KSC dedicates Young/Crippen firing room

Officials gathered this morning at Kennedy Space Center to cut the ribbon on a renovated Launch Control Center Firing Room 1, which will be used for the planned Oct. 27 Ares I-X test flight and future Ares I launches, if there are any.

The firing room was named in honor of former astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen, the commander and pilot, respectively, of the first shuttle mission in 1981.

Crippen, KSC's director between 1992 and 1995, was on hand for the ceremony, along with Jeff Hanley, director of NASA's Constellation program, and various local and state elected officials.

Crippen offered strong support for Constellation.

"The future of human spaceflight is dependent on it in my opinion," he said. "Right now Washington, as only Washington can, has got things in somewhat of a turmoil. I know it's got a lot of people concerned, including me."

"I think in spite of the turmoil going on in Washington," he added, "eventually common sense will prevail, which is sometimes hard to get out of Washington."

A presidential panel is due to deliver a final report soon on NASA's human spaceflight program. Read a summary report here.

The panel has questioned the value of continuing with Ares I, the rocket NASA is designing to launch crews to the International Space Station and the moon following the shuttle's planned retirement after six more flights.

Members, led by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, said Ares I wouldn't be ready until 2017, two years later than NASA's target and not long before the station's expected lifetime ends.

They also said no matter what program NASA chooses, it will need another $3 billion annually to travel anywhere beyond low Earth orbit by the 2020s.

The ribbon cutting had lighter moments, including a struggle to actually cut the ribbon with a giant pair of ceremonial wooden shears. Crippen completed the deed with ordinary office scissors.

Earlier, Crippen, 72, admitted trepidation at the firing room being named in his and Young's honor.

"John always told me they were supposed to do things like that after you're dead," he joked. "He still worries that someone's going to have an accident on the John Young Parkway over in Orlando and sue him."

Crippen remembered his comfort launching aboard STS-1 with Launch Director George Page running the countdown.

Being in a management role in the firing room, he said he learned later, "is a lot tougher than sitting in the cockpit out there getting ready to fly, it really is."

Hanley thanked Crippen for his comments about the political environment in which the Constellation program is operating, referring to the 327-foot Ares I-X rocket stacked in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

"I am so proud of the team that has continued to go forward with our plan, executing daily," he said. "This room is evidence of that. The rocket that's stacked in High Bay 3 is evidence of that."

Firing Room 1 was KSC's first operational firing room, where launch controllers oversaw countdowns for the the first Saturn V, the first Saturn V with astronauts on board, the first moon shot and the first space shuttle mission.

The cost of the renovations was not immediately available.

IMAGES: Former space shuttle astronaut and Kennedy Space Center director Bob Crippen helped cut the ribbon on a renovated Firing Room 1 in the spaceport's Launch Control Center. Photos by Mike Brown, Florida Today.