nearest he came to enter space was as an Apollo 14 scientist. With no sign of a berth in the foreseeable future he decided he didn’t want to wait and left NASA in July 1972 to pursue other interests. Photo by Hamish Lindsay. |
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On 6 January 1967, Dr George E. Mueller (he insisted to me is pronounced ‘Miller’) visited the three tracking stations in the ACT where I tagged along as photographer. Here he is holding an audience of HSK people discussing the antenna boresight television. Behind him from the left is Greg Thrum, STC’s ACT Manager; Station Director Bryan Lowe; Chief Engineer Wes Moon; and seated is Servo Operator Brian Bell. Born in 1918, Dr Mueller had a brilliant career in the space industry. In his NASA years he was Deputy Associate Administrator of Manned Space Flight in 1963, Acting Director of the Apollo Program Office in 1964, and Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight from 1963 to1969. Known as the Father of the Space Shuttle, he was also responsible for the ‘all up testing’ of the Saturn V rocket. He tossed out all the cautious existing plans by the rocket engineers and telescoped the trials to speed up progress. Von Braun admitted that without Mueller’s proposals the lunar landing would never have taken place before 1969. Mueller also sketched out the original concept of the Skylab laboratory. He was awarded three NASA Distinguished Service Medals. Photo and text by Hamish Lindsay. |
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6 January 1967, members of the MSFN Network Inspection Team, led by George Muller, visited Honeysuckle Creek. This signed poster was presented to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Supply, Lloyd Bott. He had helped organise their trip around Australia. Photo: Ken Sheridan, image enhancement Colin Mackellar. |
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Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr. was born in East Derry, New Hampshire, on 18 November 1923 and joined NASA as an astronaut for the Mercury program in April 1959. He was the first American and the second man in space in Freedom 7 in a sub-orbital flight in May 1961. He commanded Apollo 14 with Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell and made a successful landing on the Moon in 1971. He visited the station with Dr Eberhardt Rees on 9 September 1968. In the above photo Mike Dinn receives an item from Dr. Eberhardt Rees.: L-R – Ian Homewood (Dept of Supply, Projects Branch), Eberhardt Rees (Wernher von Braun’s Deputy and second Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center), Alan Shepard, Mike Dinn (Deputy Director), Tom Reid (Station Director – hidden behind Mike Dinn). Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Scan: Mike Dinn. Click the image for a 800kb version. |
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Here he is farewelled by Station Director Tom Reid. Shepard retired on 1 August 1974 and died on 21 July 1998. Photos: Hamish Lindsay. |
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Mike Dinn welcomes Alan Shepard as Hamish Lindsay (at far right) records the moment. A frame from the Super 8 movie by Ed von Renouard. |
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Astronaut Alan Shepard visits Honeysuckle on 9th September 1968. From left to right: Willson Hunter (Australian NASA Rep), Ian Homewood (Dept of Supply Projects Branch – died 1989), Eberhardt Rees (von Braun’s Deputy, succeeded him), Mike Dinn (Deputy Director), Tom Reid (Station Director) and Alan Shepard (first American in space). Photo: David Hooper. |
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Astronaut Alan Shepard visits Honeysuckle on 9th September 1968. Photo: David Hooper. |
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HSK Station Director Tom Reid, Astronaut Alan Shepard and Marshall Space Flight Center Director Eberhard Rees at Honeysuckle on 9th September 1968. Photo: preserved by Mike Dinn, scan by Colin Mackellar. High res version. |
See also this photo
on the People at Work page 1.
