When asked who was the first man to walk on the Moon most will not have a problem replying “Neil Armstrong.” He has become a household name not only in our Nation but across our entire planet. Many people are familiar with Armstrong’s accomplishments however most are unaware of the efforts invested into these missions by people here on the ground. This paper will focus on ground Flight Control Rooms (FCRs, pronounced "fickers") that contained the talented people who helped usher some of the most important spaceflight events in our current history. First, there will be a brief overview of the Missions Control Center (MCC) history. Next, a section will cover the description of each of the Flight Control Rooms (FCRs). Lastly a thorough assessment of each of the FCRs will explain how each room was and is used as well as for what purpose. This paper will serve as a testament of the history and achievement which had and is continuing to take place during each human spaceflight.
Mission Control Center (MCC)
The Mission Control Center has been a vital organ for all human spaceflight since the mid 1960’s. It is Christopher Columbus Kraft’s vision that ultimately has developed what we refer to today as Mission Control. He envisioned utilizing a room which would contain a talented caliber of people who would be responsible for troubleshooting problems and supporting general flight activities. Ultimately each of these people would work under the guidance of a Flight Director who was essentially responsible for the entire mission. Today we know MCC to be a “"world class" spacecraft command and control facility which is able to support multiple spaceflight programs while reducing long term operations and maintenance cost.” It prov...
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Mission command is the commander's use of authority and direction to empower adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations. It helps subordinates exercise disciplined initiative when operating within their commander’s intent. To facilitate effective mission command, commanders must accomplish four consecutive stages of the operations process. They must thoroughly understand the problem, visualize a solution that achieves a desired end state, and then accurately describe this visualization in order to direct the organization. Commanders continually lead and assess their organizations and provide input and influence to their subordinates and staff.
The mission command philosophy helps commanders counter the uncertainty of operations by reducing the amount of certainty needed to act. Commanders can build teams and achieve their final goals through adapting the six principles of mission command to warfighting situation. I analyzed and compared the performance of General Sherman and General Hampton in four of six mission command principles.
In order to develop a successful organizational and control system for CP, we, MIC, had to
As a result of the successful mission that landed the first men on the moon, called the Apollo 11 mission, many people were inspired to provide commentary on this landing. Although these texts describe unique individual purposes about this landing, they all effectively support their purposes through the use of several rhetorical devices.
middle of paper ... ...2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. The "NASA History" Congressional Digest 90.7 (2011): 196-224. Academic Search Premier -. Web.
The early missions of Project Apollo were mostly dedicated to the establishment and advancement of technology to meet America’s national interests in space. Apollo missions 1 through 10 were focused on building and testing the Command Module (CM), Service Module (SM), and Lunar Module (LM). Altogether the CM and the SM make the Command Service Module, or CSM.
The Orbiter Vehicle (OV) is "the brains and heart of the Space Transportation System" ("The Orbiter," par. 1). Also called the fuselage, it has a cabin for the crew, a large cargo bay and three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs). The forward part of the orbiter is the crew cabin; it is where the cockpit and living quarters can be found and where mission experiments are performed. The middle part of the orbiter is large open bay and it i...
Located in the Grimaldi Crater, this base, occupied by between five and fifteen people at any given time, features three main wings and one auxiliary wing that does not have any environmental control or life support systems. Each of these three wings are powered by one or more solar arrays. The largest and most occupied wing of the lunar base is the Science Research and Development wing, abbreviated as SCI-R&D, or simply, “a-wing”. Inside SCI-R&D, there are a myriad of ...
As a country we need to start investing more money and research into space technology. Programs currently exist for this effort, but the potential for research and progress is limited by a lack of funding; compared to other government funded programs, aerospace funding is pitiful. Continued research in space technology is a necessary step in our growth and development not just as a country but also as entire human race. If we are to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase funding for space research and technology and consider the possibility of colonizing outer space. If we limit our existence to the planet Earth, and continue to drain the resources on this planet, we will destroy the only home we have.
