Space Communications Antenna
This antenna was originally known as DSK. It was built in 1965 and located at the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in the Australian Capital Territory. Its role was to support the Apollo missions, beginning with Apollo 7 in October 1968. On 21 July 1969 (Australian time) this antenna received and relayed to the world the famous television images of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon.
Following the end of the Apollo and Skylab programmes, the station was converted for use in NASA's Deep Space Network, with the antenna given the new designation DSS-44. In this role, the antenna supported many missions, including those to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun, until the closure of the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in December 1981.
In 1983 the antenna was moved to its current location at Tidbinbilla, re-designated DSS-46 and modified to expand its capabilities for early launch acquisition (tracking a spacecraft after it has launched from Earth). The design and small dish size allowed it to move rapidly, making it ideal for tracking those deep-space spacecraft as they orbited and then departed the Earth. In this function, the antenna supported NASA and international missions studying the Sun, Earth, Moon and the planets in our Solar System until its retirement from deep space service in December 2009, shortly after I took this image. In May 2010 the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics declared the antenna a Historical Aerospace Site, and as such it remains in place.
In this parked configuration, the antenna reaches a height of 35m. The dish is 26m in diameter. The small antennas on the sides are acquisition aids used to help receive the signals of fast-moving spacecraft travelling in low Earth orbit.
A dramatised version of the real events concerning antenna support of Neil Armstrong's first steps featured in the Australian film 'The Dish' in 2000.
Space Communications Antenna
This antenna was originally known as DSK. It was built in 1965 and located at the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in the Australian Capital Territory. Its role was to support the Apollo missions, beginning with Apollo 7 in October 1968. On 21 July 1969 (Australian time) this antenna received and relayed to the world the famous television images of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon.
Following the end of the Apollo and Skylab programmes, the station was converted for use in NASA's Deep Space Network, with the antenna given the new designation DSS-44. In this role, the antenna supported many missions, including those to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun, until the closure of the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in December 1981.
In 1983 the antenna was moved to its current location at Tidbinbilla, re-designated DSS-46 and modified to expand its capabilities for early launch acquisition (tracking a spacecraft after it has launched from Earth). The design and small dish size allowed it to move rapidly, making it ideal for tracking those deep-space spacecraft as they orbited and then departed the Earth. In this function, the antenna supported NASA and international missions studying the Sun, Earth, Moon and the planets in our Solar System until its retirement from deep space service in December 2009, shortly after I took this image. In May 2010 the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics declared the antenna a Historical Aerospace Site, and as such it remains in place.
In this parked configuration, the antenna reaches a height of 35m. The dish is 26m in diameter. The small antennas on the sides are acquisition aids used to help receive the signals of fast-moving spacecraft travelling in low Earth orbit.
A dramatised version of the real events concerning antenna support of Neil Armstrong's first steps featured in the Australian film 'The Dish' in 2000.