Page 3919 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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onto the moon in July 1969, Honeysuckle Creek was the ground receiving station, and Armstrong's famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" were broadcast to the world via this station.
With the wind-down of the US space exploration program in the early 1980s, the increasing significance of the US space shuttle program and changes in space communication techniques, decisions were made in the US to decommission both stations. The Honeysuckle Creek space tracking station was closed down and handed over to the Commonwealth Department of Territories in December 1984, and the Orroral Valley tracking station was closed down and handed to the same Commonwealth department in March 1985.
Mr Deputy Speaker, earlier this year I was fortunate to be in the United States and visited, with my family, the Cape Kennedy Space Centre. My children, especially my 15-year-old son, was delighted to visit the centre and to inspect a large display recognising the Apollo project. He was delighted to see the name Honeysuckle Creek up in lights, and all visitors received a very professional guide through the project. However, our delight turned to frustration when an American woman asked her friend where Honeysuckle Creek was. In fact, she thought it was in America.
After further discussion it was discovered that there were only two people besides ourselves in that group of tourists who knew where Honeysuckle Creek was. It was a full 49-seater coach, so there were in fact 49 people, and of those only two were able to say that Honeysuckle Creek was in Australia. In fact they were our American tour guide and the guide who was taking us through the centre. I must say, though, that by the end of the discussion Canberra and Honeysuckle Creek were probably on everyone's lips. To a certain extent recommendation No. 3 follows from that. I am sure the Government will agree with recommendation No. 3, in paragraph 2.5. That recommendation reads:
That the Government ask the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to recognise and acknowledge the role played by the Honeysuckle Creek Space Tracking Station in the Apollo Moon Project at such sites as Cape Kennedy and the Aeronautics and Space Museum, Washington, DC.
I would also like to add, Mr Deputy Speaker, that when Mr Colonna, a senior Australian representative from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, appeared before the committee he was very receptive to the idea and thought that there was every chance it could happen, that we could have "ACT, Australia" put alongside Honeysuckle Creek. I think he even suggested a formal letter of request.
Unfortunately the major problem with both tracking stations has been that vandals were really the only ones to find where the stations were located. Vandalism is clearly
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