Crew Resource Management (CRM) has come a long way. The roots of CRM can be traced back to a workshop, Resource Management on the Flightdeck sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979 (Helmreich, Merritt, & Wilheim, 1999). From where it first labeled at NASA as Cockpit Resource Management, CRM has evolved into many different generations.
On April 13, 1970, NASA's Mission Control heard the five words that no control center ever wants to hear: "We've got a problem here." Jack Swigert, an astronaut aboard the Apollo 13 aircraft, reported the problem of broken down oxygen tanks to the Houston Control Center, less than two days after its takeoff on April 11th. Those at the Control Center in Houston were unsure what had happened to the spacecraft, but knew that some sort of explosion had occurred. This so-called explosion sent Apollo 13 spinning away from the Earth at 2,000 miles per hour, 75 percent of the way to the moon. In order to get the astronauts back to the Earth's atmosphere would be to utilize the moon's gravitational pull and send them back towards home, like a slingshot. However, this procedure would require three days, and this demanded more oxygen and electricity than the crew had available to them. Eugene "Gene" Kranz, head of this flight mission, although looking on in horror, began thinking of solutions to the problem immediately after the Controls were aware of the problem on board. Knowing that the options of refueling the spacecraft with oxygen or retrieve the astronauts himself, he needed to think of a strategy for a safe return. In this sense, if his solution fails, it could result in the biggest catastrophe in NASA history.
Surprisingly, the United States’ space program started with the Cold War. The Cold war pushed the United States and the Soviet Union into a space race in which both nations rapidly developed space programs and tried to best each other in space exploration (Cold War 1). The Kennedy Space Center was built in Florida as a control center which handled many of the shuttle launches into space (NASA 1). The Space Center was built in Florida for many specific reasons including climate and location (Matson 1). The rapid development of the Space program and the Kennedy Space Center significantly changed the development of the surrounding communities in various ways. The development of NASA and the Space Center was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and influential undertakings of its time.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was July 20 1969, the day that reshaped our nation and gave us unparalleled dreams for the future. The impact of the day goes far beyond our pride and nationalism; that day would change space exploration and technology forever. Just like a shooting star, that day would give us a glimpse of hope. A chance to see an event so breathtaking and defying, it would be man’s greatest accomplishment in the 20th century. As millions of people watched from their TV sets, a rush of euphoria came over the nation as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the surface of the moon. It was the first time in the history of mankind that we would step on the surface of another celestial body. John F. Kennedy dared us to dream, he inspired the nation to reach for the moon, to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world. The Space Race was symbolic of many things. Our future as the technically dominate nation was secured in place; just as secure as Old Glory would be, when she was driven down into the soil of the moon. We not only reached the moon, we conquered it as a nation; united.
Prior to 1959, faulty equipment was the probable cause for many airplane accidents, but with the advent of jet engines, faulty equipment became less of a threat, while human factors gained prominence in accident investigations (Kanki, Helmreich & Anca, 2010). From 1959 to 1989, pilot error was the cause of 70% of accident resulting in the loss of hull worldwide (Kanki, Helmreich & Anca, 2010). Due to these alarming statistics, in 1979 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) implemented a workshop called “Resource Management on the Flightdeck” that led to what is now known as Crew Resource Management (CRM) or also known as Cockpit Resource Management (Rodrigues & Cusick, 2012). CRM is a concept that has been attributed to reducing human factors as a probable cause in aviation accidents. The concepts of CRM weren’t widely accepted by the aviation industry, but through its history, concepts, and eventual implementation, Crew Resource Management has become an invaluable resource for pilots as well as other unrelated industries around the world.
...me under the training and educating the pilots. The pilots must be aware of the manuals that talk about the computer systems in the flight deck. They themselves are responsible for updating their knowledge on the improvement of these systems. These procedures must be communicated through the company so that all the other staff is aware of the changes as well.