Saving Apollo Mission Control

We profile a remarkable team that has spent years restoring the old Apollo Mission Control to look exactly like it did on July 20, 1969, the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

[moi]

Is that room on the national register of historic places? If not, it certainly should be!

[davidyoung]

I was 7 years old in July, 1969, and watched everything that was ever broadcast about the Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972. This place is on my 'bucket list' of places I would like to visit. Thank you to all those involved with bringing this important piece of history back to life!

[andrewclarkehomeimprovement]

I didn't realize that the room has been preserved. Having lived through those times, it make me very happy that it is being valued. Gene Kranz is still one of my heroes as are all those (then) young men who did amazing things.

[punman]

Next they have to pump cigarette smoke through the HVAC system to replicate the 60’s-70’s atmosphere

[darkstrife]

Fun Fact, the original large screens in mission control were actually metal coated glass not screens. Behind the glass plates was the projection room, know as the bat cave. It contained huge xenon lamp projectors as its light source. the actual images where pre cut like photo etching, where as the trace lines for the mission progress where scribed using diamond tipped scribes behind the plates. These scribes were linked to XYZ plotters which used converted data from the telemetry computers, these would scrape away a line of coating allowing light to shine through. Mind blowing.

[drunk_astronomy]

I was in this room recently and I can say they did a wonderful job. I almost cried when the room lit up. Truly a masterpiece of restoration.

Side note I met Gene Kranz and Ed for Gene’s book signing. Gene was the most gracious man I ever met and Ed was hilarious. When my wife and I met Ed he’s was playing jokes on us the whole tour.

[gpowerdragon]

the amount of effort putting into this just makes me so happy almost looked like nothing happened after the the 70s

[richardh]

My parents got me out of bed to watch this in the UK. I was 5 1/2 years old and still remember it (although I was mostly bored at the time). Great job everybody x

[er]

On this date I had my 17th birthday I can never forget this day and then 4 days later Tranquility Base here The Eagle has landed. I am glad that this has been preserved when people hundreds of years from now see this they will know who, what and why. Thanks to the space program of the United States and President Kennedy for setting the pace.

[brianarbenz]

The Mission Control Room will always be my cathedral. I remember July 20, 1969, and all the other days of Apollo missions as though they were yesterday. Thank you so much for preserving this place. It needs to kept forever.

[joevignoloru]

The P-tube canisters are how the space between the two front rows of consoles got the nickname "the trench". Apparently the empty canisters tended to accumulate up there in front and someone observed that when a bunch of the empty canisters ended up on the floor it looked like the trench around a piece of field artillery that had become full of expended artillery shells.

[rickbrockway]

I was privileged to get a private tour of this room about 10 years ago. One of the most remarkable memories is how clearly it still smelled like cigar smoke.

[TheHornoxx]

Grooooßartig - in consideration of this so unique achievement, not only for the USA but the entire world, I assumed this room to be a holy grail already.

[BlahBleeBlahBlah]

This is inspirational, fantastic work by all involved. Thank you for preserving a piece of history

[davidrichter]

Absolutely outstanding!
The folks that did the restoration deserve an applause.
Beautiful work.
My respect and gratitude to you all.
👏👏👏👏👏

[scopex]

I was a little boy 9 years old sitting in the UK watching the landing . I am so proud of the teams hard work and commitment to saving Mission Control for future generations. I too am now getting very worn and I could use a make over! Bless you all Thank you for doing this. I will never see it in person sadly but I remember all the Apollo missions vividly. I went on to serve as an aircraft engineer in the Royal Air Force a lot of that inspired by NASA and mans desire to 'REACH FOR THE STARS'. Bless all the astronauts and controllers - whether still with us or departed.
The closing words should go to another wonderful man John F Kennedy
" We choose to go to the Moon...We
choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard"

[mattcolver]

They really should put a bunch of cigarette butts in the ash trays.

[michaeltempleton]

I always get a lump in my throat when I watch the old videos of the Apollo Moon

[doughuie]

This is pretty cool! Currently reading the Gene Kranz book, Failure is not an Option, and this gives some insight to mission control back during the days of the Apollo moon landing. Was 5 years old when Neil and Buzz walked in 1969 and still remember that historic moment.

[aj-savage]

One of the most historic places in human history. Historic preservation is a noble mission, and this is the top of the heap.