The first group of restored Historic Mission Control consoles, which helped land humans on the Moon, will be unveiled at 10:45 a.m. CST on Thursday, Nov. 8, at Ellington Field in Houston.

News media will have an opportunity to witness a fly-over by NASA’s Super Guppy carrying the consoles, and its landing at Ellington following a flight from the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. Luminaries of the Apollo Program and Mission Control will welcome the consoles and be available for interviews about the roles of the consoles and the people in America’s first missions to the Moon.

Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston are leading the restoration of Historic Mission Control. This event marks a major milestone in the ongoing restoration of a National Historic Landmark and its preservation for future explorers.

Media interested in attending must contact NASA Johnson Space Center‘s Communications and Public Affairs newsroom at 281-483-5111 by noon Wednesday, Nov. 7. To request interviews with Apollo veterans or the Mission Control restoration team, send email requests to Space Center Houston at: communications@spacecenter.org.

Current and former NASA and Space Center Houston experts will be available for interviews:

Mark Geyer, NASA Johnson Space Center director
Jim Thornton, NASA Johnson Space Center Apollo Mission Control restoration project manager
Brian Kelly, NASA Johnson Space Center director of flight operations
William T. Harris, Space Center Houston president and CEO
Paul Spana, Space Center Houston exhibits director, space historian
Apollo alumni including Glynn Lunney, former Apollo flight director
NASA’s historic Mission Operations Control Room, used during the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle eras, was in acute need of restoration. The project is restoring flight control consoles and reactivating mission situational awareness displays to recreate Apollo-era use of the wall-size screens. Furnishings such as carpeting, tile, paperwork, coffee cups and ashtrays in the room are being collected and restored to recreate the the appearance of an active Mission Control room during the Apollo era. When completed, the room will accurately portray how the area looked the moment the first Moon landing occurred on July 20, 1969.

The restored Historic Mission Control will be unveiled to the world in time for the Apollo 11 mission’s 50th anniversary and the city of Houston will host a month-long “Defying Gravity” celebration, including a ribbon-cutting for the restored Mission Control room.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, the room celebrates human space exploration and inspires people from around the world who visit. Johnson Space Center, Space Center Houston, and the city of Webster are working together to restore the room that made what seemed an inconceivable dream become a reality.

The restoration of the National Historic Landmark began in July 2017 and is coordinated by NASA Johnson Space Center with funds raised by Space Center Houston, the center’s non-profit official visitor center. The Cosmosphere has been hired to restore nearly two dozen consoles.

The non-profit led a 30-day funding campaign drawing more than 4,000 pledges from 15 countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. The city of Webster, a longtime supporter of Space Center Houston, matched gifts dollar-for-dollar up to $400,000. Webster gave the lead gift of $3.5 million toward the $5 million “On a Mission” campaign.

This site hosted people who did the impossible: planned, trained and executed human spaceflight missions to land men safely on the Moon, operate America’s first space station, Skylab, and control every space shuttle and International Space Station mission. Mission Control also is poised to support the restoration of human missions launching from American soil to the space station and the Moon.

Learn more about the restoration of the Apollo Mission Control room:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-historic-apollo-mission-control-center-will-be-restored

and

http://spacecenter.org/support/restore-mission-control/

Learn more about NASA’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/