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Innovation

NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

By Erin Carson September 16, 2015, 5:08 PM PDT

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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Welcome to Mission Control

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Welcome to Mission Control

TechRepublic visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center to see how Mission Control has changed over the years.

NASA’s Mission Control Center is located at the Johnson Space Center and has a long and storied history. It’s been in the same building (building 30) since 1965’s Gemini IV mission.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Historic Mission Control

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Historic Mission Control

The original Mission Control has been preserved and is a national landmark. That means everything, down to the stains on the carpet are original.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Another view of historic Mission Control

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Another view of historic Mission Control

NASA monitored historic missions like Apollo 11’s journey to the moon from this room.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Mission Control console

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Mission Control console

The room was last operational in 1995.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Buttons, screens, and dials

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Buttons, screens, and dials

According to the Johnson Space Center site, “there’s more technology in a modern watch than there was in this room in 1969.”

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Before email

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Before email

In the days before email, Mission Control used pneumatic tubes to deliver messages. Also, if they wanted to print something, it happened at another location and got sent back to them.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Literally, an inside look

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Literally, an inside look

Here are the guts inside one of the Mission Control consoles.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Modern day Mission Control

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic

Modern day Mission Control

Mission Control looks much different these days.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

Image: Erin Carson/TechRepublic
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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

Always on call

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Always on call

Flight control teams are on duty the proverbial 24/7/365 since there’s always astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

SEE: NASA shows the world its 20-year virtual reality experiment to train astronauts: The inside story

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NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center

A lot to control

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A lot to control

Mission Control also has other control rooms, like this secondary room.

Also see

  • NASA’s unsung heroes: The Apollo coders who put men on the moon (PDF download)
  • Photos: Inside Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab
  • How a NASA team of black women ‘computers’ sent an astronaut into orbit in 1962
  • Photos: Space Tango’s autonomous lab at the International Space Station
  • How Mark Shuttleworth became the first African in space and launched a software revolution (PDF download)
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By Erin Carson
Erin Carson is a Staff Reporter for CNET and a former Multimedia Editor for TechRepublic.
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