Australia has played a vital role in some of the world’s most important space programs. During the 1960s tracking stations were set up for NASA (the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration) at various places in Australia, including Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. These stations were essential to tracking many of NASA’s missions. These missions included the early manned missions, the Apollo moon landings, other lunar programs, the Skylab space station and encounters with other planets (including the Viking and Voyager missions).