posted 06-09-2012 11:17 AM               

For the first time in more than 30 years, NASA is allowing Kennedy Space Center visitors inside the Launch Control Center - where NASA directors and engineers supervised all of the 152 launches including the space shuttle and Apollo programs.

The KSC Up-Close: Launch Control Center (LCC) Tour, the second in Kennedy Space Center's special 50th anniversary series of rare-access tours, takes visitors inside Firing Room 4, one of the LCC's four firing rooms and the one from which all 21 shuttle launches since 2006 were controlled.

Inside Firing Room 4, visitors will pass by the computer consoles at which engineers monitored the computerized launch control system's thousands of system checks every minute leading up to launch. They'll see the main launch countdown clock and many large video monitors on the walls, and enter the "bubble room," with its wall of interior windows through which the Kennedy Space Center management team viewed all of the proceedings below.

posted 06-11-2012 06:10 PM               

• Firing Room 1 - Rededicated in 2006 as the Young/Crippen Firing Room, was used for Apollo and shuttle (Apollos 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 and STS-1, included). It was refurbished for use as part of NASA's former Constellation program and was active for the 2009 launch of Ares I-X.

  Firing Room 1 will next be used for the first test spaceflight of Orion, EFT-1, in 2014.

• Firing Room 2 - was used for Apollos 9, 12 and 14. During shuttle, I believe it was used as a support room during launches.

• Firing Room 3 - launched Apollo 10 and all three manned Skylab missions. It was the primary shuttle launch control room until FR4 was renovated for use for the final 21 launches.

• Firing Room 4 - began use as a conference room but was renovated with wooden console cabinets and modern computers for use for the final space shuttle missions since 2006.

posted 06-11-2012 06:23 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by SpaceKSCBlog:
Am I correct that originally in the 1960s each firing room was dedicated to a corresponding VAB high bay?

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posted 06-15-2012 10:21 AM               

The KSC website states that you only tour Firing Room 4 and the lobby. Seems somewhat weak?

Also note that the VAB tour is ending Nov. 30 per the reservation girl.

Although I realy want to see them both, it seems like there is a lot of "fluff" attached to both of these tours to add up to 3 hours each. She also told me that they cannot both be done in one day.

So figure $50 for the pass, and $25 for each tour, times three in the family is $300. Welcome to Florida!

posted 06-15-2012 11:49 AM               

Also, it's my understanding, from a KSC web page I saw, that every Shuttle launch required two Firing Rooms. One was the primary and one housed support teams.

I'm in the middle of a significant re-boot of my Apollo Launch Control website (and no, I've never been in the LCC - gotta go this year!!!).

This page is the draft of my intro page on the Firing Rooms, with lots of views of each one in action.

Here's a quick recap of the Firing Rooms, High Bays, and Mobile Launchers by mission during the Apollo era:

posted 06-15-2012 01:34 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Constellation One:
I remember in the '90's going through a firing room. We stood in the back and viewed computer monitors and screens. Any idea what I saw?!

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posted 06-18-2012 02:28 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by onesmallstep:
I believe you went to the (then-new) Apollo Saturn V Center, which included a re-creation of a firing room during the Apollo 8 launch, complete with authentic consoles, video and sounds from the era. It was impressive when I first saw it in 1997, just after it opened.

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I don't recall exactly which building on KSC had it, but we took a tour bus onto the property and stepped off into a building to see this display (it was NOT the LCC we went into, I know that), then walked through a set of doors to see an unused Apollo CSM and LM on display after the firing room's launch display was done.

When the Apollo Saturn V Center was built, the firing room display was transferred to it, expanded a little (such as the window shutters behind your head as you walk in) and made into what it is today.

posted 04-22-2013 11:34 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by spacescribe:
Are visitors on the tour allowed to explore the Launch Complex? I'd like to make the walk through the LCC walkway to the VAB.

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posted 01-14-2017 10:55 AM               

• STS 51-L used firing room 3
  
• STS-34 used firing room 1
  
• STS-31 used firing room 1
  
• STS-41 used firing room 3
  
• STS-35 used firing room 1
  
• STS-49 used firing room 1
  
• STS-50 used firing room 3
  
• STS-56 used firing room 3
  
• STS-51 used firing room 1
  
• STS-68 used firing room 1
  
• STS-74 used firing room 1
  
• STS-72 used firing room 1
  
• STS-80 used firing room 3
  
• STS-81 used firing room 1
  
• STS-82 used firing room 3
  
• STS-94 used firing room 1
  
• STS-85 used firing room 3