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ORGANIZATIONSERIES

AN EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

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tManned S ~ ac ec ra ~ tCenter

HOUSTON, TWASThe Manned Spacecraft Center, one of the newest a nation al resource fo r acco mp lishing a five-foldand largest research and developmen t facilities of job:the N ational Aeronautics and Space Adm inistration , Developing the technology req uired for man-

serves as a focal point for this Natio ns manned ned spacecraft in present and future program sspace flight program. The facilities that exist a t th e 0 Managing the efforts of industry in the de-Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), about 25 miles tailed design, development, and fabrica tion offrom the center of downtown Houston, Texas, form spacecraft for on-going programs

Aerial view of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, looking northwest. The headquarters building is the highstructure in left forefront of photo.

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Selecting and training the astronauts forNASAs manned space flightsExercising control over the NASA mannedspace fl ights from the time of launch unti l a land-ing is accomplishedManaging the medical, scientific, and engi-neering experiments that are conducted duringmanned space flights.In all of this effort MSC is assisted and supportedby other NASA Centers, by various other civiliangovernment agencies, the Department of Defense,industry, many universities, and many other na-tions in the free world.MSC and its predecessor, Space Task Group,have successfully com pleted t he Mercu ry and Gemi-ni programs which gave the United States its first

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This is the Apollo Mission Simulatorused to train Apollo astronauts forflights by simulating space flightconditions including ou t-of-the-window views. The device isapproximately 30 feet h igh and weighsalmost 40 tons.

experiences with mans capabilities in space flightand the o pportunity to develop many of the opera-tional techniques upon which the Apollo lunarlanding prog ram depends.The Mercury program, which included two sub-orbital and four orbital manned missions, wasoperationally completed M ay 15- 16, 196 3, when theFaith 7 spacecraft touched down i n the PacificOcean.The Gemini program included ten m anned fli gutilizing a two-man spacecraft. The first mannedGemini fligh t was made March 23, 1965 , and thhtenth and final manned mission, that of GeminiXII, flown November 11-15, 1966. It achieved theobjectives of further investigating mans capabili-ties of performance in the weightless environs ofspace, proving the feasibility of rendezvous anddocking of two vehicles in space, determining theability of m an to fu nction in space while o utside hisspacecraft, and performing many scientific experi-ments.The Apollo program was established to develop

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the industrial, technological, and managementcapabil ities required to make the United States pre-eminent in this new age of technology, and able tocarry out the national aim of exploring space forthe benefit of al l mankind. A specific objective of theprogram is a manned landing on the moon and safereturn to earth within the decade.In the Apollo program three men wil l follow aslunar trajectory to orbit the moon. Two of the. n wil l enter the lunar module and descend totpe surface of the moon to perform limited explora-tion and secure samples of the lunar surface. Theywill then ascend in the lunar module to rendezvouswith the m other craft and return to earth.All MSC activities are carried out under the su-pervision of the C enter Director, six functional direc-tors, and program office managers. The functionaldirectors are: Director of Engineering and Develop-ment; Director of Flight Crew Operations; Directorof Medical Research and Operations; Director ofScience and Applications; Direc tor of Flight Opera-tions; and the Director of Administration.The two program offices now active are: ApolloSpacecraft Program Office; and the Apollo Applica-tions Program Office. All manned space flights arecontrolled from liftoff through recovery from theMission Control Center at MSC. This facility in-cludes several major electronic subsystems-com-munications, displays, sim ulation and training , andcomputers. It contains two mission control roomsand can support both a manned fl ight and a simu-lated flight simultaneously.Other m ajor facil ities in the 1620-acre complex a tMSC are:

0 The Space Environment Simulation Laboratorytests spacecraft u nder sim ulated space environmen-tal conditions. The laboratory has two space simu-lator chambers. Chamber A is 12 0 feet h igh and65 feet in diameter and Chamber B is 43 feet highand 35 feet in diameter. Possible tempe rature ex-tremes range from plus 260 degrees to minus 280degrees Fahrenheit.0 The Flight Acceleration Facility contains a

centrifuge and ifs chamber area. The centrifugesgondola is 12 feet in diameter and weighs 8000pounds with three occupants and instrumentation.This load may be whirled at the end of its 50-footarm a t 20 gs continuously or up to 30 gs for shortduration.0 An Anechoic Chamber Test Facility in whichspacecraft communications systems are tested inan echo-free environment.

Manned Spacecraft Center is the s ite of the LunarReceiving Laboratory which will be the initial dis-tribution point for lunar rock samples to the scienti-fic com munity. One hundred and ten scientists havebeen named to examine the lunar m aterial brough tback by the first Apollo astronauts to land on themoon. Preliminary biological, geological, and chemi-cal analysis w il l be performed in this laboratoryduring a quarantine period. This facil i ty wil l alsoserve as a quarantine area for astronauts returningfrom the lunar mission. The National Academy ofSciences recommended the latter procedure toNASA.As stated previously, one of the major manage-men t respons ibilities of the M anned Spacecraft Cen-ter is that of selecting and training fl ight crew mem-

This is an Anechoic Chamber. Thewalls are comp letely covered with fo ampyramids for absorbing stray radiationdurin g spacecraft antenna radiationpattern tests.

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This centrifuge is located in the FlightAcceleration Facility. The centrifu gehas a 50-fo ot arm which swings athree-man gondola to create thegforces astronauts will experienceduring lift-off and re-entry conditions.

bers. The development of a pool of trained fl ightcrew members has been constant since 1959, andthe number of astronauts and scientist-astronautshas increased as additional programs have beenassigned. A l l astronauts are given thorough trainin gin a wide variety of subjects to keep them abreastof the rapidly changing developments in spaceoriented hardware and operations. This trainingranges from fo rma l classroom work to jungle, water,desert, and Arctic survival-from prac ticing gettingout of a spacecraft to the p ractice of removal of ex-periment packages in a simulated weightless con-dition. In addition, when crews are named for aspecific fl ight they engage in full-time preparationfor such a mission. This includes spending hun-dreds of hours in fl ight simu lators.With M ercur y and Gem ini comp leted emphasis a tManned SpacecrAft Center is now being placed onthe Apollo and the Apollo Applications programs.Apollo Applications has been designated as thefollow -on prog ram to Apollo; and MSC wi l l have animportant role to play in program planning, in

supplying the crew members, and in con troll ingThe Science and Applications Direc torate of MSCprovides a p oint of contact for scientists throughoutthe country interested in taking part in the mannedspace flight program. Its chief areas of responsi-bility include:

the fl ights from its Mission Co ntrol Center. 0

Lunar science programs;Earth resources programs;Meteorology investigations using manProviding environmental data to supportspacecraft and m ission design in space phy-sics investigations;Conceiving, developing, and integrating ex-perimental instrumentation and equipmentfor science and applications program;Providing design data and real-time missioninformation on radiation, micrometeoritesand lunar surface condition s for mannedmissions.

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In the ea rth resources app lications areas, Man -ned Spacecraft Center will assess a variety of fl ightsystems and data acquisition approaches to aid inpollution studies, in oceanography work, and inmore accurate geological and geographical map-ping. It wi l l study potential benefits to be derivedfrom manned space application programs, such asmore effective determination of world crop statusand better assessment of the world's water supply.Much of this applications work will be done in co-operation with other NASA Centers and governmentagencies.

DIRECTOR: DR. ROBERT R. GILRUTHManned Spacecraft CenterNational Aeronautics and Space Adm inistrationHouston, Texas 77058

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