Space Flight Operations Facility

Space Flight Operations Facility (SFOF) is a control room and related communications equipment areas at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA's Deep Space Network is operated from this facility. The SFOF has monitored and controlled all interplanetary and deep space exploration for NASA and other international space agencies since 1963. The facility also acted as a backup communications facility for Apollo missions.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Public tours are available with advanced planning.

History
In the early years, the operations control center of the Deep Space Network did not have a permanent facility. It was a makeshift setup with numerous desks and phones installed in a large room near the computers used to calculate orbits. In July 1961, NASA started the construction of the permanent facility, Space Flight Operations Facility (SFOF). The facility was completed in October 1963 dedicated on May 14, 1964. In the initial setup of the SFOF, there were 31 consoles, 100 closed-circuit television cameras, and more than 200 television displays to support Ranger 6 to Ranger 9 and Mariner 4.

Current operations
As of 2012, there were 22 spacecraft monitored from this facility. Depending on the operations of the spacecraft, they were scheduled to be online for 1 to 10 hours at a time. The facility also process the signal from Voyager 1 at about 11 billion miles from Earth. With the data feeding into the Space Flight Operations Facility from every NASA spacecraft beyond low earth orbit, whether they are rovers, orbiters, or deep-space probes, there is a plaque in the middle of the room to dedicate the facility as the center of the universe.