Hangar AE Control Center, located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) adjacent to KSC, is used by the Launch Services Program (LSP) and other customers as a communications center, receiving and monitoring telemetry data from launch vehicles and spacecraft on the ground and during flight.

Hangar AE allows independent verification and validation of vehicle and spacecraft telemetry for unmanned launch operations and provides real-time voice, data and video information for expendable vehicle checkout and launch operations.The Hangar also provides connectivity to all launch pads at KSC and CCAFS.

This building contains a Class 10k horizontal laminar flow clean room complex; a telemetry ground station; an extensive communications center for data, voice and video; three Launch Vehicle Data Centers (LVDCs); the Mission Director’s Center (MDC); and offices for payload and contractor personnel.

Launch Vehicle Data Center (LVDC):

• Three control rooms, one spacecraft ground support equipment area, a winds room that provides area for customer ground equipment, and a public affairs room that seats two. The LDVC was developed to support multiple test operations in parallel or a single large launch operation. 

LVDC by the numbers

Three control rooms, each seating 24-30 (capacity of all, 72-90)One spacecraft ground support equipment (GSE) area, seating 8-10Executive suite, seating 8-10Winds room (provides area for customer ground equipment)Public Affairs room, seating twoThe support rooms can be tied to NASA’s West Coast control rooms at Vanderberg Air Force Base for biocoastal support.

Mission Director’s Center (MDC):

• Designed for the use of senior managers to support ground testing and launch any vehicle in the U.S. fleet, with the ability to support both East Coast and West coast missions.

MDC by the numbers

Seats 36 including two on a console for Public AffairsIn-room support from operations staffFully configurable voice, video and data systemsMultiple HD cameras

Telemetry Lab:

• Designed to process the ground or airborne telemetry streams of any launch vehicle in the U.S. fleet and has also supported numerous other spacecraft as well. The lab routinely supports multiple, simultaneous launch vehicles from both the east and west coasts.  The Telemetry Lab software capability, combined with its connectivity to NASA, the U.S. Air Force and commercial downrange sites and networks, allows support for any vehicle, any time, at any location in the world.

Recent support provided from Hangar AE includes:

• NASA and Lockheed Martin personnel used Hangar AE capabilities to monitor progress during the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 in December 2014, transmitting data to locations at KSC and to Johnson Space Center and Littleton, Colorado
• NASA and contractor managers and engineers monitored progress from Hangar AE during the launch of the agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in January 2014
• Launch Services Program has used Hangar AE to provide independent monitoring of SpaceX’s new launch vehicle.Hangar AE is available to support launch customers at the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.