There's probably an error in the story. It's unlikely Carnarvon comms antenna was used to track the spacecraft for several reasons: (1) it slewed too slowly for that (although the small sugar scoop (cassegrain horn) antenna would slew fast enough), and (2) the 97' dish would have been in use to transmit the comms from the Carnarvon Tracking Station down the road back to the USA.
The sugar scoop was used for spacecraft tracking and control and would move very quickly.
I worked at the comms station, my wife worked at the tracking station.
This was the comms antenna (my car in the pic):
![]()



Reply With Quote


Bookmarks