Johnson Space Center is the headquarters for all United States manned spacecraft projects conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The center’s full name is the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. It was formerly called the Manned Spacecraft Center. The center covers about 1,600 acres (647 hectares) in Houston.
The space center serves as training headquarters for U.S. astronauts. After a manned space flight lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the Mission Control Center at the space center controls the flight. Mission Control monitors the various systems that keep the astronauts alive and the spacecraft functioning.
Engineers at the space center supervise the design, development, and construction of spacecraft. The Mission Control Center also manages all activity aboard the International Space Station. Special chambers at the space center reproduce flight vibrations, the vacuum of space, and the great temperature changes in space and on the moon.
Construction of the Manned Spacecraft Center began in 1962, and the center became the headquarters of the U.S. manned space program in 1964. Scientists and engineers at the center directed the first landing of astronauts on the moon in July 1969. The space center was renamed in February 1973, after the death of former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
