“You deal with us like a pack of galahs. [That’s a kind of parrot.]  Simply because I don’t put on a tie or spend all day buried in a guide doesn’t imply I’m a drongo. [That’s a hopeless …]”

What’s your favorite line from the film ‘The Dish’?

Created and written by Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro, the 2000 movie is an Aussie basic. It options Sam Neill, Tom Lengthy and Kev Harrington as employees at Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope, in rural New South Wales, and the way they supported receiving and relaying the reside TV broadcast pictures of the Apollo 11 Moon touchdown.

The Dish is beloved by audiences and critics: “David and Margaret” each gave it 4.5 stars! We love the film a lot we thought it’d be enjoyable to take take a look at what’s reality and what’s fiction, all within the identify of a superb story, after all.

Australia’s position within the 1969 Apollo 11 moon touchdown was immortalised in The Dish

What’s reality?

1. “We’re in the midst of the best feat ever tried. That is science’s likelihood to be daring.”

Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope, did help the Apollo 11 mission. Affectionately often called ‘The Dish’, our telescope tracked Apollo 11 all through its journey, gathering voice indicators from the astronauts, telemetry from the spaceship, and the tv indicators from the moonwalk itself. It’s true that our assist was wanted to help NASA’s Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla services close to Canberra, and the Carnarvon station in Western Australia. The indicators from NASA’s Goldstone, USA, monitoring station did “disappear into the bottom” on the day. The movie additionally confirmed a sensible illustration of the Parkes management room and the way our employees operated the telescope.

2. “What’s the bell for?” “Lets us realize it’s windy.” “I may’ve instructed you that. It’s blowing a bloody gale.”

Radio telescopes like Murriyang might be buffeted by wind similar to your umbrella on a windy day. Lately the telescope is mechanically ‘parked’ at winds of 35km/hr. On the day of the moonwalk it was gusting 100km/hr! And it stored blowing a (bloody) gale all through the moonwalk! The observatory’s then-Director, John G Bolton, made the choice to maintain pointing into the wind. Fortunately, all of it turned out for the perfect! Watch former Parkes electrical engineer David Cooke speak in regards to the storm.

3.   “They’re strolling early. Armstrong overruled the sleep break … He stated, ‘We don’t need to sleep. We need to stroll.’”

It’s true, the astronauts did stroll forward of schedule.

And what’s fiction? (To make a superb story!)

1. “Honeysuckle Creek, additionally they have voice and telemetry, sure?”

The film’s greatest departure from actual occasions is that it provides all credit score to the group on the Parkes Observatory. In actuality, the group at NASA’s Honeysuckle Creek monitoring station close to Canberra in addition to different services round Australia – together with Parkes – all performed necessary roles in supporting the Apollo 11 mission.

The primary minutes of the televised broadcast of the Moon touchdown had been obtained by way of Honeysuckle Creek, together with Neil Armstrong’s iconic ‘One big leap’ second. The employees at Honeysuckle additionally helped to broadcast the historic reside tv protection around the globe. It was a group Australia effort! And the congratulatory telegram from NASA included many extra gamers than simply Parkes.

2. “Nonetheless not flat sufficient, Glenn. I’ll give it a tweak.”

Sadly, our employees by no means performed cricket on the Dish. The actors did movie this scene on the precise telescope, however they needed to be very cautious across the tools and solely use a tennis ball. Howzat for a enjoyable movie reality?

 3. “I assumed there’s an uninterruptible energy supply. ” “It was designed as a UPS, however, um, the generator didn’t sit back in … ”

We do have a UPS and backup diesel generator, however there was no energy failure. All in all, high quality management and foresight at Parkes had been a lot larger than the shemozzle proven within the film. Such was his dedication and thoroughness; Parkes Observatory Director John Bolton really had his group apply hand cranking the radio telescope to maintain the lunar module in vary within the occasion of a complete energy failure.

4: Younger journalist: “Can I’ve their full names and particular roles?”

The employees names and personas are fictionalised. The true Director, John Bolton, handed away in 1993.

5: “What do I care if some bigwig Yank sees I really like my spouse?”

There was no animosity with American guests: we labored collectively and realized from one another. In actual fact, in actual life there have been many extra NASA employees current than the one man, ‘Al Burnett’, performed by Patrick Warburton within the movie: it was a big group effort. Virtually 50 years later, we’re nonetheless working with NASA, sharing experience and exploring area collectively.

6. “Why’s it in the midst of a sheep paddock?!”

The movie begins off with the Prime Minister not realizing about Parkes. In actual fact, the PM knew all about our telescope — half the telescope’s building funds got here from the Australian Authorities. On the day of the Apollo 11 Moon touchdown, Prime Minister John Gorton made a shock go to to Honeysuckle Creek, not Parkes.

7. “It’s as large as a soccer subject.”

Hmm … the dish is large, however not that large. With a diameter of 64 metres, Murriyang is likely one of the largest single-dish telescopes within the southern hemisphere devoted to astronomy. Don’t imagine us? Come and see for your self!

See The Dish for your self!

Whether or not you’re travelling with your loved ones, college or a vacationer group, our Parkes Observatory Guests Centre is a superb place to go to.

These info had been taken from the guide “Parkes: 30 Years of Radio Astronomy” out there by the Parkes Observatory Guests Centre.

This text was printed by CSIRO. You’ll be able to learn the unique right here