You may have heard it, you might have even said it yourself when running into an unforeseen issue: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Just exactly who is Houston? In this instance, it refers to Mission Control, located in Houston, Texas. Let’s take a look at the crucial role they play.  

Going to the Moon would have been impossible without Mission Control. Almost every move the astronauts made were monitored, supported, or advised by Houston’s ground control team. 

The Origins

NASA engineer Christopher Kraft invented the mission control concept in 1959-1961 when preparing for the Mercury missions. He needed a global tracking network, a way to monitor and control flight, and a means to communicate with the astronauts as often as possible. The first control center was at Cape Canaveral, near NASA’s Florida launch site. Beginning with Gemini IV in 1965, mission control moved to Houston, Texas. 

Three shifts of about of about 20 controllers were supported by hundreds of engineering and science experts in back rooms. Mission Control was tied to a worldwide network of tracking stations. It could also be linked to an Apollo Mission Simulator for a full rehearsal of a flight. 

Black and white image of Mercury Mission Control Center during the first orbit of John Glenn's Friendship 7 mission
Mercury Control at Cape Canaveral monitors John Glenn’s flight in 1962. The circles indicate the range of the tracking stations. Glenn’s three orbits are inscribed into the map. Glenn had just passed over Australia on his first orbit. Image courtesy of NASA. 

In 1969, the average age of NASA employees in Mission Control was 28. Space missions were still new, so the space agency hired engineers, scientists, and mathematicians fresh out of school. They learned how to run a mission while on the job—making their accomplishments on the Moon all that more impressive. 

Simulating Missions 

If there was one thing Mission Control understood in the lead up to the first mission to the Moon, it was that practice makes perfect. The Apollo Mission Simulator that both astronauts and Mission Control used to train themselves for missions was the largest and most complex simulation system ever built at that time. 

A large room with two inclosed dome-like structures inside. The one closer to the camera is green, the one father is brown.
This room at the Kennedy Space Center contains a Command Module Simulator (brown structure in the back), a Lunar Module Simulator (green, foreground), miniature spacecraft, and a model lunar surface with remote-controlled TV cameras (center). Another simulator room was built at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Image courtesy of NASA. 

John Young referred to the simulator as “the great train wreck” due to the fact that it was a strange-looking tangled mass of metal. Whatever it looked like, it allowed all flight phases of Apollo missions to be simulated, from launch to landing. Separate command module and lunar module cockpits were embedded in odd-shaped boxes to provide accurate views out the windows for all mission phases. 

Chrystal Jackson made this watercolor sketch for the NASA Art Program. It shows engineers training the astronauts in the Apollo Mission Simulator at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. 

This is the Instructor Operator Station Command Simulator from the Kennedy Space Center. The black-and-white “eight ball” attitude indicator (left panel) was linked to the identical ones on the cockpit control panel. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Dan Bland sits at the Instructor Operator Station, probably for an Apollo 17 simulation in 1972. Image courtesy of NASA.

Communications were wired between Mission Control and the Apollo Mission Simulator to practice normal procedures. The simulator supervisor could also devise fiendishly difficult emergencies for the astronauts. Simulator operators created failures and major problems, which the astronauts and controllers had to solve and master. Through countless hours of practice, crews and their ground support were forged into efficient teams.  

This type of intense training would prove invaluable during missions like Apollo 13, when unexpected circumstances arose and both Houston and the astronauts had to adapt quickly. It was this mission where the famous line “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” comes from. 

Lights, Camera, Action 

All of this rehearsal meant Mission Control worked like a fined tuned machine during actual missions. The Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR), was Mission Control’s nerve center. The 19 controllers here monitored every movement of the spacecraft and its crew. They double-checked everything, reacted to the unexpected, and assisted the astronauts in dealing with problems. 

The Flight Director was the conductor of the orchestra that was Mission Control. They coordinated responses from the different controllers and made decisions about the flight. In the diagram below, the Flight Director was positioned in the area labeled #5, almost directly in the center of the room. 

A diagram of a room with a big screen labeled B at one side and several stations in front of it, each marked with a different number. The first row begins at the back of the room in the diagram, and the forth and final row is located closest to the screen. Behind the first row is a seating area labeled A.
A diagram of the makeup of Mission Control. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

Eugene Kranz is perhaps the most well-known Flight Director from this era due to his “successful failure” approach to the Apollo 13 crisis. Ohio native “Gene” Kranz was an aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot, and flight test expert before joining NASA in 1960. He quickly became deputy to Chris Kraft, the creator of Mission Control.  

Kranz served as a flight director on many missions, starting with Gemini IV in 1965. On top of the Apollo 13 crisis, he was also the lead flight director during the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.  

Black and white photo, man sitting at console
Eugene Kranz works at the flight director console during Gemini IV. Image courtesy of NASA. 

The level of effectiveness at which Mission Control operated during the early days of space flight continues to this day. While today the phrase, “Houston we’ve had a problem,” is ubiquitous with Mission Control, it’s important to know there are real people who make up “Houston.” They make sure Mission Control remains as successful as it did the day Apollo 13 astronauts John Swigert and Jim Lovell uttered the phrases: “Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here” and “Uh, Houston, we've had a problem,” respectively.

Related Topics Apollo program Gemini program Human spaceflight Mercury program Technology and Engineering
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