Terry Davies reports that space tracker Peter John Wickens (Island Lagoon and Tidbinbilla) passed away recently in South Australia.
Terry writes, “He made a lot of friends in the industry and was a real good bloke.”
John started at Island Lagoon as a Technician and member of the SpaceTrack team on 7th July 1969 and served there until that station closed at the end of 1972.
In that capacity, John worked on a range of planetary missions, including Mariner 6 and 7 which flew by Mars; Mariner 9 which became the first specacraft to enter Martian orbit; the solar orbit interplanetary Pioneers 6 and 9; and Pioneer 10 as it left Earth on its way to encounter Jupiter.
“After DSS41 closed, John and a couple of others were transferred to my shift at DSS43 Tidbinbilla. I found John was a knowledgeable and competent digital technician.
John and I were interested in gliding and together with a couple of other ex Woomera people joined the gliding club at Lake George. Our training of several months to go solo was abruptly terminated by a fatal crash of the training glider.
I lost track of John when I left Tidbinbilla in 1975 for other employment.”
