How many people work in Mission Control during a mission?
There are about 50 people on a team, three teams working about 9 hour shifts. In addition, there are many engineering people who support the mission in case there is a peculiar problem. Each team has a flight director and CAPCOM. What do mission controllers do between missions? We only spend about 10% of our time in controlling shuttle missions. We spend about another 15% of our time in training using the mission control center, the shuttle simulators here at JSC and a team of trainers to give us problems to overcome, just like it was a real flight. The other 75% of our time is spent in planning and organizing the missions. What kind of education does one need to become a flight controller? To be considered for a job as a flight controller, you must have an engineering or other technical degree. People who are interested in working as flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center are placed in the Mission Operations organization, either with NASA or the operations contractor. There, t
