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Author
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Topic: KSC Visitor Complex: Launch Control Center Tour
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SpaceKSCBlog
Member Posts: 91
From: Merritt Island, FL
Registered: Nov 2011
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posted 06-09-2012 11:17 AM
   
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is now offering tours of the Launch Control Center (LCC). 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. Tours start June 15. |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 417
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 06-10-2012 03:59 PM
That's great. My only problem is they should have combined it with the VAB tour (it's right next door) so you don't pay for two separate tours. They must have their practical (and economic) reasons for doing it. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1028
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 06-10-2012 09:46 PM
I am a bit surprised that they are only having it open for a few months. If there was more time, I would go down. Looks cool. |
cycleroadie
Member Posts: 222
From: Apalachin, NY USA
Registered: May 2011
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posted 06-11-2012 07:52 AM
I think due to the upcoming renovations, the VAB tour will be ending soon. If you check their website, they say they hope to offer the VAB tour through the summer. The LCC tour runs through the end of the year. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26625
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-11-2012 08:05 AM
The Visitor Complex announced on Friday that the VAB tour has been extended and will run through the end of the year as well. |
dabolton
Member Posts: 189
From: Round Lake, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 06-11-2012 11:20 AM
I attended KSC family open house day in 2010. I walked through all the firing rooms. That is a memory I won't soon forget and I realize just how rare of an opportunity that was.
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wickball
Member Posts: 72
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 06-11-2012 05:47 PM
Four firing rooms.Can anyone provide a brief description of the condition of the rooms not used recently and what missions those rooms were used for? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26625
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-11-2012 06:10 PM
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SpaceKSCBlog
Member Posts: 91
From: Merritt Island, FL
Registered: Nov 2011
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posted 06-11-2012 06:15 PM
Am I correct that originally in the 1960s each firing room was dedicated to a corresponding VAB high bay? For example, Firing Room 1 to High Bay 1, Firing Room 3 to High Bay 3, etc.? |
wickball
Member Posts: 72
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 06-11-2012 06:19 PM
Thanks, Robert, I just couldn't help but think government excess, was all that necessary. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26625
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-11-2012 06:23 PM
quote:
Originally posted by SpaceKSCBlog:
Am I correct that originally in the 1960s each firing room was dedicated to a corresponding VAB high bay?
I believe (but may be mistaken) that the firing rooms corresponded to mobile launch platforms, rather than high bays. |
Constellation One
Member Posts: 48
From: Lorain, Ohio, USA
Registered: Aug 2008
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posted 06-15-2012 10:21 AM
So has anyone taken the LCC tour yet?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! Another note: 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?! |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 2001
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-15-2012 11:02 AM
The VAB tour was worth it because we got to see Atlantis. But you also get to go places that the regular tour does not. Where the regular tour stops at the 39A/B viewing site, we got to go closer to the pads before eventually heading to the Apollo-Saturn complex (as all tours do.) |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1464
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 06-15-2012 11:49 AM
There wasn't necessarily a 1:1 correspondence between Firing Rooms, Mobile Launchers, and High Bays. There were several instances (Apollo 13, for example) where the stack was rolled around from one High Bay to another after the primary stacking, to provide for a shorter crawler ride to the pad.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:  |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 417
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 06-15-2012 01:34 PM
quote:
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?!
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. |
Bob Montanaro
New Member Posts: 4
From:
Registered: May 2012
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posted 06-17-2012 05:48 PM
Here are images from Saturday, 16 June 2012, morning's tour — the third public tour after two inaugural tours the day before — of the Kennedy Space Center Up-Close Launch Control Center tour. The tour is well done and leaves one wanting to see more. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2182
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 06-18-2012 02:28 AM
quote:
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.
The firing room display predated the Apollo Saturn V Center as I went through it in 1988 on a high school trip. I know that for sure since both the Saturn V and 1B were outside on display next to one another near the VAB. 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. As for the four firing rooms, I also understand one of them was the primary room used for the DoD classified shuttle launches as it had encrypted communications equipment installed in it. But I am not sure which of the rooms that was. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 467
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 06-18-2012 06:02 AM
FR3 was used for DOD launches. At the time, FR4 was a partial one, and only could support OPF work and not pad ops. The firing room display used to be in the flight crew training building. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26625
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-07-2013 07:05 PM
The limited KSC Up-Close: The Launch Control Center Tour has been extended through (at least) March 31. |
robert_l
Member Posts: 90
From: Dundee,Scotland
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted 02-08-2013 03:15 PM
I took the advantage of the opening of both the VAB and LCC to visit KSC last month.It was amazing to get to see inside both. You have to do them on separate tours. We were taken into firing room 4, which was used for the latter shuttle missions. We also got to see through locked doors into firing room 2 which is currently been taken to bits. It was last used for Apollo 18 (movie)! It was amazing to be in the firing room. I have put some pictures on my Facebook page (Robert Law). |
spacescribe
New Member Posts: 5
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2013
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posted 04-22-2013 11:22 AM
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. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 1347
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 04-22-2013 11:34 AM
quote:
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.
It is still a working center so, no. |
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