Each shuttle flight is planned years ahead. The astronauts train for months for their particular jobs and missions. During the flight, mission control on the ground, are in constant radio contact with the space shuttle. Mission control has specialists to monitor all the shuttle’s systems and to converse with the astronauts.

How many people work in Mission Control during a mission?
There are about 50 people on a team, three teams working about 9 hour shifts. In addition, there are many engineering people who support the mission in case there is a peculiar problem. Each team has a flight director and Capcom.

What do mission controllers do between missions?
We only spend about 10% of our time in controlling shuttle missions. We spend about another 15% of our time in training using the mission control center, the shuttle simulators here at JSC and a team of trainers to give us problems to overcome, just like it was a real flight. The other 75% of our time is spend in planning and organizing the missions.

What kind of education does one need to become a flight controller?
To be considered for a job as a flight controller, you must have an engineering or other technical degree. People who are interested in working as flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center are placed in the Mission Operations organization, either with NASA or the operations contractor. There, they are assigned to a specific technical discipline based on educational background and interest, and spend some number of years in training, with progressively increasing responsibilities depending on demonstrated ability. In addition to demonstrating one’s knowledge of his or her technical discipline, other skills which are evaluated during the training process to become a flight controller are communication, interpersonal, initiative, organizational, and team management.

Is it possible for a flight controller or even a flight director to become an astronaut? It IS possible for flight controllers to become astronauts, and this has happened many times. A few flight controllers get to become flight directors.

What are the responsibilities of the Flight Dynamics Officer?
The FDO determines where the shuttle is, where it is going, and where it has been. With the trajectory defined, the FDO also generates, executes, and confirms all translational maneuvers (maneuvers that change the orbit size) to meet specific payload requirements. Once these maneuvers are defined, the FDO is responsible for determining landing opportunities and just as important, evaluate the weather conditions at landing sites around the world.Further, the FDO coordinates with the United Space Space Command at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado Springs to determine if orbital debris poses a threat to the shuttle. Other real time activities that the FDO performs include providing shuttle sighting opportunities (which you can view on the shuttle web site) and state vector postings for a variety of satellites (including Mir) so other people can plot the shuttle ground track on home computers.

Are food and drinks allowed inside Mission Control?
Yes we do allow food and drinks inside the Mission Control Center. Depending upon what is happening during the mission, most flight controller's shifts average between 8 and 12 hours with only 5- to 10-minute breaks every 90 minutes. So you can see that without food and drinks, there would be a lot of rumbling stomachs in the Control Center. One of our longstanding traditions in the MCC is the Food List. This is where each Flight Controller takes a day and delights his colleagues with cuisine of his own choosing. This way he only cooks (or buys) once and is covered for the rest of the mission.

Is the MCC position 'Flight Surgeon' always manned by a medical doctor?
During the times that the crewmembers are awake during each flight day, a medical doctor who specializes in aerospace medicine is always on console at the Surgeon position. However, there are also biomedical engineers (BME's), with training in the medical kits and systems onboard Shuttle, that staff the mission around the clock. This main team usually consists of a crew surgeon, deputy crew surgeon, and a BME mission manager. They are assigned to work all the medical aspects of a specific flight, and are augmented with extra surgeons and BME's at Mission Control while the main team is away from MCC during the launch and landing of the shuttle.