posted 07-17-2016 03:31 PM
No Apollo-configured rooms are still in service. The last time one was used for active operations was for STS-71 in 1995. Now only the historic Apollo MOCR (FCR-2) remains in that original design. Since 2006, ISS mission control was based in Flight Control Room 1 (FCR-1), which was earlier used for Apollo 7, the Skylab flights and STS-1, among its 61 total missions in an Apollo-era configuration.
FCR-1 was recognizable by its "big blue consoles."
In 2013, NASA began modernizing its flight control rooms for 21st century missions. The "MCC-21" design features flat panel displays at wood-panel workstations.
Blue FCR was the first to be renovated. That room, which prior 2006 was ISS mission control, was used for the first time in its new configuration for Orion EFT-1.
ISS mission control initially tested the MCC-21 configuration in Blue FCR before recently moving into the upgraded White FCR, which was previously used for the shuttle program.
With ISS mission control in White FCR, FCR-1 will now be upgraded to the MCC-21 configuration. FCR-1 will be used for future Orion missions, while Blue FCR goes into use for training and, I believe, Boeing's CST-100 (SpaceX uses its own mission control room in Hawthorne, California).
(There is also a Red FCR that was used for training, but it is being decommissioned as a flight control room and will be used for other purposes.)
posted 07-17-2016 10:36 AM
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