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Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center (JSC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's
center for human spaceflight undertakings. It is made up of a 100
buildings sitting on 1620 acres in Houston, Texas and is home to the
US astronaut corps, responsible for training astronauts from this
country and abroad. It was originally called the Manned Spacecraft
Center and built on land donated by Rice University; then opened in
1963. In February, 1973, it was renamed in honor of the late
President and native Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson; and is one of ten
nationally. The JSC started when Senator Lyndon Johnson assisted the
passage of legislation back in 1958 and when President John F.
Kennedy created a goal in 1961 of putting a man on the moon within
that decade, the Space Task Group was created. Langley Research
Center engineers formed with that group to begin the Apollo project;
and needed test facilities and research labs to begin that
formidable task. In 1961, NASA administrator James E. Webb headed
the selection team; with strict requirements made for the new
facility that included water and an all-weather airport, also being
close to a big telecommunications network and the availability of
industrial workers and contractor support. Houston was initially
included because of the 4700 acres US Army San Jacinto Ordnance
Depot that was sitting on the Houston Ship Channel and to regional
universities, that included Rice, University of Texas and Texas A &
M. In September of 1961, the decision was made to chose Houston and
the land donated by Rice was only 25 miles southeast of Houston by
Galveston Bay. The construction started in 1961 and finished in
1963. Since the Gemini IV space mission, the control center
has been the operational center of all the human space flights. It
takes care of all the functions onboard, and directs all space
shuttle missions, built in 1962, and completely functional by 1965.
The center was the sight of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory and where
the astronauts coming back from the moon landing were quarantined,
as well as containing all the samples from the moon walk. The
landing and recovery division ran the MV Retriever in the Gulf of
Mexico for the Apollo and Gemini astronauts so that they could
practice getting out of the module after it splashed into the water.
After the horrible disaster of the Space Shuttle Challenger, in
1986, the president and his wife flew down to speak at the memorial
service that was given in honor of the fallen astronauts, which was
well attended with 6000 NASA employees and 4000 guests. One of the
relics stored here is the Saturn V rocket, complete except for the
rings missing in the two stages of the rocket; made of surplus
flight ready parts. It also has an Apollo CSM that was supposed to
fly the Apollo 19 mission, that was cancelled. The space
center is home to many function divisions that include the Mission
Control Center (MCC-H), which directs all Space Shuttle missions,
and activities that occur on the International Space Station, and
the Apollo Mission Control Center which has become a National
Historic Landmark; as well as the Sonny Carter Training Facility and
the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.
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