75-583: The Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) is a large open space area located inside Building 9 of Johnson Space Center in Houston. The SVMF houses mockups of most pressurized modules on the International Space Station (ISS). It is primarily used for astronaut training and systems familiarization. The ISS mockups found in the SVMF are 1:1 scale, and vary in level of fidelity compared to
150-432: A "custom within the agency" in that era. Historian David K. Johnson , author of 2004 book The Lavender Scare , has stated that there is no evidence Webb led or instigated any persecution, nor played "any sort of leadership role in the lavender scare". According to astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi , the initial accusations that Webb was part of the lavender scare were based on a quote from John Peurifoy (who, like Webb, had
225-785: A Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1928. He was a member of the Acacia fraternity . Webb became a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps , and he served as a Marine Corps pilot on active duty from 1930 to 1932. Webb then studied law at The George Washington University Law School , where he received a J.D. degree in 1936. In the same year, he was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia . Webb married Patsy Aiken Douglas in 1938, and they had two children. He
300-591: A Senate resolution renaming the Manned Spacecraft Center in his honor. As Senate Majority Leader , Johnson had sponsored the 1958 legislation which created NASA ; dedication ceremonies were held six months later on August 27. One of the artifacts displayed at Johnson Space Center is the Saturn V rocket. It is whole, except for the ring between the S-IC and S-II stages, and the fairing between
375-439: A crewed spacecraft clears its launch tower until it lands back on Earth, it is in the hands of Mission Control. The MCC houses several Flight Control Rooms, from which flight controllers coordinate and monitor the spaceflights. The rooms have many computer resources to monitor, command, and communicate with spacecraft. When a mission is underway, the rooms are staffed around the clock, usually in three shifts. JSC handles most of
450-543: A delegation which exerted particularly strong political pressure, prompting a personal inquiry to Webb from President Kennedy. Senators and congressmen from sites in Missouri and California similarly lobbied the selection team. Proponents of sites in Boston, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Norfolk, Virginia, went so far as to make separate presentations to Webb and the headquarters staff, so Webb added these additional sites to
525-540: A longtime Washington insider and with the backing of President Lyndon B. Johnson , he was able to produce continued support and resources for Apollo. During Webb's administration, NASA developed from a loose collection of research centers to a coordinated organization. He had a key role in creating the Manned Spacecraft Center, later the Johnson Space Center , in Houston . Despite the pressures to focus on
600-441: A memorial service honoring the astronauts. It was attended by 6,000 NASA employees and 4,000 guests, as well as by the families of the crew. During the ceremony, an Air Force band led the singing of "God Bless America" as NASA T-38 Talon supersonic jets flew directly over the scene in the traditional missing-man formation . All activities were broadcast live by the national television and radio networks. A similar memorial service
675-525: A new site be chosen. Later that year, when President John F. Kennedy set the goal to put a person on the Moon by the end of the decade, it became clear Gilruth would need a larger organization to lead the Apollo Program , with new test facilities and research laboratories. In 1961, Congress held hearings and passed a $ 1.7 billion 1962 NASA appropriations bill which included $ 60 million for
750-687: A regent of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1981, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for his dedication to his country. Webb died from a heart attack at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington on March 27, 1992, at age 85. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Webb was played by Dan Lauria in the 1998 miniseries From
825-494: A road on the facility leading to the main entrance. JSC put in a bid to display one of the retired Space Shuttle orbiters , but was not selected. 29°33′30″N 95°05′20″W / 29.55833°N 95.08889°W / 29.55833; -95.08889 James E. Webb James Edwin Webb (October 7, 1906 – March 27, 1992) was an American government official who served as Undersecretary of State from 1949 to 1952. He
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#1732790200020900-885: A swimming test. EVA training is conducted at the Sonny Carter Training Facility . Candidates are also trained to deal with emergencies associated with hyperbaric and hypobaric atmospheric pressures and are given exposure to the microgravity of space flight. Candidates maintain their flying proficiency by flying 15 hours per month in NASA's fleet of T-38 jets based at nearby Ellington Field. Johnson Space Center leads NASA's human spaceflight-related scientific and medical research programs. Technologies developed for spaceflight are now in use in many areas of medicine , energy , transportation , agriculture , communications , and electronics . The Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) office performs
975-583: Is NASA 's center for human spaceflight in Houston , Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center ), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U.S. president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson , by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973. JSC consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres (660 ha) in
