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A Mission Control Center (MCC) is an entity that manages aerospace vehicle flights. The MCC is often part of a national aerospace agency or a large aerospace company. There are several such national agencies in the world, the top four being:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA)
- China National Space Administration (CNSA)
- European Space Agency (ESA)
The main task of an MCC is to manage space missions, usually from the point of liftoff until the landing or the end of the mission. A staff of flight controllers and other support personnel monitor all aspects of the mission using telemetry, and send commands to the vehicle using ground stations. Personnel supporting the mission from an MCC can include representatives of the attitude control system, power, propulsion, thermal, attitude dynamics, orbital operations and other subsystem disciplines. The training for these missions usually falls under the responsibility of the flight controllers, typically including extensive rehearsals in the MCC.
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NASA's Mission Control Center
NASA's Mission Control Center (MCC-H), at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas manages all manned spaceflight of NASA, including the U.S. portions of the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle.
RKA Mission Control Center
The Mission Control Center of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Russian: Центр управления полётами), also known by its acronym Цуп ("TsUP") is located in Korolyov, near the RKK Energia plant. It contains an active control room for the ISS. It also houses a memorial control room for the Mir where the last few orbits of Mir before it burned up in the atmosphere are shown on the display screens.
Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center
Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center is a command center for the Chinese space program which includes the Shenzhou missions. The building is inside a complex nicknamed Aerospace City. The city is located in a suburb northwest of Beijing.
Other Important Mission Control Centers
- Mobile Servicing System Control and Training at Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Supports Canadarm2 robotics operations.
- The Columbus Control Center (Col-CC) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. It is the mission control center for the European Columbus research laboratory at the International Space Station.
- The ATV Control Centre (ATV-CC) is located at the Toulouse Space Centre (CST) in Toulouse, France. It will be the mission control center for the European Automated Transfer Vehicles, that will regularly resupply ISS.
- JEM Control Center and the HTV Control Center at the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) in Tsukuba, Japan manages operations aboard JAXA's Kibo ISS research laboratory and the resupply flights of the H-II Transfer Vehicle. JAXAs satellite operations are also based here.
- The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), manages all of NASAs unmanned spacecraft.
- European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) responsible for ESAs satellites and space probes.
- Boeing Satellite Development Center (SDC) Mission Control Center[1] in El Segundo, California, USA.
- Lockheed Martin A2100 Space Operations Center (ASOC)[2] in Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Space Systems/Loral Mission Control Center[3] in Palo Alto, California, USA.
- Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre, Mission control center in Krasnoznamensk, Russia.
See also
References
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