The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) formally announced its intention to send missions into deep space on 24 December 1963; it has remained in continuous operation in one capacity or another ever since.

The Deep Space Network is a worldwide network of American spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA’s interplanetary spacecraft missions. It also performs radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the Solar System and the universe, and supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. DSN is part of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Links:
Deep Space Network

The Deep Space Network: How NASA spacecraft make long-distance calls