Australia in space - Tristan Moss

In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Tristan Moss about history of Australia in Space. They discuss the history of Australia in space, starting with its beginnings in a rocket range in Woomera in the 1960s to the recent founding of the Australian Space Agency. They discuss the patchy approach that Australia has taken to space exploitation, and put it into a broader perspective.
Dr Tristan Moss is a senior lecturer in the Griffith Asia Institute. He is a historian researching Australian space history and the history of the ADF with a focus on its culture and policy. His current research focuses on a history of Australian space activities, 1957 – 2020, and he is also working on a history of sex in the Australian military.  He is the author of Guarding the Periphery: The Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, 1951–75 (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and co-editor of Beyond Combat: Australian military activity away from the battlefields (NewSouth Books, 2018). Tristan has worked on the Official History of Australian operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor at the Australian War Memorial and on the Official History of peacekeeping. 

Further reading

• Brett Biddington, 'Is Australia Really Lost in Space?', (2021) 57 Space Policy 
• The work of Asif A. Siddiqi
• Desmond Ball, Bill Robinson, Richard Tanter and others, The Pine Gap Project
• Kerrie Dougherty, Australia in Space (2017: ATF Press)
• Peter Morton, Fire Across the Desert (2017: Department of Defence)