Launch Control Center - Firing Room #4
Launch Complex 39 - Kennedy Space Center
16 June 2012

Up on the third floor, THE GREATEST LAUNCH TEAM IN THE WORLD ENTERS THROUGH THESE DOORS is engraved on the doors to Firing Room #4. Below is a NASA image on display outside the doors showing what the Firing Room looked like "shortly after the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-130 mission, February 8, 2010."

The pictures following below are not in order as they were taken on the tour. Rearranging them gives the room some context that would be lacking otherwise.
Those on the lowest level kept a close eye on various Shuttle systems. Note the mission logos for the final 21 Space Shuttle flights that were launched from this room are up on the wall above the consoles. Above the mission logos is artwork depicting all the operational Space Shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
A closer view of some of the consoles that monitored the External Tank and fueling operations.
These consoles were for Range Safety and Communications.
The hierarchy of command is evident in the layout of the room. The person in charge, the Launch Director, sat up top on the third tier from where the entire room could be surveyed, while the Test Conductors and Directors occupied the middle row of consoles just below.
A glass enclosed room to the left of the Launch Director on the third level held the operations support team. Here the tour viewed a video of the last Space Shuttle launch and operations in the Firing Room. The view out the window overlooks Pads 39A, seen on the horizon at right, and Pad 39B, which is behind the TV in this image. Note the Crawler Transporter Way passes in front of the LCC from the VAB before turning to the east to head out to the launch pads.
The view from the Launch Director's console. It is important to note that during a launch as soon as the Space Shuttle cleared the launch tower, control of the mission immediately switched to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The view from the Public Affairs Officer's console at the extreme right of the Launch Director.
A close-up of the Public Affairs Officer's console.
A view of the consoles on the second tier showing the Orbiter Test Conductor's station at right. The next console over on the left is the NASA Test Director.
A view from back down on the floor shows the two glass rooms on either side of the Launch Director. The room at left is for VIPs and the room at right is for operations support staff.
A view of Firing Room #3 as it undergoes "Transition & Retirement" in the face of an uncertain future. Note the older consoles compared with those in Firing Room #4.
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