Originally posted by JASMAZ77 The old NASA tracking station was in Carnarvon wasn't it? my mum said she had a job there once many years ago.
Yes, it was. My wife worked in SPAN - Solar Particle Alert Network. They watched and photographed the sun for solar flares. If there was a flare, astronauts could do EVAs (ExtraVehicular Activities).
I wonder if your mum knew my wife, Elisabeth Beckett.
I was a tech at the OTC Satellite Earth Station in Carnarvon. Our facility had two main roles. We provided the comms back to the USA for NASA and also did Tracking, Telemetry, Monitoring and Control during and after launches of Intelsat telecom satellites. Later the OTC facility provided similar services for the European Space Agency.