Flight Controller
Flight controllers are personnel who aid in the operations of a space flight, working in Mission Control Centers such as NASA's Mission Control Center, or ESA's Operations Center. Flight controllers work at computer consoles and use telemetry to monitor various technical aspects of a space mission in real time. Each controller is an expert in a specific area, and is in constant communication with additional experts in the "back room". The Flight Director, the lead flight controller, monitors the activities of a team of flight controllers and has overall responsibility for the mission success and safety. The team is designated by a team name, frequently a color, constellation or stone (e.g., Eugene F. Kranz led the White Team, and was known as "White Flight").
This article primarily discusses NASA's flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The various national and commercial flight control facilities have their own teams, which may be described on their own pages.
Read more about Flight Controller: NASA's Flight Controllers
Famous quotes containing the word flight:
“In all her products, Nature only develops her simplest germs. One would say that it was no great stretch of invention to create birds. The hawk which now takes his flight over the top of the wood was at first, perchance, only a leaf which fluttered in its aisles. From rustling leaves she came in the course of ages to the loftier flight and clear carol of the bird.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)