The Spacecraft Assembly and Checkout Building (formerly Hangar AE) was built in 1959 for a

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

missile program. The facility was acquired in 1960 by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

and modified for unmanned missions. The building contains a Class 10K horizontal laminar flow

clean room A cleanroom or clean room is an engineered space, which maintains a very low concentration of airborne particulates. It is well isolated, well-controlled from contamination, and actively cleansed. Such rooms are commonly needed for scientif ...

complex; a

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", and ' ...

ground station; an extensive communications center for data, voice and video; three launch vehicle data centers (LVDC); the Mission Director's Center (MDC); and offices for payload and contractor personnel. The NASA

Launch Services Program The NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) is responsible for procurement of launch services for NASA uncrewed missions and oversight of launch integration and launch preparation activity, providing added quality and mission assurance to meet program ...

uses this facility as its communications center. The entire building is environmentally controlled. The Spacecraft Assembly and Checkout Building control rooms provide real-time voice, data and video information for expendable vehicle checkout and launch operations, similar to that provided by the Space Shuttle control rooms. Each console in the LVDC has a 40-channel voice instrument called a MOCS2 (Mission Operation Communication System version 2). Other areas have 24-channel versions of the MOCS2. Each console has access to an administrative telephone and a modem line for use with a laptop computer, if required.
John F. Kennedy Space Center
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References

{{reflist Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Kennedy Space Center