Carnarvon, Western Australia, was vital to the success of man's landing on the moon

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The historic moon landing happened 50 years ago but how many know that Carnarvon, a small West Australian town, was instrumental, indeed vital, in the success of the mission. Carnarvon is almost directly opposite NASA’s launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida and was best known for fresh seafood and mangoes. Spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral passed close to Carnarvon on their first orbits. The Carnarvon Tracking Station (CRO) is located 10km south of the town and was officially opened in 1964 and was the largest tracking station outside mainland USA. The dish weighs 300 tonnes and is 29.1 metres in diameter. Neil Armstrong’s famous words: ‘one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind’ were related to the world via the tracking station. Because of the remoteness of the site, the CRO had its own power station as any outage would have been catastrophic. The buildings were also air-conditioned and there was running water – benefits not often enjoyed in the town at that time. Nor was there any TV and small black and white monitors were set up in the local picture theatre so that the community could watch the landing. For many, this was their first experience of TV. Lauri Glocke was aged just 15 and working as a waitress when she talked herself into a job as an equipment operator despite having left school before completing Year 10. There were a number of women employed at the station. The station closed in 1987 but is now home to the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum. You might enjoy reading more about the involvement of Carnarvon by clicking on the link. The photo is of the moon over Uluru in Central Australia.