Welcome to CarnarvonSpace

Revision as of 06:02, 25 November 2006

Site under construction

FPQ-6 Radar Antenna

This site complements the forthcoming book by Paul Dench and Alison Gregg: 'Carnarvon & Apollo: One Giant Leap for a Town'. Both book and website will tell the extraordinary story of how Carnarvon (population 2500, in the remote northwest of Australia) became the location for the world's largest space tracking station outside mainland USA. Learn how and why this happened, and celebrate the work of the NASA Carnarvon Space Tracking Station, the Carnarvon OTC Earth Station, and the life and times of Carnarvon people during those exciting years.

Public interest in Space research in Western Australia had grown from the early 1960s, spurred on by the work of the small Muchea Tracking Station near Perth and the excitement of seeing for the first time satellites orbiting overhead. On 20 February 1962 Perth achieved fame as 'The City of Light' when Astronaut John Glenn described seeing the lights of Perth left burning through the night to welcome him.

NASA's next generation of manned spaceflight projects required a more intense level of technical support from stations better suited to the orbital inclinations needed to send a spacecraft to the Moon. Carnarvon was ideally placed. In August 1962 NASA announced that work would begin immediately on establishing the Carnarvon Space Tracking Station to support its planned Gemini and Apollo missions. From 1963 until its closure in 1975 the Carnarvon Space Tracking Station (call-sign CRO) supported a huge range of scientific and exploratory missions - manned and unmanned - through NASA's peak years of operations in the race to put a man on the Moon.

Carnarvon's role in Space did not end there, however. In 1966 the Overseas Telecommunication Commision, Australia, established the nearby Carnarvon OTC Earth Station - Australia's first - to ensure reliable communications for CRO. Later it assumed a tracking role for the European Space Agency. Its last major function was the prime command role for the Giotto mission's rendezvous with Halley's Comet in March 1986. The station closed in 1987.

Since then Carnarvon Shire Council and other groups have worked together to convert the remaining OTC dishes and buildings to form the nucleus of the Western Australian Space Museum Carnarvon. Although this is still under development, it is hoped that it will eventually provide a full record of WA's significant involvement in space technology and exploration.

Copyright Paul Dench & Alison Gregg ... mailto:info@carnarvonspace.com
Last updated: 25 November 2006

Terry Kierans' related Carnarvon site:  http://www.crotrak.com/