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Apollo 16, the fifth mission to land astronauts on the moon, launched 50 years ago, on April 16, 1972.
The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly,
who decided to name the
Command Module Casper and the Lunar Module Orion.
The mission was supported by Australian facilities, though with most televised activities taking place during
the US daytime, Honeysuckle Creek mostly tracked during astronaut sleep periods.
Parkes was on standby for the mission, and was called upon while there were some problems in lunar orbit.
This essay by Hamish Lindsay, on the
Honeysuckle Creek website,
reviews the mission timeline in detail.
The image above shows the Command Module, Casper, and the Earth as viewed from the Lunar Module, Orion.
(Image credit: NASA/Honeysuckle Creek website).
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