Six hundred million people watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon in a televised broadcast on 21 July 1969. CSIRO’s Parkes Radio Telescope, Honeysuckle Creek tracking station near Canberra and NASA’s Goldstone station in California received these signals simultaneously. These signals were then relayed to Mission Control in Houston.
Parkes was originally planned as a back-up station in 1968. NASA alternated the signals between Goldstone (the prime receiving station) and Honeysuckle Creek for the best images. NASA switched to Parkes after they received better quality signals and pictures.
On 13 May 1969, the Minister of Supply, Ken Anderson, and the Minister for Education and Science, Malcolm Fraser, issued a joint statement announcing Parkes’ involvement in the Apollo 11 mission.
The Observatory and its surrounding roads were closed from 17 to 21 July to prevent undue interference from cars and other objects.
Apollo 11 was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre on 16 July with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard.
The Telescope tracked Apollo 11 uneventful journey for two days.
Armstrong had problems with the guidance system aboard the Lunar Module, the Eagle, upon arrival so he attempted a manual landing with less than 50 seconds of fuel left. The Eagle landed 6.5km (4 miles) down range from the planned landing site at 6.17am AEST.
The astronauts were scheduled to rest upon arrival, but Armstrong wanted to walk immediately. (He probably was too excited to sleep!) The moon would not rise over Parkes for another five hours!
Donning their space suits and depressing the cabin took longer than the astronauts anticipated. They left the Eagle just as the moon rose over Parkes.
Armstrong nervously stepped onto the moon at 12.56pm AEST. (His heart rate peaked at 112 beats per minute!)
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Meanwhile, back on earth, it was a typical winter’s day in Parkes—miserable weather with grey overcast skies and strong winds.
The Parkes Radio Telescope’s giant dish was fully tipped over to its zenith axis waiting to receive television pictures once the TV circuit breaker in the Eagle was pushed in.
Suddenly two sharp 110km (70mph) gusts of wind slammed against the dish causing the gears to change face.
The Control Tower’s atmosphere was tense as the dish shuddered and swayed above. Ominous rumblings overhead caused grave concerns, as these winds were ten times stronger than the safety regulations allowed.
John Bolton and Fox Mason were glued to the telescope’s controls during this critical time.
Mason kept a close watch on the signal strength indicator and moved the dish when necessary. He was not allowed to take a short break to view pictures in case the winds picked up and threatened signal reception. Bolton operated the feed rotator.
Bolton relaxed once the pictures appeared on the SSTV monitor in the Control Room.
Tracking continued for the whole duration of the moonwalk until 6.17pm AEST despite the bad weather at Parkes.
Two versions of broadcast occurred. NASA supplied the International broadcast to US networks and distributed worldwide whilst the Australian broadcast was sent to the Australian Broadcasting Commission [ABC] for distribution to local networks.
Australians actually witnessed Armstrong’s first steps and moonwalk about 0.3 seconds ahead of the rest of the world.
Parkes’ participation was no longer required for the rest of the mission.
The tower was reinforced prior to the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969.
© 2009 Carolyn Cash
More Information
Australia Telescope, Parkes Observatory, including Open Day 18-19 July 2009
Film – The Dish starring Sam Neil.
Radio Telescope Compact Array, Narrabri
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