NASA Mission Control: Photos of the past and present at Johnson Space Center
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Welcome to Mission Control
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.
Historic Mission Control
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.
Another view of historic Mission Control
Another view of historic Mission Control
NASA monitored historic missions like Apollo 11’s journey to the moon from this room.
Mission Control console
Mission Control console
The room was last operational in 1995.
Buttons, screens, and dials
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.”
Before email
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.
Literally, an inside look
Literally, an inside look
Here are the guts inside one of the Mission Control consoles.
Modern day Mission Control
Modern day Mission Control
Mission Control looks much different these days.
Always on call
Always on call
Flight control teams are on duty the proverbial 24/7/365 since there’s always astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
A lot to control
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)
