WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Robert E. (Bob) Castle (right), Deputy Chief for ISS, Flight Director Office; Andrew S. W. Thomas, Deputy Chief of JSC's Astronaut Office; and Scott Hartwig, USA's Deputy Associate Program Manager for Flight Operations are pictured in the shuttle flight control room (WFCR) in Houston's Mission Control Center (MCC). At the time this photo was taken the Space Shuttle Columbia was about to launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Columbia launched at 9:39 a.m. (CST) on January 16, 2003. Once the vehicle cleared the tower in Florida, the Houston-based team of flight controllers took over the ground control of the STS-107 flight.