Regardless of how sophisticated it may be, no spacecraft is of any value unless it can be tracked accurately to determine where it is and how it is performing. At the height of the space race, 6,000 men and women operated NASA's Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network at some two dozen locations across five continents. This network, known as the STDN, began its operation by tracking Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite that was launched into space by the former Soviet Union. Over the next 40 years, the network was destined to play a crucial role on every near-Earth space mission that NASA flew. Whether it was receiving the first television images from space, tracking Apollo astronauts to the Moon and back, or data acquiring for Earth science, the STDN was that intricate network behind the scenes making the missions possible.

Includes index.

Preface -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Invisible network -- 1. Early years -- 2. Evolution of a network -- 3. Mercury Space Flight network -- 4. Preparing for the moon -- 5. Apollo years -- 6. Era of change -- 7. Network in space -- 8. New landscape -- 9. Legacy -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Appendix 1. Acronyms, abbreviations, glossary -- Appendix 2. Maps -- Appendix 3. Radio frequency chart -- Appendix 4. Honeysuckle station log for Apollo 11 -- Index -- NASA history series.