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A Tribute to the men and women of
Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, Canberra, Australia

the wider Australian involvement
in manned and unmanned space exploration, and more!

Updated 01 March 2019. | News & Jottings 01 February 2019.

apollo50thaustralia.org (external link)
Join us for the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary in Australia.

Featured: March 2019.


Prime Minister Robert Menzies opens Tidbinbilla, 19 March 1965.	Prime Minister Harold Holt opens Honeysuckle, 17 March 1967.

The Manned Space Flight Network, 50 years ago

Technical Information Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 4, 20 March 1969. (Click the image for a 4.3MB PDF file)

The TIBs were published by the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Manned Flight Operations Division for Network personnel. Where possible, the plan is to publish on the front page the TIB which was current 50 years ago. This TIB was preserved by Honeysuckle’s Bernard Smith. Those already online can be found here.

50th Anniversary of Apollo 9, the first manned test of the Lunar Module, 03–13 March 1969.

Pioneering satellite TV broadcasts out of Australia

In Western Australia, on November 25th 1966, the OTC(A) Carnarvon Satellite Earth Station sent live television of Carnarvon families to their relatives in the UK. Read about it in the Carnarvon OTC section. (See also, “Down Under Comes Up Live” by Cyril Vahtrick, in the OTC section.)

On the Eastern states, on May 14th 1967, the Cooby Creek Transportable Ground Station in Queensland linked Boy Scouts from Toowoomba with their counterparts at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. Read about the broadcast in the Cooby Creek section.

Read Alan Gilham’s story of life in Carnarvon, 1965 – 1967.

“We have just switched video to Honeysuckle.” – Houston TV.

What happened with the Apollo 11 TV signal. Who received it, and where did it go? Direct link.

More here – including the Honeysuckle audio with transcript.

See Previous featured items at this link.

Site Menu

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Honeysuckle Creek

Intro
Early Days (Location, Construction, Early scenes, Opening)
The Station (Technical description, photos)
People, Stories. (incl. Visitors, StaDirs, Reunions, and more.)

Apollo Missions

The Manned Space Flight Network,
Mission Control Center - Houston,

Preparing for Apollo, Goddard Sims, Station Readiness Tests,

Apollo Summary,

Apollo 1, Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 11 TV, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17, ALSEP, Skylab,

Leaving the MSFN.

Deep Space Missions

Last Days Honeysuckle Today The Books The DVDs.

Interviews

Other

Other Stations
Tidbinbilla, Goldstone, Madrid, Carnarvon, Guam, Ascension Island, ARIA, Deakin Switch, Parkes, Muchea, Red Lake, Island Lagoon, Orroral Valley, Cooby Creek, Carnarvon OTC, OTC (Aust), BFEC, Santiago.

Missions Supported by Other Stations
Mercury: Friendship 7, Faith 7.
Gemini: Gemini 3, Gemini 4, Gemini 5, Gemini 12.
Mariner IV, Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, Surveyor, Pioneer, Viking, Voyager.

Department of Supply
Pioneers, WRESAT, Woomera.

About / Contact
Tips on navigating the site
Links

Also see some related (and some unrelated!) video at vimeo.com/honeysuckle.

Honeysuckle Creek
The story of Tom Reid, a little dish, and Neil Armstrong’s First Step – by Andrew Tink

Click for more about the book.

Royal Australian Mint Moon Landing Coins commemorate the Moon landing.

Click for more about the coins.

Message from Christopher Kraft, 14 March 1974, on the occasion of Honeysuckle leaving the Manned Space Flight Network.


A beautiful setting Website by Colin Mackellar – photo taken 09 October 1971.	Honeysuckle and Apollo 11 The Apollo 11 Mission. Apollo 11 TV. Search for the tapes.

Apollo 11 40th The Apollo 11 40th anniversary celebrations in July 2009.	The Honeysuckle Creek DVDs Including Ed von Renouard’s Apollo 11 Super 8 movie – and the full Restored Apollo 11 EVA.


Australian Prime Minister John Gorton visits Honeysuckle Creek on the day of the Moon Landing, Monday 21 July 1969. Silent film (14MB MPEG4 file).	The Prime Minister after his tour inside Honeysuckle’s Operations building. Unedited news film runs for 5'14". A 21MB MPEG4 file.
Both clips courtesy of the ABC. See more of the Prime Minister’s visit here.

One Small Step: The Australian Story

Watch “One Small Step: The Australian Story”, produced by Freehand TV in Sydney for the BBC, for the 40th anniversary in 2009.
This is a unique account of Australia’s role, and features key players from Honeysuckle Creek, Tidbinbilla and Parkes. Recommended. On YouTube.

(If you’ve seen the Australian comedy “The Dish”,
watch this to discover what actually happened.)

The Honeysuckle antenna today

The old Honeysuckle antenna was used for its last official track in January 2010.

DSS46 photos.

And here’s a tribute page of photos on the occasion of the shutdown.