Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (Chinese: 北京航天指挥控制中心; BACCC or more frequently BACC as shown in its logos) is a command center for the Chinese space program which includes the Shenzhou missions, and is located in a suburb northwest of Beijing. The space center is supervised and managed by the government of the People's Republic of China.
BACCC's primary functions include supervision, telemetry, tracking and command of spacecraft. The building is inside a complex nicknamed Aerospace City. It was initially created for China's manned space missions, a.k.a. "Project 921", hence also the name "921" among some insiders. It has evolved to be responsible for the Chang'e 1 mission and the upcoming Sino-Russian Interplanetary Space Mission. It has dedicated subsidiaries for Sinosat and Inmarsat. It was renamed to 北京航天飞行控制中心 (literally: Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center) in 2006. As of March, 2009, no official announcement has been made to revise its formal name in English in accordance with its new Chinese name.
Famous quotes containing the words command, control and/or center:
“But as some silly young men returning from France affect a broken English, to be thought perfect in the French language; so his Lordship, I think, to seem a perfect understander of the unintelligible language of the Schoolmen, pretends an ignorance of his mother-tongue. He talks here of command and counsel as if he were no Englishman, nor knew any difference between their significations.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Being a parent is such serious business that we dare not take it too seriously. Children are inherently funny. So are parents. We all are at our funniest when we are desperately struggling to appear to be in control of a new situation.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Death is someone you see very clearly with eyes in the center of your heart: eyes that see not by reacting to light, but by reacting to a kind of a chill from within the marrow of your own life.”
—Thomas Merton (1915–1968)