Welcome to Enter the Firing Room Home
This image depicts the actual console layout inside a KSC Firing Room. When you click on a red square, you'll meet the Launch Team member who works at the selected console. You'll learn about the Space Shuttle system(s) that Launch Team member works on, find out why he/she went to work for NASA, and how you can prepare for a similar career.
Once you have done some behind the scenes exploring with some of our engineers it’s time to take the next step toward launch. Jump into the Activities Section on each featured engineer's page! It will take you to different places in this website to help you with the Challenge Quiz. In other words, this section has the answers!
Introduction Video
What Enter the Firing Room is all about!
Overview of the Firing Room
There are really four Firing Rooms at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), two primary and two backup. The two primary Firing Rooms (1 & 3) are used to process and launch the Space Shuttle. The two backup Firing Rooms (2 & 4) are used to perform secondary operations like software development and engineering analysis.
All four Firing Rooms are located on the third floor of the Launch Control Center (LCC). The LCC is a four-story building that is the electronic "brain" of the KSC Launch Complex. It is attached to the southeast corner of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and is several miles away from Pad A.
The Launch Processing System (LPS) is a highly automated, computer-controlled system that is used to assemble, checkout, and launch the Space Shuttle. Consoles are the LPS equipment that Firing Room operators use to view data and send commands.
Each console consists of three keyboards and display systems that operate as a unit. Two consoles, or six operator positions, are arranged in a quadrant, or semicircle. During all phases of checkout and launch, KSC Launch Team members man consoles to control and monitor their assigned Space Shuttle systems.