The Johnson Space Center is known as the heart of the manned space program.  The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is located about 20 miles (32.2 km) outside of Houston, Texas. It is named after our 36^th president, Lyndon Johnson. Johnson Space Center was established in 1961 as NASA’s main center for:

	Spacecraft and human flight systems design and testing
	Astronaut training and selection
	Human space flight mission control and planning
	On-board  medical, engineering and scientific experiments development

The Manned Spacecraft Center(MSC) opened in 1963 in Clear Lake City, Texas.   It became the focus of manned spacecraft activity as Gemini ended and Apollo started. In 1969, engineers and scientists at Johnson Space Center helped to put the first man on the Moon.  In 1973, the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.  Its scientists and engineers have helped with the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Shuttle programs.  It is NASA's Center for Excellence in Human Operations in Space.

Johnson Space Center is where the astronauts live and train. It is where Mission Control is located. Another part of JSC is Space Center Houston. Space Center Houston is an interactive museum center open to the public. Experts from the Walt Disney Company helped to design and plan it. Space Center Houston has hands-on activities, films, exhibits, and live shows.

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