Launch Control Center

<p>The Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center (commonly known as just the Launch Control Center or LCC) is a four-story building at <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a>'s <a href="/facts/Kennedy_Space_Center/zmwszuPr">Kennedy Space Center</a> on <a href="/facts/Merritt_Island%2c_Florida/xT3Takm3">Merritt Island, Florida</a>, used to manage <a href="/facts/Rocket_launch/b6j4keIl">launches</a> of <a href="/facts/Launch_vehicles/g1GCGFJB">launch vehicles</a> from <a href="/facts/Kennedy_Space_Center_Launch_Complex_39/eyNUJcgR">Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39</a>. Attached to the southeast corner of the <a href="/facts/Vehicle_Assembly_Building/UIc81qxV">Vehicle Assembly Building</a>, the LCC contains offices; <a href="/facts/Telemetry/Mz9czXTl">telemetry</a>, tracking, and instrumentation equipment; and firing rooms.
</p><p>LCC has conducted launches since the <a href="/facts/Unmanned/AS9NysKl">unmanned</a> <a href="/facts/Apollo_4/rjACYsBP">Apollo 4</a> (Apollo-Saturn 501) launch on November 9, 1967. LCC's first launch with a <a href="/facts/Manned_spaceflight/VgVxsGmq"> human crew</a> was <a href="/facts/Apollo_8/uKkRsnSL">Apollo 8</a> on December 21, 1968. NASA's <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_program/6Ikdvwsw">Space Shuttle program</a> also used LCC. NASA has renovated the center for  <a href="/facts/Space_Launch_System/DbGCgH1W">Space Launch System</a> (SLS) missions, which began in 2022 with <a href="/facts/Artemis_1/X1hVaBxT">Artemis 1</a>. In February 2022, the center was renamed after former director of launch operations <a href="/facts/Rocco_Petrone/vdaysA0w">Rocco A. Petrone</a>.
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Launch Control Center open-in-new

Launch Control Center