Mission Control Center

From Freepedia

Mission Control Center (MCC) is a unit that manages aerospace flights. MCC is often part of an aerospace agency. There are several such agencies in the world, the three biggest ones being:

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA)
• European Space Agency (ESA)

The main task of MCC is to manage remote space objects from start till landing by sending and receiving data in a special format, called telemetry.

NASA Mission Control Center

Located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the NASA MCC was first used in 1964 with the Gemini 4 mission, the first American EVA flight. Prior to Gemini 4, all Mercury-Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, and the unmanned Gemini 1, Gemini 2, and manned Gemini 3 missions were controlled by the MCC center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between 1964 until its replacement with the new "MCC-2" in 1998, the NASA MCC has controlled virturally all Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle flights.

The NASA MCC room, known as the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR), consists of a four-tier auditorium, dominated by a large map screen, which for the exception of Apollo lunar flights, has a mercator projection of the Earth, with locations of the numerous tracking stations spread out all over the Earth, and a three-orbit track of the spacecraft in flight. Each MOCR tier were specialized in nature, and contained specific controllers, each handling a portion of the spacecraft or launch vehicle.

The first row, known as "The Trench," consists of four controllers--BOOSTER, RETRO, FIDO, and GUIDO. The BOOSTER controller monitors the launch vehicle, and his or her job lasts no more than six hours. The RETRO, FIDO, and GUIDO controllers monitors the spacecraft trajectory, handles any course changes, and establishes launch and landing "windows."

The second row, since Project Gemini, consists of the SURGEON, EECOM, and CAPCOM. The SURGEON is the flight surgeon, a NASA-employed civilian doctor who monitors the health of the astronauts, although since the first flight of the Space Shuttle, this has not been done directly, except for EVA activities. The EECOM monitors the electrical and environmental systems on the spacecraft, while the CAPCOM ("Capsule Communicator"), a rookie astronaut, serves as the "air-to-ground" communicator between the MCC and the space crew--no other controller can speak to the astronauts, except the SURGEON, if an emergency arises.

On the other side of the "aisle" of the second row, are controllers who monitor specific parts of Apollo, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle. During the lunar flights, the TELMU and CONTROL controllers monitored the Apollo lunar module. During Skylab, the EGIL (pronounced "eagle") monitored the Skylab's solar panels, while the EXPERIMENTS controller monitored experiments and the telescopes in the Apollo Telescope Mount. Currently, the PAYLOAD and EXPERIMENTS controllers monitor Space Shuttle operations. Another controller, the INCO, monitors the communications and instrumentation on the spacecraft.

The third row consists of the PAO (Public Affairs Officer), PROCEDURES (who coordinates with launch teams, writes the countdowns and "go-no go" conditions), FAO (flight activities officer, who coordinates with the flight schedule), AFD (assistant flight director), and FLIGHT--the Flight Director, the "boss" of the entire mission operations. FLIGHT was first filled by Dr. Christopher Kraft, and later by Eugene Kranz, Dr. Glynn Lunney, Gerald Griffin (NASA Flight Director), and others who followed.

The fourth row has consoles for NASA management, including the Director of the Johnson Space Center, the Director of Flight Crew Operations (chief astronaut--first held by Donald K. "Deke" Slayton), and the Department of Defense officer, who coordinates with active duty and reserve components in any search and rescue or recovery operations in the case of an abort.

The old MCC, now registered on the National List of Historic Places, and had two identical control rooms, was replaced in 1997 with a new MCC, which has two large rooms for Shuttle flights, and a smaller size auditorium for International Space Station operations. Both are identical in operations, except that the ISS MOCR has fewer controllers.