Mission Control Center

From Free net encyclopedia

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 space missions. A staff of flight controllers and other support personnel monitor all aspects of the mission using telemetry. In the United States, the Mission Control Center is associated with manned space flight. A separate organization called the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and control room manages unmanned space probes.

1 NASA Mission Control Center
- 1.1 "Old" Control Center
  - 1.1.1 MOCR Console Positions
- 1.2 "New" Control Center
  - 1.2.1 White FCR Console Positions
  - 1.2.2 Blue FCR Console Positions
2 See also
3 External links

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NASA Mission Control Center

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"Old" Control Center

Image:LBJ-MCC-STS030(S)116.jpg 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 virtually all Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle flights.

There were two NASA MCC rooms, then known as the Mission Operations Control Rooms (MOCRs), consisting 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 was specialized in nature, and contained specific controllers, each handling a portion of the spacecraft or launch vehicle.

The old MCC, now on the National Register of Historic Places, consisted of two identical control rooms and was replaced in 1997 with a new MCC, which has one large room for Shuttle flights, and a smaller size auditorium for International Space Station operations. MOCR-2, the room used to control the first moon landing, has been converted back to it's Apollo-era configuration and preserved for historical purposes. MOCR-1 has had all of it's original consoles and tiered decking removed, and it has been converted to a "science center" for ISS Payload control operations.

One of the rooms in the "old" MCC building was gutted and converted to a training room, known variously as the "TFCR" or "Red" FCR. It has several consoles whose function can be reassigned depending on the simulation occurring at the time.

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MOCR Console Positions

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"), generally an 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, 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.

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"New" Control Center

In approximately 1992, JSC started building an extension to the Old building 30, housing two new MCC rooms, now known as Flight Control Rooms (FCRs, pronounced "ficker"). The "White" FCR is used for Shuttle Operations and the "Blue" FCR is used for ISS operations. The rooms were arranged a little differently from each other and from the old MOCRs.

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White FCR Console Positions

From left to right, as viewed from the rear of the room, the front row (the "trench") consists of FDO (pronounced "fido"), responsible for orbital guidance and orbital changes, depending on the phase of flight, either Ascent/Entry a specialist in the procedures of those two high-energy, fast-paced phases of flight or Guidance, a specialist in orbital rendezvous procedures and GC, the controller responsible for the computers and systems in MCC itself.

The second row has PROP, responsible for the propulsion system, GNC, responsible for systems that determine the spacecraft's attitude and issue commands to control it, MMACS (pronounced "max"), responsible for the mechanical systems on the space craft, including the "arm", and EGIL, responsible for the fuel cells and eletrical distribution.

The third row has DPS (pronounced "dips"), responsible for the computer systems, Payloads, responsible for all payload-related activities FAO (flight activities officer, responsible for the overall plans of activities for the entire flight, and EECOM responsible for the management of environmental systems, including O2 & H2 supplies.

The fourth row has INCO, responsible for communications systems for uploading all systems commands to the vehicle, FLIGHT—the Flight Director, the person in charge of the flight, CAPCOM, and astronaut who is just about the only one to talk to the astronauts on board, and PDRS, the person responsible for arm operations.

The back row contains PAO (Public Affairs Officer), the "voice" of MCC, MOD, a management representative, depending on the phase of flight, either, RIO - only for MIR flights, a Russian-speaker that spoke with the Russian MCC, known as Цуп, (Tsup), BOOSTER responsible for the SRBs and the SSMEs during ascent, or EVA responsible for space suit systems and EVA tasks, and finally, SURGEON.

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