1050-579: Is an injustice". On October 24, 2022, the Royal Astronomical Society released a statement on the matter, in which they indicated the editorial policy of their journals would be to not spell out Webb's name when referring to the telescope until such time as an investigation was completed and a report made public. Less than a month later, NASA released the report of their investigation and accompanying evidence. The report, based on an examination of more than 50,000 documents, found there
1125-520: Is home to Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center (MCC-H), the NASA control center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States. MCC-H directed all Space Shuttle missions, and currently directs American activities aboard the International Space Station . The Apollo Mission Control Center , a National Historic Landmark , is in Building 30. From the moment
1200-712: Is popularly known by its radio call signs "Mission Control" and "Houston". The original Manned Spacecraft Center grew out of the Space Task Group (STG) headed by Robert R. Gilruth that was formed to coordinate the U.S. crewed spaceflight program. The STG was based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia , but reported organizationally to the Goddard Space Flight Center just outside Washington, D.C. To meet
1275-521: The Apollo 11 lunar landing. Webb reported the investigation board's findings to various congressional committees and took personal blame at nearly every meeting. Whether by happenstance or by design, Webb managed to deflect some of the backlash over the accident away from both NASA as an agency and from the Johnson administration . As a result, NASA's image and popular support were largely undamaged. Webb
1350-541: The Clear Lake Area of Houston . The center is home to NASA's astronaut corps , and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. It also houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center , which has provided the flight control function for every NASA human spaceflight since Gemini 4 (including Apollo , Skylab , Apollo–Soyuz , and Space Shuttle ). It
1425-586: The Human Space Flight Programs . Johnson Space Center was granted a five-year, $ 120-million extension of its agreement with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute at Baylor College of Medicine to study the health risks related to long-duration space flight. The extension will allow a continuation of biomedical research in support of a long-term human presence in space started by
1500-579: The Mercury Control Center located at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch center would become inadequate to control missions with maneuverable spacecraft such as Gemini and Apollo. Christopher Kraft and three other flight controllers began studying what was needed for an improved control center, and directed a study contract awarded to Philco 's Western Development Laboratory. Philco bid on and won
1575-663: The Soviet Moonshot have given support to Webb's conclusion. Webb was a Democrat tied closely to Johnson, and since Johnson chose not to run for reelection, Webb decided to step down as administrator to allow the next president, Republican Richard Nixon , to choose his own administrator. Webb left NASA on October 7, 1968, his sixty-second birthday, just before the first crewed flight in the Apollo program. Drawing on his NASA experience, Webb published Space Age Management: The Large-Scale Approach (1969), in which he presented
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#17327902000201650-507: The physical science research at the center. ARES directs and manages all functions and activities of the ARES scientists who perform basic research in earth , planetary , and space sciences . ARES scientists and engineers provide support to the human and robotic spaceflight programs. The responsibilities of ARES also include interaction with the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance and
1725-838: The Apollo program, Webb ensured that NASA carried out a program of planetary exploration with the Mariner and Pioneer space programs. Webb was an early champion of space telescopes, like the one that would later bear his name . Encouraged by Kennedy and Johnson, Webb made racial integration a priority for the agency. NASA publicly supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and initiated a series of innovative programs aimed at increasing black participation including specifically targeting black colleges and schools with recruitment programs. On one occasion Webb and Wernher von Braun famously confronted and lectured segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace on racial integration in front of
1800-544: The Apollo program, but Kennedy also made reference to the new Center: What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, ... with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double
1875-735: The Budget in the Office of the President of the United States , a position that he held until 1949. Webb was recommended for the appointment to Harry S. Truman by Gardner and Treasury Secretary John Snyder . Because of Webb's association with the Treasury Department, his appointment was seen as subordinating the BoB to the Treasury. His appointment surprised Webb, who had not been told of the final decision to appoint him. The Bureau of
