Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was established to track, control and record data from manned spacecraft. By means of an inter-governmental agreement in 1960, the Australian and United States governments agreed to the establishment of space-tracking stations in Australia. The co-operating agencies named in the agreement were the Australian Department of Supply and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (NASA).

NASA space projects may be broadly divided into
(a) Deep Space probes - exploration of the moon and planets with
    unmanned instrumented spacecraft
(b) Scientific and Application satellites - the unmanned scientific
    satellites gather data whilst in orbit around the earth (e.g.
    communications, meteorology, trans-ocean navigation)
(c) Manned Space Flight

To track spacecraft in space, receive the data they send back, and issue commands to the spacecraft to control their manoeuvres and activities, NASA maintains three world-wide tracking networks. These correspond to the broad divisions of NASA's space projects, and are:
(a) Deep Space Network (DSN) - for deep space probes
(b) Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) - for
    scientific, communications and meteorological satellites
(c) Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) - for manned flights.
The Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was part of the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN). The station was built as the prime Australian station for the Apollo programme and was the second MSFN station in the country.

Honeysuckle Creek with the Goldstone (California) and Madrid (Spain) Tracking Stations were the prime stations in the Apollo programme, being spaced at approximately equal intervals of longitude around the earth. They could provide continuous cover of the lunar missions when the spacecraft were beyond 10,000 miles from the earth.

To provide absolute reliability in the lunar phase of the mission, each of these three stations was supported by an existing 85 ft antenna at a nearby Deep Space Network Station. Deep Space Station 42 at Tidbinbilla (14 miles north of Honeysuckle Creek) (CA 1391) provided the support for the Honeysuckle Creek Station.
As regards staffing, the Australian government (Department of Supply, 1967-1974; Department of Manufacturing Industry, 1974-1975; [*Note: According to a press release of 6 January 1975 of the Minister for Science, the Department of Science took over management control of the American NASA space tracking facilities from the Department of Manufacturing Industry. This was formally recognised in the Administrative Arrangements Order of 8 February 1975 (Australian Government Gazette, No. S21, 10 Feb. 1975)], Department of Science [I], 1975 (Feb.-June); Department of Science and Consumer Affairs, 1975 (June-Dec.); and Department of Science [II] 1975 (Dec.)- has the responsibility for the establishment and operation of NASA tracking stations in Australia. The Station Director has been an employee of the Departments named above.

The Australian Government's policy of using the resources of private industry in this sphere of activity has been extended to all stations by placing contracts with leading electronic companies for the provision of operating and maintenance services. As at May 1969, 95 staff were employed at the Honeysuckle Creek station. The United States has financed the cost of construction of the stations (by Australians) and bears the operational costs, a large part of which consists of the salaries and wages of the Australian personnel who staff the stations. Australia pays an annual contribution.

Changes to tracking requirements over the years saw the closure of the stations in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and two of the Australian Capital Territory stations; leaving most of NASA's activities consolidated at Tidbinbilla.

Historical agency address
Tennent District ACT (in the Naas Valley)