The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic building on

Merritt Island, Florida Merritt Island is a peninsula, commonly referred to as an island, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Florida coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and south ...

, United States. The five-story structure is in the Industrial Area of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

. Its has twin-block facilities that include the crew quarter dormitories for

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

, suit-up preparations prior to their flights, and the other is a large spacecraft workshop used for manufacturing and checking activities on crewed spacecraft. On January 21, 2000, it was added to the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Apollo program

During planning and construction, it was known as the Operations and Checkout Building. When it was finished in 1964, it was renamed the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building and was used to process spacecraft in the Gemini and

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

era. It was reverted back to the Operations and Checkout Building during the Shuttle program, known informally as the O&C.

Altitude test chambers

Apollo 1 crew prepare to enter their spacecraft in the altitude chamber at Kennedy Space Center

In 1965, a pair of

altitude chamber A hypobaric chamber, or altitude chamber, is a chamber used during aerospace or high terrestrial altitude research or training to simulate the effects of high altitude on the human body, especially hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypobaria (low ambien ...

s were installed in the High Bay for testing the environmental and life support systems of both the

Apollo Command/Service Module The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo (spacecraft), Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functi ...

and

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed s ...

at simulated altitudes of up to . Each chamber is high (with a clear working height of ) and an interior diameter of , were human-rated, and capable of reaching the maximum altitude (minimum pressure) in one hour. These were used by the prime and backup crews of all crewed missions, from the ill-fated

Apollo 1 Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital ...

in October 1966, through to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975.

Post-Apollo use

During the 1980s and 90s the O&C building was used to house and test

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

science modules before their flights aboard the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

. In the late 1990s and 2000s, some modules and trusses for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

were checked out in the building.

Artemis Program

On January 30, 2007, NASA held a ceremony to mark the transition of the building's high bay for use by the

Constellation program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...

. The building would serve as the final assembly facility for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. In preparation for the transition, the state of Florida provided funds to clear the facility of about of steel stands, structures and equipment. Renovations totaling $55 million took place from June 2007 through January 2009, at which point

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

became the operator of the facility for Orion production. The Orion spacecraft for Artemis 1 completed its assembly in this location and was moved to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility on January 16, 2021. The Orion spacecraft for Artemis 2 is under final testing in the building as of July, 2024. The building was renamed to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building in a ceremony on the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 (2014).

Gallery

File:KSC Operations and Checkout Building.jpg, The O&C in 1984 File:KSC Operations and Checkout Building - Astrovan exit area.jpg, Exit door from Operations and Checkout Building connector. A nearby doorway on the adjacent north wall of the rear building is where Astronauts would board the Astrovan for transport to

Launch Complex 39 Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, Merritt Island in Florida, United States. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built as the Apollo program's ...

File:Apollo 11 crew at van for transfer to launch pad.jpg,

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

crew members

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

, Michael Collins, and

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...

on the morning of July 16, 1969 File:Spacecraft_Workshop_no.1_at_KSC.jpg, The spacecraft workshop number 1 File:Orion_Spacecraft_in_spacecraft_workshop_KSC.jpg, Orion Spacecraft in the workshop of the Operations and Checkout Building File:O&C_dormitory.jpg, Astronauts sleep prior to launch day in dormitories in the Operations and Checkout Building, in this case a bedroom is undergoing renovations File:Leland_Melvin_during_Suit-up_preparations.jpg, Astronauts have suit-up flight preparations in the building

Notes

External links

Operations and Checkout Building
at NASA.gov

at the National Register of Historic Places
KSC building reborn as 'Spacecraft Factory of the Future'
Florida Today * {{NASA space program Kennedy Space Center Buildings and structures in Merritt Island, Florida Manufacturing plants Manufacturing buildings and structures Manufacturing plants in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Brevard County, Florida Historic American Engineering Record in Florida 1964 establishments in Florida Neil Armstrong