1950-454: The Budget prepared the President's proposed budget each year for presentation to Congress. Truman's objective for the budget was to bring it to balance after the large expenditures of World War II. President Truman next nominated Webb to serve as an undersecretary of state in the U.S. Department of State , which he began in January 1949. Webb's first assignment from Secretary Dean Acheson
2025-806: The Defense budget, Webb got Truman to convince him to support the recommendations of NSC 68. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army invaded South Korea . Webb and Secretary Acheson devised three recommendations: involve the United Nations, send the Navy Pacific Fleet into the Yellow Sea , and authorize an Air Force strike on the Korean tanks. Truman implemented the first two recommendations immediately but delayed
2100-866: The Earth to the Moon , and by Ken Strunk in the 2016 film Hidden Figures . NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), originally known as the Next Generation Space Telescope, was renamed after Webb in 2002. Launched on December 25, 2021, it is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope . In March 2021, a commentary in Scientific American urged NASA to rename the James Webb Space Telescope, accusing Webb of complicity in
2175-820: The House Appropriations Committee, Bob Casey and Olin E. Teague were members of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, and Teague headed the Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight. Finally, Sam Rayburn was Speaker of the House of Representatives." The land for the new facility was 1,000 acres (400 ha) donated to Rice by the Humble Oil company, situated in an undeveloped area 25 mi (40 km) southeast of Houston adjacent to Clear Lake near Galveston Bay . At
2250-565: The ISS. An industrial door at the North End, and overhead cranes allows the installation of new mockup spacecraft to be loaded into the facility. Space Center Houston offers a Level 9 VIP tour of the entire training facility during its afternoon tour. Ticket cost is $ 199.. This space - or spaceflight -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center ( JSC )
2325-633: The Japanese mainland. He had orders to leave for Japan on August 14, 1945, but his orders were delayed, and the Surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, meant that he did not see combat. After World War II, Webb returned to Washington, DC and served as executive assistant to Gardner , now the Undersecretary of the Treasury , for a short while before he was named as the director of the Bureau of
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2400-680: The Next Generation Space Telescope was renamed the James Webb Space Telescope as a tribute to Webb. Webb was born in 1906 in Tally Ho in Granville County, North Carolina . His father, John Frederick Webb, was superintendent of Granville County's segregated public schools. Sarah Gorham Webb was his mother. He completed his college education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , where he received
2475-541: The President of the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Brooklyn , hired Gardner's firm to represent them. The successful resolution resulted in the resumption of contracts with private airlines. As a result of their interactions, Sperry Gyroscope hired Webb as the personnel director and assistant to Thomas Morgan, the president of Sperry. Between 1936 and 1944, Webb became the secretary-treasurer and later
2550-519: The President. A question facing the Department of State at the time was whether the Soviet Union could be contained through only diplomatic means or whether the military would be needed. Paul Nitze , as Director of Policy Planning , wrote a classified memo, NSC 68 , arguing for a military build-up of NATO forces. Although Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson opposed an increase in
2625-556: The Rice University site to first place. Webb informed President Kennedy on September 14 of the decision made by him and deputy administrator Hugh Dryden in two separate memoranda, one reviewing the criteria and procedures, and the other stating: "Our decision is that this laboratory should be located in Houston, Texas, in close association with Rice University and the other educational institutions there and in that region." The Executive Office and NASA made advance notifications of
2700-519: The S-II and S-IVB stages, and made of actual surplus flight-ready articles. It also has real (though incomplete) Apollo command and service modules, intended to fly in the canceled Apollo 19 mission . In June 2019, the restored Apollo Mission Control Center was opened for tourists. In the wake of the January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger disaster , President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan traveled to JSC on January 31 to speak at
2775-520: The STG. The team initially came up with a list of 22 cities based on the climate and water criteria, then cut this to a short list of nine with nearby federal facilities: Another 14 sites were then added, including two additional Houston sites chosen because of proximity to Rice University . The team visited all 23 sites between August 21 and September 7, 1961. During these visits, Massachusetts Governor John A. Volpe and Senator Margaret Chase Smith headed
2850-639: The State Department's purge of homosexuals from the federal workforce in the 1940s and 1950s, known as the " lavender scare ". This controversy was reported in the press. The scientists who proposed renaming the telescope pointed to the case of NASA budget analyst Clifford Norton. Personnel matters fell under the purview of the Deputy Administrator of NASA Robert Seamans ; direct evidence of Webb's knowledge of Norton's firing has not come to light. Such firings have been claimed to be