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NASA Administrator Dr Thomas Paine came to see Honeysuckle Creek on 25 February 1970. Here he is in the computer area watching Geoff Ruck working on a computer frame while Bryan Sullivan (in white shirt) explains its function. Station Director Don Gray (on the left) was his escort. Born in Berkeley, California, on 9 November 1921, he served as a submarine officer during WWII. He was NASA’s Deputy Administrator from 31 January 1968 until James Webb left when he was elevated to the top job on 21 March 1969. He was NASA’s third Administrator and steered it through the exciting years of the first Moon landings. He resigned from NASA on 15 September 1970 and died on 4 May 1992. Photo and text by Hamish Lindsay. |
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On another visit during the Deep Space days Dr Thomas Paine (left) makes a serious point to Don Gray, while John Saxon calls Track at JPL. Martin Geasley (right) is making a note in the Station Log. Photo and text by Hamish Lindsay. |
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Astronaut John L. Swigert was born in Denver, Colorado, on 30 August 1931 and was a fighter pilot in Japan and Korea before joining NASA on 4 April 1966. He was Assignment Support for the Apollo 7 and 11 missions and rose to back-up crew for Apollo 13. He replaced Ken Mattingly for the ill-fated Apollo 13 voyage to the Moon in April 1970. He paid a visit to Honeysuckle Creek on Tuesday 2 May 1972, shown here giving the station staff a lecture in the crew room. He left NASA on 1 August 1977 for political aspirations but died of cancer on 27 December 1982. Photo and text by Hamish Lindsay. |
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Lieutenant General Tom Stafford was born in Weatherford, Oklahoma on 17 September 1930 and enjoyed an illustrious space career. He joined the NASA astronaut team in their second intake
with the likes of Armstrong, Borman, Lovell, Conrad etc in 1962 and began
in space as Wally Schirra’s pilot in Gemini VI. He commanded Gemini
IX with Gene Cernan, then commanded the Apollo 10 mission with John Young
and Gene Cernan that paved the way for He ended his space flights commanding the International Apollo-Soyuz mission with Deke Slayton and Vance Brand. He left NASA in 1975 to return to the US Air Force, retiring on 1 November 1979. He paid a quick visit to Honeysuckle Creek on 12 January 1969 where he was shown around by Station Director Tom Reid. Visitors’ Book entry. Photo and text by Hamish Lindsay. |
Ozro Covington, Dale Call, Willson Hunter
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On a sunny summer day, 7 February 1969, Ozro M. Covington and Dale W. Call from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland paid Honeysuckle Creek a visit. From left: Willson Hunter (NASA Senior Science Rep in Canberra), Tom Reid (Station Director), Ozro Covington, Dale Call, and Bob Leslie (previously Station Director at Tidbinbilla). Photo: Hamish Lindsay. |
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Lord Richard Casey, Governor-General of Australia, visited Honeysuckle Creek in late 1967. He is shown here at the Servo console, looking through the window to the antenna. Chief Engineer Wes Moon is on the right, Station Director Tom Reid is just visible behind him. Richard Gardiner Casey (born 1890) trained as an Engineer. Before becoming Governor-General in 1965, he had held several ministerial positions in the Liberal Government, including several terms as Minister-in-Charge of the CSIR (later CSIRO). He was a key player in supporting Radioastronomy in Australia. He campaigned to build the 210 foot (64 metre) Radiotelescope at Parkes, and persuaded the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Commonwealth Government to provide sizeable grants. He was elected to the fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science in 1966 in recognition of his conspicuous service to the cause of science. In 1969, he was named Australian of the Year, and the third Australian Antarctic Base was named after him. He died in 1976. Photo: National Archives of Australia, NAA A1200, L64936. |
Ambassador Renzo di Carrobio and General Robert Aubinière
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Mike Dinn welcomed members of the ELDO Council to Honeysuckle on 8th May 1970. This photo was taken at the Servo console. Left to right: ELDO Secretary General, Ambassador Renzo di Carrobio, Mike Dinn, General Robert Aubinière, first Director General of the French space agency. ELDO, the European Launcher Development Organisation, is now part of the European Space Agency. |
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Mike Dinn with members of the ELDO Council to Honeysuckle on 8th May 1970. Thanks to Mike Dinn. |
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