Australian Tracking Stations Relay the Apollo 11 Moonwalk
1969-07-21
Australia's Tidbinbilla station supported the command module in lunar orbit. [1]
At 12.56 p.m. in eastern Australia on 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. Honeysuckle Creek supplied the television picture of those first steps. Eight and a half minutes into the broadcast, the signal switched to the larger Parkes telescope and remained there for the rest of the moonwalk. [1]
Australian stations tracked the spacecraft and passed signals through a communications network linking the mission to Houston and television audiences. Parkes supplied more than two hours of the broadcast, relaying pictures to millions of viewers. [1]
At Parkes, wind gusts reached about 110 kilometres an hour and shook the control room. While others watched the Moon, operator Neil “Fox” Mason kept his attention on the tracking and wind instruments. Holding the faint signal depended on controlling the telescope as the weather buffeted it. [1]
From Parkes, the pictures went to Sydney, where the signal was divided for Australian broadcasting and transmission to Houston. [1]
Related Diplomats
Sources
- CSIRO: Parkes and the Apollo 11 Moon landing
First steps, signal selection, and wind conditions
Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla roles; Parkes signal routed through Sydney to Australian broadcasting and Houston
- Sir John Keith Waller (1914–1992)
Biographical entry and cited archival bibliography
Related Reading
Cite This Article
Australian Tracking Stations Relay the Apollo 11 Moonwalk. Chanceries Diplopedia. Record fc4fc6d3ce1c810b9c73. https://chanceries.org/research/history/australia-1969-c147fcbb13/