Flight controller

Flight controllers work at computer consoles and use telemetry to monitor various technical aspects of a space mission in real-time.

Before significant events, the flight director will "go around the room", polling each controller for a go/no go decision, a procedure also known as a launch status check.

GUIDO Steve Bales, not sure whether to call for an abort, trusted the experts in the guidance backroom, especially Jack Garman, who told him that the problem was a computer overload, but could be ignored if it was intermittent.

Without the support of the backroom, a controller might make a bad call based on faulty memory or information not readily available to the person on the console.

The nature of quiescent operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) today is such that the full team is not required for 24/7/365 support.

The flight controllers in the FCR and MPSR are further supported by hardware and software designers, analysts and engineering specialists in other parts of the building or remote facilities.

While the flight controllers and their backrooms are responsible for real-time decision making, the MOIR/MER provides the detailed data and history needed to solve longer-term issues.

For example, the EECOM handled command and service module communication systems through Apollo 10, which was afterward assigned to a new position called INCO.

The Flight Controllers' Creed states that they must "always be aware that suddenly and unexpectedly we may find ourselves in a role where our performance has ultimate consequences."

After control of U.S. spaceflights moved to the Johnson Space Center in the early 1960s, each CAPCOM used the radio call-sign Houston.

In the context of potential crewed missions to Mars, NASA Ames Research Center has conducted field trials of advanced computer-support for astronaut and remote science teams, to test the possibilities for automating CAPCOM.