Mission Control Center
From Wikipedia, the free 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 (FKA)
- 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.
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[edit] NASA Mission Control Center
[edit] "Old" Control Center
Located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (originally known as the Manned Spacecraft Center), in Houston, Texas, the NASA MCC was first used in June 1965, with Gemini 4, the first American extravehicular-activity or spacewalk mission.
Before 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. The original Mission Control Center at Cape Canaveral is at the east end of Mission Control Road, about 0.5 mile (0.8 km) east of Phillips Parkway. This building is used as a storage facility, and is scheduled for demolition sometime between 2006 and 2011. It was formerly part of the visitors' tour, but all control-room equipment was removed in the late 1990s to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center. A replica of the control room, with all the original equipment, is open during normal Visitors Center hours.
Between 1964 and 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), each consisting of a four-tier auditorium, dominated by a large map screen, which, with the exception of Apollo lunar flights, has a Mercator projection of the Earth, with locations of the numerous tracking stations over the Earth's surface marked, and a three-orbit track of the spacecraft in flight. Each MOCR tier was specialized, containing 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. It was replaced in 1997 by a new MCC, which has one large room for Shuttle flights, and a smaller auditorium for International Space Station operations. MOCR-2, the room used to control the first manned moon landing, has been converted back to its Apollo-era configuration and preserved for historical purposes. It was used as a model for the replicated MOCR in the Apollo 13 movie, although NASA would have allowed Ron Howard to film the movie there. MOCR-1 had all of its original consoles and tiered decking removed, and it was converted to a "science center" for ISS Payload control operations. After additional remodeling, MOCR-1 was redesignated as FCR-1 in October 2006; it now serves as the primary control room for the ISS.
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 according to the simulation occurring at the time.
[edit] 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, a job lasting no more than six hours. The RETRO, FIDO, and GUIDO controllers monitor the spacecraft trajectory, handle course changes, and establish 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 been done indirectly, except during EVA. The EECOM monitors the spacecraft's electrical and environmental systems, 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 during emergencies.
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. The PAYLOAD and EXPERIMENTS controllers monitor Space Shuttle operations. Another controller, the INCO, monitors the spacecraft's communications and instrumentation.
The third row consists of the PAO (Public Affairs Officer); PROCEDURES, who coordinates with launch teams and 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. FLIGHT was first filled by Dr. Christopher Kraft, and later by Eugene Kranz, Dr. Glynn Lunney, Gerald Griffin, and others.
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 if the mission is aborted.
[edit] "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.
[edit] 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 (pronounced "eagle"), responsible for the fuel cells and electrical distribution.
The third row has DPS (pronounced "dips"), responsible for the computer systems, ACO, responsible for all payload-related activities, FAO, 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, an 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.
[edit] Blue FCR Console Positions
The blue FCR is more regularly arranged, in 5 rows of three consoles, plus one in the rear right corner.
From left to right, as viewed from the rear of the room, the front row consists of ADCO, THOR, and PHALCON.
The second row consists of OSO, ECLSS pronounced "eekliss", and ROBO.
The third row consists of ODIN, depending on phase of flight, either ACO (Shuttle docked) or the CIO (Free-flight Operations) and OpsPlan.
The fourth row consists of CATO, FLIGHT—the Flight Director, and CAPCOM.
Finally, the last row consists of GC, depending on the phase of flight, either, RIO, EVA, VVO, or FDO (reboosts only), and finally, SURGEON.
In the back, right corner, behind the surgeon, occasionally the PAO (Public Affairs Officer) is present, but rarely.
[edit] FKA Mission Control Center
The Mission Control Center of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Russian: Центр управления полётами, also known by its acronym Цуп ("Tsup")) is located in Korolyov, near the RKK Energia plant. It contains an active control room for the ISS, and a memorial control room for the Mir. In the latter the last few orbits of Mir before it burned up in the atmosphere are shown on screen.
[edit] See also
- Flight controller
- Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
- Manned Space Programs
- Project Apollo
- Space Shuttle program
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
