Mercury Control Center .281960-1963.29 Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center

walt williams (standing) , chris kraft in mercury control during ma-9 in 1963

the first row consisted of several controllers, booster systems engineer (booster), flight surgeon (surgeon), capsule communicator (capcom), retrofire officer (retro), flight dynamics officer (fido), , guidance office (guido).

the booster controller, depending upon type of rocket being used, either engineer marshall space flight center (for mercury-redstone flights) or air force engineer (for mercury-atlas , later gemini-titan flights) assigned mission. booster controller s job last no more 6 hours total , vacate console after booster jettisoned.

the surgeon controller, consisting of flight surgeon (either military or civilian doctor), monitored astronaut s vital signs during flight, , if medical need arose, recommend treatment. talk directly astronaut crew if there medical need astronauts needed discuss.

the capcom controller, filled astronaut, maintained nominal air-to-ground communications between mcc , orbiting spacecraft; exception being surgeon or flight director, , in emergency.

the retro, fido, , guido controllers monitored spacecraft trajectory , handled course changes.

the second row consisted of several controllers, environmental, procedures, flight, systems, , network. environmental controller, later called eecom, oversaw consumption of spacecraft oxygen , monitored pressurization, while systems controller, later called egil, monitored other spacecraft systems, including electrical consumption. procedures controller, first held gene kranz, handled writing of mission milestones, go/no go decisions, , synchronized mcc launch countdowns , eastern test range. procedures controller handled communications, via teletype, between mcc , worldwide network of tracking stations , ships.

the flight director, known flight, ultimate supervisor of mission control center, , gave final orbit entrance/exit, and, in emergencies, mission abort decisions. during mercury missions, position held christopher kraft, john hodge, englishman came nasa after cancellation of canadian avro arrow project, joining flight director ranks 22-orbit mercury 9, requiring kraft divide mission control 2 shifts. flight director s console position in cape mcc have television monitor, allowing him see rocket lift off pad. network controller, air force officer, served switchboard between mcc, goddard space flight center in greenbelt, maryland (as on-site real-time computing did not exist), , worldwide tracking station , ship network.

the row, consisting of nasa , department of defense (dod) management, location of operations director (held walt williams), general or flag officer coordinate dod on search-and-rescue missions, , pao ( shorty powers during mercury), provided minute-by-minute mission commentary news media , public.

in addition controllers in cape mcc, each of manned tracking stations , rose knot victor , coastal sentry quebec tracking ships, had 3 controllers, capcom, surgeon, , engineer. unlike cape capcom, staffed astronaut, tracking station/tracking ship capcoms either nasa engineer, or astronaut, latter located @ stations deemed critical flight director , operations director.