16 Jul 1999
CSIRO's ROLE IN FIRST MOON LANDING
It was one great step for mankind, and it was taken at 12.56 pm on 21 July, Aust
ralian Eastern Time, just 30 years ago.
"Eight minutes after the broadcast started the Moon had risen into the Parkes t
elescope's full field of view. Parkes was a much larger dish than Honeysuckle, c
aptured more signal and so produced better pictures," says Dr Reynolds.
"Houston switched to Parkes and remained with those pictures for the rest of the
two-and-a-half hour broadcast. Using a less sensitive 'off-axis' detector Parke
s had also seen the 'first step' six minutes earlier, but those pictures
were of lower quality and were not broadcast internationally."
More Information:
Dr John Reynolds, Officer-in-Charge, CSIRO Parkes Observatory
Tel: (02) 6861 1700
Mr John Sarkissian, CSIRO Parkes Observatory
Tel: (02) 6861 1745 or (02) 6863 4848
Mr Darren Osborne, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (Tidbinbilla)
Tel: (02) 6201 7838
Mr Mike Dinn
Tel: (02) 6281 4877
Former Director, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (Tidbinbilla);
ran Honeysuckle Creek Manned Flight Tracking Station for Apollo missions,
1967-1971
Mr Neil Mason
Tel: (02) 6862 2439
Dr Miriam Baltuck, NASA representative in Australia
Tel: (02) 6281 8501
Historic betacam footage of Apollo preparations at Parkes available.
Helen Sim, Communications Manager, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: hsim@atnf.csiro.au
Tel: +61 2 9372 4251
Fax: +61 2 9372 4444
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