  There is a long history of radio telescopes being used to augment the radio
antennas regularly used to conduct telemetry, tracking, and command of deep
space spacecraft. Radio telescopes are particularly valuable during
short-duration mission critical events, such as planetary landings, or when a
mission lifetime itself is short, such as a probe into a giant planet's
atmosphere. By virtue of its high sensitivity and frequency coverage, the
next-generation Very Large Array would be a powerful addition to regular
spacecraft ground systems. Further, the science focus of many of these
deep-space missions provides a "ground truth" in the solar system that
complements other aspects of the ngVLA's science case, such as the formation of
planets in proto-planetary disks.
