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Credits: Thanks Robin!
Links: The Dish Images | The Dish Details | Sound Bytes | Sam Neill Home

Cliff: Sam Neill   Newspaper Reporter:  Bernard Curry   Mitch: Kevin Harrington   Janine: Eliza Szonert   Glenn: Tom Long   Al: Patrick Warburton   Journalist: Neil Pigot   Houston (voice): Unknown   Bob: Roy Billing   U.S. Ambassador: John McMartin   Marie: Lenka Kripac   Cameron: Billy Mitchell

• thedish.wav -- Cliff: The Parkes Radio Teloscope, or, as we call it, "The Dish," will track Apollo 11 throughout its journey, gathering voice signals from the astronauts, telemetry from the spaceship, and then, most importantly, the TV signals from the moon itself. It's 210 feet in diameter, it weighs a thousand tons, and can be moved to a point in virtually every direction. It's the most powerful receiving dish in the world. (254k)

 
• officialtitle.wav -- Newspaper Reporter: And you, Cliff, what's your official title?

Cliff: Cliff Buxton, Director.
Mitch: Or, the Dishmaster. (67k)
 
• whatisit.wav -- Cliff: What is it? (7k)

 
• comehere.wav -- Cliff: Come here! (6k)

 
• tellus.wav -- Cliff: It might be a good idea to tell us these things. (21k)

 
• getonwithit.wav -- Cliff: Let's... just get on with it, shall we? (20k)

 
• wouldntworry.wav -- Cliff: I wouldn't worry about it. (12k)

 
• hardtobelieve.wav -- Cliff: That is hard to believe. (12k)

 
• beautifulgirl.wav -- Cliff: Well, if it isn't the most beautiful girl in Parkes! (30k)

 
• notonline.wav -- Cliff: No, we're not online at the moment. (12k)

 
• trackingstation.wav -- Cliff: Well, there's two major tracking stations. There's us, and Goldstone.

Janine: Goldstone?
Glenn: California.
Cliff: And when the moon's on our side of the world, then ... Parkes is online, and when it's on the other, then it's Goldstone. You see? (117k)
 
• explainit.wav -- Cliff: Mmm... why don't you explain it? (17k)

 
• lovelygirl.wav -- Cliff: She's a lovely girl. (14k)

 
• askherout.wav -- Cliff: You should ask her out when all this is over. (22k)

 
• reckon.wav -- Glenn: Do you reckon?

Cliff: Yeah, I reckon. (31k)
 
• takearisk.wav -- Cliff: Sometimes you've just got to take a risk. (18k)

 
• onplate.wav -- Cliff: <clears throat> Got a lot on your plate. (18k)

 
• noguarantees.wav -- Al: Am I, uh,  holding on too tight?

Cliff: Mmm, um, there's a lot at stake, Al.... There's no guarantees, a lot of variables. You'll be right. (157k)
 
• taketime.wav -- Cliff: Take your time! (8k)

 
• getalong.wav -- Cliff: <clears throat> It's probably time to... get along now. (23k)

 
• dontworry.wav -- Cliff: Don't worry! (7k)

 
• sendingpictures.wav -- Cliff: When Armstrong emerges from the Lunar Landing Module, he will activate a small camera, here, which will capture pictures of him, uh, descending the ladder and hopefully walking on the surface of the moon.

Journalist: And these pictures, how will they make it back to earth?
Mitch: <sotto voce> Carrier pigeon.
Cliff: There's a small S-band transmitter on the top there which will send the images back down to us.
Journalist: It's certainly amazing technology.
Glenn: Ha! <chuckles>
Journalist: Will the entire--
Glenn: Carrier pigeon! (234k)
 
• cupoftea.wav -- Cliff: Time for a cup of tea? (13k)

 
• littleunfair.wav -- Cliff: Don't you think you're... being a little unfair? (22k)

 
• whatsnasa.wav -- Cliff: Well, we're part of a world-wide team on this.

