Continuing my story, be sure to see Parts One, Two and Three and Four

While the station would provide a crucial link with spacecraft floating overhead for more than a decade, there is one moment in it’s history that stands out.
Almost exactly 50 years ago, it was this station, this satellite dish, that relayed the first 8 minutes of footage of the #Apollo11 moonwalk.
Which includes, of course, the very first step - humanity’s first ever moment standing on extraterrestrial terrain.
Visiting the remains of the station, the hills rising around you, the cold alpine air stinging your skin, it is stupefying to think that here, within feet of where you are standing, passed a signal, a thin stream of data, that showed to the entire world that humanity has it within itself to reach out and walk on another celestial body, a new location in the universe.
Every time you hear Neil Armstrong say his “one small step” couplet, it is because of the people and equipment that was here. It is a fundamentally moving experience.

Fursuit by  Onefurall
Photos by Daelyn

The full story is that there were in fact 3 stations receiving the footage from Apollo 11, Honeysuckle Creek, Goldstone in the USA and the beautiful Parkes telescope, about 300km north of Honeysuckle.
But, while the size of Parkes meant that it would give the clearest image, it couldn't be angled low enough for the signal to come through clearly.
The first moments of footage came from Goldstone, and Parkes eventually took over, but for those crucial, beautiful minutes where Neil steps down the ladder and plants the first ever foot on the moon, it was the signal from Honeysuckle that was relayed to the rest of the world.

You can find larger versions of these photos on my Twitter