Happy 65 Years: NASA’s Johnson Space Center Then and Now

NASA’s Johnson Space Center opened in 1961 as the Manned Spacecraft Center, later renamed in honor of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973. Originally operating from 13 leased buildings, the center’s first permanent site in Houston began construction in 1962, with employees relocating by late 1963. The center’s early years included the development of facilities like the Project Management Building, completed in 1964, and the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, which handled Apollo-era lunar samples and quarantines.

Johnson Space Center has been the operational heart of NASA’s human spaceflight programs, including the International Space Station and commercial low Earth orbit partnerships. The center manages the Orion spacecraft and Moon Base programs for missions beyond low Earth orbit, alongside health and performance research for crews on extended missions. Training facilities such as the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility have supported astronauts from Apollo through the Space Shuttle era to current Artemis preparations.

Mission Control, housed in Building 30, has directed every U.S. human spaceflight mission since 1965, including the historic Gemini and Apollo flights. Renamed the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center in 2011, it continues to oversee the International Space Station and Artemis missions. The facility has undergone multiple upgrades, including major computer system enhancements in the 1970s to support the Space Shuttle program.

Johnson Space Center’s legacy includes pioneering training methods like neutral buoyancy for spacewalk practice, first used during the Gemini XII mission in 1966. Facilities such as the Water Immersion Facility and later the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory have evolved to meet the demands of increasingly complex missions, from Apollo to the Space Station and beyond.