Mitch: We're part of NASA.
Cliff: And what's NASA?
Mitch: Aw, it's money and equipment and everything else you ever needed on a plate.
Cliff: No, Mitch. NASA's just a bigger bunch of us. (123k)
 
• greatestfeat.wav -- Cliff: We are in the middle of the greatest feat ever attempted. This is science's chance to be daring. (66k)

 
• standingaround.wav -- Cliff: What are you doing? Standing around bitching! (39k)

 
• lovely.wav -- Cliff: Lovely! (5k)

 
• thiswholething.wav -- Mitch: This whole thing: I can't believe I'm a part of it. I certainly can't believe Rudy's a part of it.

Cliff: <laughs> Me too. (134k)
 
• pksout.wav -- Cliff: PKS out. (16k)

 
• youforgot.wav -- Cliff: You forgot! (14k)

 
• stuffed1.wav -- Cliff: Are we stuffed?

Mitch: Kinda.
Cliff: Glenn?
Glenn: Yep, we're stuffed. (41k)
 
• stuffed2.wav -- Cliff: Are we stuffed? (7k)

 
• noise.wav -- Cliff: What's that noise? (15k)

 
• strongsignal.wav -- Cliff: Flight control, this is Parkes. We copy. <clears throat>

Houston: Parkes, we've lost your signal. Confirm status.
Cliff: Uh, Houston, this is Parkes. We still have a strong signal. Must be a relay problem.
Houston: Copy that, Parkes. We'll look into it. Stand by.
Cliff: Parkes standing by. (225k)
 
• boughttime.wav -- Cliff: I bought us some time. (14k)

 
• powerson.wav -- Cliff: Power's back on. Everything's under control. (16k)

 
• takeashot.wav -- Cliff: Take a shot. (6k)

 
• didcall.wav -- Cliff: Well, as-as a matter of fact, they did call. (26k)

 
• itoldthem.wav -- Cliff: I told them that... the problem wasn't at our end. (44k)

 
• wecallthem.wav -- Al: We call them. They give us a current position.

Cliff: And tell us we're no longer required.
Al: Excuse me?
Cliff: We're just a bunch of d---heads who can't even maintain a practice signal. (85k)
 
• keepnasa.wav -- Cliff: We can reprogram the system. We just need you to keep NASA off our backs for a while-- that's all. (54k)

 
• getcracking.wav -- Cliff: Let's get cracking. (8k)

 
• comeclean.wav -- Bob: All right. What if you come clean? Just tell NASA.

Cliff: Tell them what?
Bob: That-that-that...umm....
Cliff: That we lost Apollo 11?
Bob: I wouldn't say that first.
Cliff: What would you say?
Bob: Well, you know: "Hey, you'll never guess what happened."
Cliff: Bob, it's Apollo 11. (158k)
 
• commitment.wav -- Cliff: Look, if we come onstream tomorrow, it never happened.

Bob: You think you can do it.
Cliff: I made a commitment to NASA, and I intend to fulfill it. (106k)
 
• moment.wav -- Bob: It was a wonderful moment.

Cliff: But this isn't.
Bob: No, this is a s---house moment. (59k)
 
• morethought.wav -- Cliff: Let's... just... give this a little more thought. (28k)

 
• incredible.wav -- U.S. Ambassador: It's incredible. You can actually pinpoint a tiny spaceship thousands of miles away and lock onto it.

Cliff: <pause> Pretty much. (130k)
 
• couplebuttons.wav -- U.S. Ambassador: You'll be able to hear Armstrong talking to Houston?

Cliff: Just by... hitting a couple of buttons there. <chuckles>
U.S. Ambassador: Oh, let's do that. (114k)
 
• backtowork.wav -- Cliff: We're really going to have to get back to work now. (18k)

 
• findship.wav -- Cliff: Right! Let's find the ship. (17k)

 
• scared.wav -- Cliff: Do you know what I thought when it first came up?

