NASA dedicates new memorial benches honouring Mission Control veterans.



A trio of new statues at NASA's human spaceflight headquarters pay respect to prior flight control crews by encouraging visitors to sit and contemplate on what was made possible from within the Mission Control Center in Houston.

Nearly 400 astronauts and cosmonauts launched into space between the time the Johnson Space Center (previously Manned Spacecraft Center) started supporting human missions and the time the space shuttle was decommissioned, knowing that they would be supported by the men and women working in the control rooms.

More than 6,000 people worked at the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center (MCC), as it is now called, to guarantee the missions' success and the crews' safe return to Earth.

On Thursday (April 28), NASA officials and members of the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association (MSOA) dedicated three black granite benches, one for each of the teams behind the Gemini and Apollo programmes, the Skylab flights and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and the space shuttle missions, in honour of their 46 years of service. The MSOA raised money for the benches via contributions from 98 of the organization's members.


In a statement, Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center, said, "We're grateful to the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association for dedicating these benches in honour of our NASA flight control teams who captured the world's attention and demonstrated the power of America's vision and technology through many historic missions spanning Gemini to shuttle." "As we continue to inspire the next generation of explorers with our Artemis Moon to Mars mission, these benches will serve as a continual reminder of this enduring legacy."


Bringing everyone back into the room


The seats were inspired by work done in 2019 to restore one of the Mission Control Center's flight control rooms to its original state during the Apollo lunar landings. The room now looks as though the flight controllers had just gotten up from their stations, leaving behind their active screens, paperwork, coffee cups, and cigarette butts in their ashtrays.

"The entire purpose of [the benches] is to bring the people back into it after the Johnson Space Center did such a tremendous job of repairing the control room," said Gerry Griffin, an Apollo flight director who attended Thursday's event.

The honour benches are located along a pathway that is used by current MCC team members but is also available to retirees and the general public who visit Space Center Houston's tram excursions to view the rebuilt Apollo control centre.

Gene Kranz, the flight director who managed Mission Control for the first lunar landing and the retrieval of the Apollo 13 crew, suggested that each bench have a similar look.

In an interview with collectSPACE, Bill Reeves, a former flight director whose tenure in the MCC spanned from the commencement of Apollo to the conclusion of the space shuttle programme, stated, "Kranz wanted the mission operations patch in the middle of each of the seats." "So we accomplished that, and then we placed the programme patches on both sides, along with the words 'Tough and Confident,' which was Kranz's credo for the operations teams, which we always held."


The carvings on each seat are completed with the words "Mission Control" and the dates of the separate programmes.

"Griffin and Kranz are former fighter pilots, so they wanted the seats to be arranged in a flying formation," Reeves said. "The Gemini and Apollo benches are in front, with the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz benches out to the right and somewhat behind, and the shuttle programme bench off to the left and even more behind. So that's how they're organised chronologically."


Viewing seats are available.


Because the International Space Station is still in operation, the teams in charge of it are not represented on a bench.

"We didn't include the station programme since it is still running," Reeves said. "So, after that programme is completed, if somebody wants to add another bench for the space station programme, they may."

The benches' main aim is to memorialise those who have gone before them, but they are also meant to encourage the public to consider what comes next.

Griffin told collectSPACE, "It can't simply be a look back." "I believe it has to be to look back and eventually inspire others to look forward."


"I'd want folks who come to sit here to consider how we got people to the moon; we did it, and we can do it again, but what's the strategy for returning?" Griffin said. "And then they'll be interested in learning more about Artemis."

Reeves also hopes that folks who come to sit on the benches will represent many generations of the flying team.

"I'm sure people will want to sit down and have their photo taken while sitting on them," Reeves said, "particularly if they have a grandma or grandmother who participated in the programme." "It's an opportunity for them to realise that those people have a monument."

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