2925-553: The United States' psychological warfare capabilities, in particular studying how to circumvent Soviet attempts to jam Voice of America broadcasts. With the attention of the department focused on the Korean War, Webb's influence weakened. As the author of NSC 68, State Department Director of Policy Planning Paul Nitze became the principal advisor to Secretary Acheson, and a misunderstanding between Webb and Nitze led to Nitze outwardly calling for Webb's resignation, but
3000-475: The aging and ailing Pou. Webb next served as an assistant in the office of Oliver Max Gardner , an attorney, former governor of North Carolina and friend of President Roosevelt, from 1934 to 1936. Gardner supported Webb in finishing law school. During the Air Mail scandal of 1934, the government halted the carrying of airmail by private airline companies. A group of airline executives, led by Thomas Morgan,
3075-470: The award, and the public announcement of the location followed on September 19, 1961. According to Texas A&M University historian Henry C. Dethloff , "Although the Houston site neatly fit the criteria required for the new center, Texas undoubtedly exerted an enormous political influence on such a decision. Lyndon B. Johnson was Vice President and head of the Space Council, Albert Thomas headed
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3150-559: The center added 32 Canadian engineers put out of work by the cancellation of the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow project. NASA's first administrator, T. Keith Glennan , realized that the growth of the U.S. space program would cause the STG to outgrow the Langley and Goddard centers and require its own location. On January 1, 1961, he wrote a memo to his yet-unnamed successor (who turned out to be James E. Webb ), recommending
3225-707: The center the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center on April 14, 2011. In addition to housing NASA's astronaut operations, JSC is also the site of the former Lunar Receiving Laboratory , where the first astronauts returning from the Moon were quarantined , and where the majority of lunar samples are stored. The center's Landing and Recovery Division operated MV Retriever in the Gulf of Mexico for Gemini and Apollo astronauts to practice water egress after splashdown . On February 19, 1973, four weeks after Johnson's death, President Richard Nixon signed into law
3300-506: The commanding officer of Marine Air Warning Group One , 9th Marine Aircraft Wing , first as a captain and later as a major. Webb's brother, Henry Gorham Webb, was also a Marine Corps officer who was at that time a prisoner of war in Japan, having served with VMF-211 during the Battle of Wake Island , and then subsequently captured. He was put in charge of a radar program for the invasion of
3375-399: The contract to build the electronic equipment for the new Mission Control Center, which would be located in Building 30 of MSC rather than Canaveral or the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Construction began in 1963. The new center had two Mission Operations Control Rooms, allowing training and preparation for a later mission to be carried out while a live mission is in progress. It
3450-473: The coordinating facility for the Constellation program , which was planned to replace the Shuttle program after 2010, but was canceled in 2009. The visitor center has been the adjacent Space Center Houston since 1994; JSC Building 2 previously housed the visitor center. The Johnson Space Center Heliport ( FAA LID : 72TX ) is located on the campus. About 3,200 civil servants, including 110 astronauts , are employed at Johnson Space Center. The bulk of
3525-412: The dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions. Building 31-N houses the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility , which stores, analyzes, and processes most of the samples returned from the Moon during the Apollo program. The center is also responsible for direction of operations at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico , which served as a backup Space Shuttle landing site and would have been
3600-448: The final review. Following its tour, the team identified MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa as its first choice, based on the fact the Air Force was planning to close down its Strategic Air Command operations there. The Houston Rice University site was second, and the Benicia Ordnance Depot in San Francisco was third. Before a decision could be made, however, the Air Force decided not to close MacDill, omitting it from consideration and moving
3675-463: The ground?" Webb went to Johnson and asked for NASA to be allowed to handle the accident investigation and to direct its recovery, according to a procedure that was established following the in-flight accident on Gemini 8 (1966). He promised to be truthful in assessing blame regarding Apollo 1, even to himself and NASA management, as appropriate. The agency set out to discover the details of the tragedy, to correct problems, and to continue progress toward
3750-427: The growing needs of the US human spaceflight program, plans began in 1961 to expand its staff to its own organization, and move it to a new facility. This was constructed in 1962 and 1963 on land donated by the Humble Oil company through Rice University , and officially opened its doors in September 1963. Today, JSC is one of ten major NASA field centers and the city of Houston's primary cultural footprint, earning it
3825-518: The institute and NASA's Human Research Program through 2012. The Prebreathe Reduction Program is a research study program at the JSC that is currently being developed to improve the safety and efficiency of space walks from the International Space Station . The Overset Grid-Flow software was developed at Johnson Space Center in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center . The software simulates fluid flow around solid bodies using computational fluid dynamics . The Texas Space Commission
