Just a link to this ArsTechnica post and gallery of the newly restored Mission Control Center – MOCR2 – where most Apollo missions were controlled from. The article, clearly written by an Apollo junkie like myself, describes the painstaking attention to detail, from getting the original carpet manufacturer to analyze what was left of the old carpet and re-weave it, to the original wallpaper maker digging into their archives and finding the original roller. to the ashtrays, cigarette and cigar butts and even the brands of tobacco smoked by the controllers. It was restored to the Apollo 15 mission recreation because that was the first of the “J-Missions” which, with the lunar rover and the long duration EVA’s were the most complex and thus the control rooms contained everything in the MOCR2 for all missions, right down to reproductions of the reference manuals, CRT screens etc. To my mind, this would be a dream to visit, and you’d need an entire day with an expert guide to begin to understand all the different controller stations.
This photo shows “the first of several shots of FLIGHT, the flight director’s console. FLIGHT had overall responsibility for the mission and primarily acted as traffic cop, keeping the mission on schedule, managing the flow of information across the MOCR, and when necessary making executive decisions on what to do when problems arose.” It boggles the mind how much flight controllers had to understand, directing all the mission controllers like an orchestral conductor…