Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, Space mission control facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston, United States.
The Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center is a facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where flight control teams monitor and direct crewed spaceflight missions. The control rooms contain rows of consoles with screens displaying telemetry data and communication equipment for radio contact with spacecraft in orbit.
The facility began operations in 1965 and coordinated all crewed Gemini and Apollo missions through the final lunar landing in 1972. The center later assumed control over Space Shuttle flights and today coordinates activities aboard the International Space Station.
The building carries the name of a flight director who led mission operations during early spaceflight programs and developed new methods for communication between ground teams and crews. Visitors can see the workstations where specialists today establish radio links to the International Space Station and coordinate experiments.
Tours through the historic control rooms run regularly and require advance booking through the Johnson Space Center visitor center. The rooms sit inside a security area, so visitors must pass an identity check and receive escort personnel throughout the tour.
The Apollo-era control rooms preserve the original consoles with mechanical switches and cathode ray tube monitors that were used during the lunar landings. Technicians restored the rooms to their 1969 condition and even added spent coffee cups and ashtrays to recreate the working environment of the time.
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