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#17327902000203900-406: The nation was led by Vice-President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne at Washington National Cathedral two days later. On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike hit Galveston as a category 2 hurricane and caused minor damage to the Mission Control Center and other buildings at JSC. The storm damaged the roofs of several hangars for the T-38 Talons at Ellington Field . The Johnson Space Center
3975-415: The new crewed spaceflight laboratory. A set of requirements for the new site was drawn up and released to the Congress and general public. These included: access to water transport by large barges, a moderate climate, availability of all-weather commercial jet service, a well-established industrial complex with supporting technical facilities and labor, close proximity to a culturally attractive community in
4050-477: The number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $ 60 million a year; to invest some $ 200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $ 1 billion from this Center in this City. The 1,620-acre (6.6 km ) facility was officially opened for business in September 1963. In 1961, as plans for Project Gemini began, it became increasingly clear that
4125-520: The official nickname "Space City" in 1967. Johnson Space Center has its origins in NASA 's Space Task Group (STG). Starting on November 5, 1958, Langley Research Center engineers under Robert R. Gilruth directed Project Mercury and follow-on crewed space programs. The STG originally reported to the Goddard Space Flight Center organization, with a total staff of 45, including 37 engineers, and eight secretaries and human "computers" (women who ran calculations on mechanical adding machines). In 1959,
4200-599: The planning and training of the U.S. astronaut corps and houses training facilities such as the Sonny Carter Training Facility and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory , a critical component in training astronauts for spacewalks. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory provides a controlled neutral buoyancy environment—a very large pool containing about 6.2 million U.S. gallons (23,000 m ) of water where astronauts train to practice extra-vehicular activity tasks while simulating zero-g conditions. The facility provides preflight training in becoming familiar with crew activities and with
4275-420: The press. NASA had the worst black representation of any government agency in 1961, but by the time Webb stepped down, it was the best and considered the model for other government agencies on racial integration. After the Apollo 1 accident in 1967, Webb told the media, "We've always known that something like this was going to happen sooner or later... Who would have thought that the first tragedy would be on
4350-404: The property would face a highway, and the total included another 20 acres (8.1 ha) reserve drilling site. Construction of the center, designed by Charles Luckman , began in April 1962, and Gilruth's new organization was formed and moved to the temporary locations by September. That month, Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University on the U.S. space program. The speech is famous for highlighting
4425-511: The rank of "Undersecretary of State") which was wrongly attributed to Webb. On September 30, 2021, NASA announced that it would keep the JWST name after running an investigation and finding "no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name". Former administrator Sean O'Keefe , who made the decision to name the telescope after administrator Webb, stated that to suggest that Webb should "be held accountable for that activity when there's no evidence to even hint [that he participated in it]
4500-411: The reins from interim director, Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden . Webb directed NASA's undertaking of the goal set by Kennedy of landing an American on the Moon before the end of the 1960s through the Apollo program . For seven years after Kennedy's announcement on May 25, 1961, of the goal of a crewed lunar landing, Webb lobbied for support for NASA in Congress, until he left NASA in October 1968. As
4575-404: The rift eventually blew over. Webb started suffering from migraines and resigned in 1952. Webb left Washington for a position in the Kerr-McGee Oil Corp. in Oklahoma City , but he was still active in government circles, for instance in serving on the Draper Committee in 1958. On February 14, 1961, Webb accepted President John F. Kennedy 's appointment as administrator of NASA , taking
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#17327902000204650-406: The space program as a model of successful administration that could be broadened to address major societal problems. In 1969, Johnson presented Webb with the Presidential Medal of Freedom . Webb is also a 1976 recipient of the Langley Gold Medal from the Smithsonian Institution . After retiring from NASA, Webb remained in Washington, DC, serving on several advisory boards, including serving as
4725-573: The time, the land was used to graze cattle. Immediately after Webb's announcement, Gilruth and his staff began planning the move from Langley to Houston, using what would grow to 295,996 sq ft (27,498.9 m ) of leased office and laboratory space in 11 scattered sites. On November 1, the conversion of the Task Group to MSC became official. Tracts of land in the vicinity of the Manned Spacecraft Center were either owned or being under exclusive control of Joseph L. Smith & Associates, Inc. NASA purchased an additional 600 acres (240 ha) so
