Australian scientists celebrate Apollo 11 In honour of the
Apollo 11 lunar mission, the Australian space community has bid
farewell to a piece of history and welcomed a boost in funding
for the next generation in space technology. Science minister,
Senator Kim Carr, presided over a ceremony today to mark this
week's 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 at the Canberra Deep Space
Communication Complex (CDSCC) in Tidbinbilla. The ceremony
hailed and farewelled the radio antenna, called DSS46, which in
1969 was based at Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, and
received and relayed the first images of astronaut Neil
Armstrong's steps on the moon. DSS46 received the Apollo 11
telecast from the surface of the moon from 12.51 to 1.02pm on 21
July 1969 (AEST). It fed the signals to US Mission Control in
Houston, which then relayed them via satellite to the world.
CDSCC director Dr Miriam Baltuck describes DSS46 as "an old
dear", which has now been superseded by more up-to-date space
communications technology. She says while