Goonhilly Earth Station, near Helston, will help to track the Orion spacecraft as it travels around the Moon and back to Earth.<\/p>\n
The satellite and space company has been involved in events such as broadcasting the Apollo 11 Moon landing <\/a>to the world in 1969 and landing a commercial spacecraft on the moon for the first time.<\/a><\/p>\n In 2022, the site previously provided critical communication and tracking support for Nasa’s Artemis I.<\/p>\n Matthew Cosby, chief technology officer, said: “We regularly support about three or four deep space missions.<\/p>\n “The infrastructure was here right from the beginning, it’s a great location because we are high up above the sea, we have a great view of the horizon.<\/p>\n “We have great people who can operate the antennas, we have been a part of the space industry for decades.”<\/p>\n The team is hoping the support they offer NASA during the Artemis II mission could lead to a key role for future missions when it is planned for humans to actually return to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n He added: “During the landing there will be multiple antennas required to download the data.<\/p>\n “They do need help and we are demonstrating using Artemis II that we have the capability to do it.<\/p>\n “We have done it before for Artemis I and they have invited us back to do it again.<\/p>\n “Now we have a opportunity to be a part of something great, all from Cornwall.”<\/p>\n Oliver Hancock is a deep space network mission operations engineer [BBC]<\/p>\n Oliver Hancock, 26, said it was “pretty cool to be working in this ground-breaking stuff”.<\/p>\n He is a deep space network mission operations engineer at the site.<\/p>\n “I went to do physics at university, followed by meteorology as a masters degree and I came back to Cornwall as I’m born and bred here,” he said.<\/p>\n “It’s amazing to be able to use the skills that I learned back home here in Cornwall – it’s a really nice part of the world to live in.”<\/p>\n Follow BBC Cornwall on X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n More on this storyRelated internet links![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8060b5ff3400f29dd2163f19b97580c1.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n