The Mission Control Center is the center of

attention during manned space flights.

when it hums with activity 24 hours a day.

Mission Control Center is a three-story building at
Johnson Space Center (JSC). In it are some of the most
sophisticated communication, computer, data reduction,
and data display equipment available. During Space
Shuttle flights, operations are supported by teams of
engineers and technicians with a wide scope of
specialized skills 24 hours daily. Mission Control is
supported by an emergency power building which houses
generators and air-conditioning equipment for use if
regular power fails.
In the event of some unforeseeable but catastrophic
failure that prevents the Houston control center from
continuing its support of the flight, an emergency facility
at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,
is activated. The emergency center is a stripped-down
model of the one in Houston, incorporating just enough
equipment to let the controllers support the flight to its
conclusion. The key mission command and control
position is the Flight Director, who conducts the overall
mission and real-time decision-making. The Ascent/Entry
Flight Director directs the ascent and entry portions of the
flight. The On-orbit Flight Directors are responsible for
the working phases of the mission. They share their
duties with three flight directors working 8-hour shifts.
Focal points of the Mission Control Center are the Flight
Control Rooms (FCR). Here flight controllers get
information from television-like screens on the consoles
and rom projected displays that fill the wall at the front of
the room. They provide working space for various
operating groups of controll.ers. One FCR is on the
second floor and one on the third. Only the third floor
FCR will be used for missions carrying Department of
Defense payloads.
Either FCR can be used for mission control, or they can
be used simultaneously to control separate flights. At
times, one team of flight controllers has conducted an
actual flight in one FCR while a second team is going
through a make-believe mission (simulation) for a future
operation. With the planned facilities, it will be feasible to
simultaneously support two actual flights and one
simulated flight.
The FCR's occupy only a small portion of the Mission
Control Center. A cadre of support personnel are located
in nearby staff support rooms where other data on the
mission are monitored and analyzed in detail.
Multipurpose Support Groups (MPSG) representing
separate support disciplines perform planning and
support functions. These groups are dedicated to multiple
flights providing planning expertise for future flights,
performing periodic support and systems checks on
current flights, and responding quickly to any in-flight
contingency.
Operating in conjuction with the JSC Mission Control
Center FCR's are Payload Operations Control Centers
(POCC). Here the owners of Spacelab experiment
payloads, or other scientific experiments carried in the
cargo bay of the Orbiter can monitor and control their
payloads. It is a command post, communications center,
and data relay station for principal investigators, mission
managers, and their support staffs who are headquartered
there throughout a mission. All decisions about payload
operations are made and transmitted to the Spacelab or
Shuttle crew from this control center.
Free-flying systems that are deployed, retrieved, or
serviced in Earth orbit by the Orbiter are monitored by a
POCCat the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland. Payloads with distant destinations, such as
those exploring other planets, are controlled from the
POCC at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
California.
This layout of one of the Flight Control
Rooms shows the visual display wall, the
flight control consoles, and the FCR viewing
room. Primary mission command and
control positions are: (1) Booster Systems
Engineer; Remote Manipulator System;
Mechanical and Upper Stage Systems
Officer; Extravehicular Activity Officer; (2)
Mission Operation Director; (3) Flight
Surgeon; (4) Director of Public Affairs; (S)
Communication System Engineer; (6)
Operation Integration Officer; (7) Flight
Director; (8) Capsule Communicator; (9)
Flight Activities Officer; (10) Data
Processing Systems; (11) Payload Officer;
(12) Electrical & Environmental Control
Systems; (13) Ground Control; (14) Flight
Dynamcs Officer; (1S) Trajectory Engineer;
(16) Guidunce and Procedures Officer; (17)
Guidance and Navigation Control Officer;
Propulsion Officer.

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