Picture Album of the
DEEP SPACE NETWORK

First Spacecraft Monitoring Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida

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This station, originally named the Atlantic Missile Range Station, was assembled at JPL between 1959 and 1960 and shipped to the Cape in April 1961. It consisted of one radio frequency trailer that housed the 890-megahertz L-band radio frequency system, one telemetry trailer containing modulators/recorders, another for a six-foot L-band antenna with 12-foot antenna tower, and a calibration antenna with building. This station was created to support the Ranger spacecraft during their checkout and launch, as part of the Flight Project Ground Support Equipment and not as part of the Network. After the launch of the first two Ranger spacecraft, the station was officially transferred to the Network and became known as the Deep Space Instrumentation Facility-0. While housed in the temporary trailers, the station supported all of the Rangers and the two Mariner 2 spacecraft. In 1965, it moved to a new, permanent building with new, 2300-megahertz S-band equipment. At that time, it was renamed Deep Space Station (DSS) 71, the Spacecraft Monitoring Station.

1950's      1960's      1970's      1980's      1990's