Header image: Lupinus albus (altramuces o chochitos), by Calapito via Wikimedia Commons.
21.08.2023 - 11:53 / theunconventionalgardener.com / guest
The role downunder played in helping track the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.
It was on December 21, 1968, that Apollo 8 launched from Cape Kennedy, in Florida, sending US astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr and William Anders on the world’s first human mission to the Moon.
A few days later – on Christmas Eve Houston time, Christmas Day in Canberra – the three astronauts had just passed over the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon and were approaching a lunar sunrise when they sent back a historic Christmas message to the people of Earth.
Read more: Curious Kids: Why can I sometimes see the Moon in the daytime?
A few hours later, an Australian tracking station took over as prime data and relay receiving site for the mission.
Located among the gum trees and kangaroos just outside Canberra, Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station listened for the crucial acquisition of signal as the spacecraft emerged from behind the Moon on its final orbit, having fired its engine to return to Earth.
Houston, Apollo 8, over. Please be informed there is a Santa Claus.
The Apollo 8 mission was just the second crewed outing for the type of spacecraft that would ferry astronauts to the first lunar landing the following year.
Initially the mission was to test the lunar module in the safety of Earth orbit. But with that spacecraft still not ready, NASA took the bold decision to launch a command and service module around the Moon by itself as a precursor to a crewed landing.
Also spurring the decision was the belief that the Russians were close to launching their own Moon shot.
Apollo 8 was the first manned launch of a massive Saturn V rocket, the first rendezvous with the Moon, and the first time human eyes saw the far side of the Moon.
The six-day
Header image: Lupinus albus (altramuces o chochitos), by Calapito via Wikimedia Commons.
Lauren Alex O’ Hagan, Cardiff University
Header image: Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right). Jonathan Clarke personal collection, Author provided.
Header image: Chimpanzee Ham with Trainers. Image credit: NASA
Header image: Mission specialist Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The red planet. It may hold no life, but is it dead? [Image credit: NASA/JPL]
Header image: Blue Origin
Header image: Richard Bord/Getty Images
Header image: Virgin Galactic’s Carrier Aircraft VMS Eve and VSS Unity Take to the Skies (Virgin Galactic)
Lauren Samuelsson, University of Wollongong
Header image: Artist impression of a solar disk in space. Credit: NASA
Header image: One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. NASA