Talk at Tidbinbilla Tracking Station

[Byzantine Magpie]

For your interest (if you live in or around Canberra):

If you have any questions, please ask on the thread.

Byzantine Magpie

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SPACE EXPLORATION
(The ins and outs)

Canberra Skeptics invite you to a tour and talk by Glen Nagle

FREE ADMISSION

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (Tidbinbilla Tracking Station)
Visitors' Centre
Discovery Drive Tidbinbilla

7.30 pm
MONDAY 24 MARCH 2003

Meals available from the Moon Rock Café

Food must be pre ordered with Pam on 6281 2190 by 10 am Monday

Please note: The talk is at Tidbinbilla, not Mt Stromlo.

[Byzantine Magpie]

Well that was a really interesting talk.

The guy who spoke - the Education and Public Outreach Coordinator at Tidbinbilla - knew his stuff, and knew how to make it entertaining as well.

We got to hear the real story about "The Dish" (the movie about the Parkes Radio Telescope and Apollo 11); some background about the two Mars Rovers due to head off in a couple of months; saw some high-res photos of Mars's surface; discussed the ethics of polluting space, and the size of NASA's budget compared with other US government agencies; and the possible cause of the Columbia accident.

Afterwards, I chatted to him privately, and found out that he's met six of the Moon walking Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, met Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space), and has access to massive amounts of Apollo archives stored at Tidbinbilla.