TIME and LIFE Space: Johnson Space Center

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Photographed and Produced Exclusively for TIME.com by P.F. Bentley

Click and drag your mouse over the image to control the camera's eye as it roams over the area. When your cursor changes to a hand, click to move on to another room. Scroll down below the image for captions.

You Will See In Order:
1. Old Mission Control
2. New Mission Control
3. International Space Station Mock-Up
4. Anechoic Chamber
5. Shuttle Flight Deck Simulator

See captions below for further information

1. Old Mission Control
This room, now a national historic landmark, was the control center for all the Apollo missions and some of the first shuttle flights. Once a state-of-the-art facility, it now stands empty and deserted.

2. New Mission Control
Sen. John Glenn's October shuttle trip will be directed from here, the current Mission Control Room which has been operational since 1996.

3. International Space Station Mock-Up
A full-scale mock-up of the International Space Station, scheduled for completion by 2003. Sponsored by 13 nations, the station orbit from 283 nautical miles above Earth at a velocity of 17,500 miles per hour.

4. Anechoic Chamber
NASA simulates space radio transmissions in this room, with cones on the floor and walls responding to radio waves similar to how they are absorbed in the vacuum of space.

5. Shuttle Flight Deck Simulator
From this shuttle cockpit replica, crews respond to computerized flight simulations.