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Author
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Topic: Gemini and Apollo flight control rooms
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mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-16-2006 02:19 PM
   
I'm sure most people have seen the news that Flight Control Room-1 (FCR-1) has been remodeled to serve as the flight control room for the ISS. The question I have is what is the name of the flight control room that served during the bulk of the Gemini and Apollo missions (e.g. Apollo 8, Apollo 11, etc.)? Are there any plans to revive this room for future missions or is it being preserved as a sort of "museum" to flight control? Also, I'm curious what happens to the hardware that was replaced in FCR-1. Is it simply tossed out or will it go to museums? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-16-2006 02:37 PM
FCR-2 (also known as MOCR-2) is the front room from where the Gemini and Apollo missions were managed (all with the exception of Apollo 7). FCR-2 is now a national landmark and has been restored to appear as it did during the Apollo missions. It is included as a stop on the tours provided by Space Center Houston. (FCR-2 is located one floor above FCR-1.) Regarding the Apollo hardware that was in FCR-1, I asked Chief Flight Director Phil Engelauf that very question during the pre-flight STS-115 briefings back on August 11. Here is his reply: Some of that has gone to the Smithsonian, some of it has gone to the visitor center at Space Center Houston, the old consoles. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-16-2006 02:56 PM
Thanks for the information, Robert!Do you know if FCR-1 and FCR-2 are essentially the same size as each other? Looking at the pics of FCR-1, it looks bigger than FCR-2, but maybe that's just my imagination. I'm happy to hear FCR-2 is a national landmark and that it has been returned to look like it did during the Apollo days. It's one place I really want to visit someday. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-16-2006 03:18 PM
I do not know the exact square footage, but having now been inside both, I would estimate that FCR-1 and FCR-2 are approximately the same size. One major difference today between FCR-1 and FCR-2 are their floors. During the Apollo years (and therefore preserved within FCR-2) the floor was tiered with four levels increasing in height as you walked further into the room. For reasons that included maximizing floor space and network wiring requirements, the tiered floor was leveled in FCR-1 during its eight months of renovation. Here are a few photographs taken within FCR-2 over the past few years:  
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Sy Liebergot
Member Posts: 501
From: Pearland, Texas USA
Registered: May 2003
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posted 10-16-2006 08:09 PM
We guys who worked in those two rooms, during Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and ASTP, NEVER referred to them as FCRs, which is a later shuttle terminology. To us they were just MOCR. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-01-2013 12:11 AM
There was an Emergency Mission Control Center (EMCC) located at the Goddard Space Flight Center during Apollo. This 1970 issue of MSC Roundup (PDF) has an article and diagram of the EMCC. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 05-12-2013 02:17 PM
Gemini 5 photo S65-28679 was taken just before launch. It caught my attention because I think it is the only image I have ever seen that shows a Gemini-Titan up on the screen at Mission Control in Houston. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1488
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 05-12-2013 02:51 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
There was an Emergency Mission Control Center (EMCC) located at the Goddard Space Flight Center during Apollo.
This policy continued through the Shuttle program. |
John K. Rochester
Member Posts: 1292
From: Rochester, NY, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 05-12-2013 06:59 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
FCR-2 (also known as MOCR-2) is the front room from where the Gemini and Apollo missions were managed (all with the exception of Apollo 7).
Wasn't Gemini 3 managed from Mission Control at the Cape? I believe Gemini 4 was the first flight controlled from Houston... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 05-12-2013 08:06 PM
Yes, that is correct. Though its been more than a few years, given the context, I believe when I wrote that in 2006 I was implying all the Gemini missions controlled from the Mission Control Center in Houston. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-04-2015 11:23 AM
Here is a 1996 Johnson Space Center memo about the MOCR-2 historical preservation.And, although MCC-Houston did not have primary control responsibility for the Gemini 3 flight, it did monitor data and communications during the mission. |
chet
Member Posts: 1506
From: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 01-09-2015 12:16 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
Gemini 5 photo S65-28679 was taken just before launch. It caught my attention because I think it is the only image I have ever seen that shows a Gemini-Titan up on the screen at Mission Control in Houston.
Just to note, NASA photo S-66-35652 (Gemini 9) also shows a Gemini-Titan up on the screen at Mission Control in Houston. |
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