4800-416: The use of force by several days. The Defense Department was blamed for the lack of U.S. preparedness, and Johnson tried to blame Acheson. Webb worked with his contacts in Congress and others to convince Truman to replace Johnson, and George Marshall was called out of retirement to become the new Secretary of Defense. In 1950, Webb established an alliance with university scientists, Project Troy , to bolster
4875-434: The vice president of Sperry. During his tenure, Sperry expanded from 800 employees to more than 33,000 and became a major supplier of navigation equipment and airborne radar systems during World War II . Although he wished to re-enlist in the Marines at the start of the war, Webb was deferred because of the importance of his work at Sperry to the war effort. He reentered the Marine Corps on February 1, 1944 and soon became
4950-404: The vicinity of an institution of higher education, a strong electric utility and water supply, at least 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land, and certain specified cost parameters. In August 1961, Webb asked Associate Director of the Ames Research Center John F. Parsons to head a site-selection team, which included Philip Miller, Wesley Hjornevik, and I. Edward Campagna, the construction engineer for
5025-698: The workforce consists of over 11,000 contractors. As of October 2014, Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies took over United Space Alliance 's primary contract. As of June 2021, the center's director is Vanessa E. Wyche . NASA's astronaut training is conducted at the Johnson Space Center. Astronaut candidates receive training on spacecraft systems and in basic sciences including mathematics, guidance and navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, astronomy, and physics. Candidates are required to complete military water survival prior to beginning their flying instruction. Candidates are also required to become scuba -qualified for extravehicular training and are required to pass
5100-510: Was a Freemason . Webb began his long career in public service in Washington, D.C., by serving as secretary to U.S. Representative Edward W. Pou of North Carolina from 1932 to 1934. Pou was chairman of the Rules Committee and Dean of the House . With Webb's assistance, Pou was influential in pushing through the first legislation of Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal during the first hundred days of Roosevelt's term. In addition to his secretarial duties, Webb provided physical assistance to
5175-474: Was brought online for testing purposes during the uncrewed Gemini 2 flight in January 1965 and the first crewed Gemini flight, Gemini 3 in March 1965, though the Mercury Control Center still retained primary responsibility for control of these flights. It became fully operational for the flight of Gemini 4 the following June, and has been the primary flight control center for all subsequent U.S. crewed space missions from Project Gemini forward. NASA named
5250-410: Was established by Texas governor Greg Abbott on March 26, 2024 at Johnson Space Center. Astronauts, center directors, and other NASA employees are memorialized in a Memorial Grove near the main entrance and visitor badging center (building 110). Trees dedicated to the memory of astronauts and center directors are in a round cluster closest to the entrance, other employees are memorialized behind along
5325-413: Was held at the Johnson Space Center on February 4, 2003, for the astronauts who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster three days before, which was attended by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush . Although that service was broadcast live by the national television and radio networks, it was geared mainly to NASA employees and the families of the astronauts. A second service for
5400-533: Was informed by CIA sources in 1968 that the Soviet Union was developing its own heavy N1 rocket for a crewed lunar mission, and he directed NASA to prepare Apollo 8 for a possible lunar orbital mission that year. At the time, Webb's assertions about the Soviet Union's abilities were doubted by some people, and the N-1 was dubbed "Webb's Giant". However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union , revelations about
5475-455: Was no evidence of wrongdoing by Webb either in his time in the State Department or at NASA. In regard to his time at State, the report mirrors Johnson's earlier findings – Webb played no role in helping the Hoey committee or their agents. With regard to Norton's firing at NASA, the report indicates Webb probably was not told of the incident; it also notes that the policy under which Norton was fired
5550-521: Was the second Administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Webb led NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the end of the Johnson administration , thus overseeing each of the critical first crewed missions throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs until days before the launch of the first Apollo mission. He also dealt with the Apollo 1 fire. In 2002,
5625-409: Was to reorganize the department, adding 12 new presidential appointees and reducing the power of subordinate officers. Webb also consolidated the flow of foreign policy information and intelligence through the secretariat. When President Truman signed the bill codifying the reorganization on May 26, 1949, the department, which had been losing power and influence to the military, strengthened its ties to
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