NASA’s Deep Space Network turned 50

NASA’s Deep Space Network celebrated its 50th anniversary on Tuesday. For the last 50 years the network has been used to communicate with numerous satellites as they float around space. NASA’s Voyager Twitter account on Tuesday commemorated the event by thanking the network for consistent coverage.

NASA’s Deep Space Network, the world’s largest and most powerful communications system for “talking to” spacecraft, will reach a milestone on Dec. 24: the 50th anniversary of its official creation. Over the past 50 years, antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN) have communicated with just about every mission that has gone to the moon or beyond. The historic communiqués include “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind”; numerous encounters with the outer planets of our solar system; images taken by rovers exploring Mars; and the data confirming that NASA’s Voyager spacecraft had finally entered interstellar space.