Last week we had a look at an exhibition about Australia in the space age. Personally, I thought that lots of stuff that should have been in the exhibition is left out. It does a good job with the early stages where the Woomera rocket range was new, testing British and American rockets. On November 29, 1967, Australia became the third country to launch a satellite into Earth orbit. The WRESAT made measurements of the upper atmosphere and weather. It made 642 orbits before it burned up on re-entry on January 10, 1968. However, there is no mention of the work in the 1980s when Australian experiments flew on the Shuttle missions, and we almost had our own telescope in orbit. I know about that because Dad was one of the Stromlo Observatory staff involved in the Starlab project. The tracking stations at Honeysuckle Creek, Orroral Valley and Tidbinbilla get a good wrap for their efforts supporting the Apollo and later space missions, but no mention is there of the fact that the vital telex communication link was actually in the very building where the exhibition is at present. I know about that because Mum's father was the boss of the communications staff involved. There is lots of stuff about the sci-fi stories and TV programs featuring Australian sites, and about space-inspired fashion, so it's worth a visit if you are interested in that stuff. The big news now is that finally Australia has its own Space Agency. It took a long while to get here, but the Australia-wide combine of industry and universities is up and running. I am a recognized supporter of the Agency, I have one of their badges to prove it.
Labels: Canberra, space
# posted by Bart Bear @ 3:32 pm