Glenn: You beauty?
Cliff: I thought: imagine stuffing that up. Isn't that odd?
Glenn: What?
Cliff: Well, that I was more... scared than excited.
Glenn: I don't think that's odd. I feel like that all the time. (183k)
 
• stuffing.wav -- Cliff: Imagine stuffing that up. (22k)

 
• failure.wav -- Cliff: Failure is never quite so frightening as regret. (33k)

 
• couplehours.wav -- Cliff: You be all right for a couple of hours? (11k)

 
• ifproblems.wav -- Cliff: If you've got any problems....

Mitch: I'll call Rudy. (22k)
 
• wonderful.wav -- Cliff: This is wonderful. (8k)

 
• whygo.wav -- Marie: If we know so much, why go?

Cliff: Well, there is one thing that we don't know.
Bob: What's that, Cliff?
Cliff: Whether we can get there. (82k)
 
• goodroast.wav -- Cliff: It's been quite a while since I've had a good roast. (20k)

 
• knightyou.wav -- Cliff: They'll probably knight you for this. (14k)

 
• lunch.wav -- Mitch: How was lunch?

Cliff: Actually, it was wonderful.
Al: I think we ate an entire sheep. (46k)
 
• inorder.wav -- Cliff: All in order? (8k)

 
• notinmanual.wav -- Cliff: When it's down like this, we can't get up through the core, so it's... it's just as quick to go for a ride.

Al: OK, interesting.
Cliff: OK, Mitch.
Al: And, uh, yet, strangely, this is, uh, not in the manual.
Cliff: Mm-hm. Curious oversight, wouldn't you say? (170k)
 
• numberone.wav -- Cliff: Well, I guess that would be number one. (16k)

 
• spiritssoar.wav -- Al: Something about putting a footprint on the moon... that....

Cliff: Makes our spirits soar? (59k)
 
• mywife.wav -- Al: You come up with that?

Cliff: <chuckles> Actually, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't. It was my wife. <pause> She died last year.
Al: I'm sorry to hear that, Cliff.
Cliff: She was so excited by all this. Made me realize that I should be excited, too. And I am. The only thing is, she's not here to share it. So, there it is. (391k)
 
• cyclone.wav -- Cliff: We sit here on our arses for five bloody days, not a breath of bloody wind... and then, on cue, out of nowhere, just when it's our turn, a bloody cyclone decides to park its arse on us! Um, sorry, lads. <clears throat> I'll just... I'll just go check some... some bloody thing. (276k)

 
• lockeddown.wav -- Cliff: From now on, this place is locked down. I don't care who turns up, no one gets in. You understand? (42k)

 
• noobligation.wav -- Cliff: We're under no obligations in these conditions. (22k)

 
• movedish.wav -- Cliff: We can't move this dish. (21k)

 
• walkmoon.wav -- Al: Man's about to walk on the moon.

Cliff: And he still will. (35k)
 
• fivelives.wav -- Cliff: Let's be clear about this. There are five lives at risk here. I'm responsible for those lives. Now, most people would say that's sufficient reason not to move the dish.

Mitch: And everyone will accept that. But will you? (162k)
 
• doit.wav -- Cliff: All right. Let's do it.

Mitch: I like that Cliff. He goes for it. (73k)
 
• doit2.wav -- Cliff: Let's do it. (7k)

 
• telegram.wav -- Al: The official telegram will go to your prime minister, but.... <reads> "To congratulate personnel of Parkes Radio Telescope Facility for their outstanding support of man's first lunar expedition. Signed C. Charlesworth, Apollo 11 Flight Director." (181k)

 
• tours.wav -- Cameron: Tours leave on the hour.

Cliff: Well, maybe not today. But... you never know. I might come back another time.
Cameron: Oh, I'd do it. People get quite a buzz from being up there.
Cliff: I'll bet they do. (121k)