Mercury Control Center

[1] The more complex requirements of later Gemini and Apollo flights forced control operations to move to a larger facility located in Houston, Texas, but the MCC continued to be used for training and meeting space.

Unlike later mission control centers which featured computer generated graphics, this Mercury-era display operated with a physical two-dimensional representation of the capsule suspended and lit in front of the map.

[2] Though the MCC provided command and control, it was not the only facility involved in supporting Mercury or Gemini flights.

To minimize the time that the spacecraft was out of communications range with the ground, additional ground stations were established at US military facilities, tracking ships, and in cooperation with the governments of Spain, United Kingdom, Nigeria and Australia:[3] The building was erected between 1956 and 1958 and was used throughout Project Mercury (1961–1963) and for Project Gemini through Gemini 3 (1964–1965).

Though the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1984, as a contributing property to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, asbestos removal, other repairs and restoring the center to its original state would have cost $6 million.