The firing rooms of the Kennedy Space Center have enormous windows that face the launch pads.
However, personnel faced away from the windows, and thus away from the launchpad. Is there a documented reason why?
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Sign up to join this communityThe firing rooms of the Kennedy Space Center have enormous windows that face the launch pads.
However, personnel faced away from the windows, and thus away from the launchpad. Is there a documented reason why?
For shuttle, they didn't. At least not all of the consoles. Note the wood-covered consoles in the rear, they face the window.
This is Firing Room 4 which controlled the last 20 or so shuttle launches.
A view from one of the consoles in Firing Room 3 which also faced the windows.
(Personal photo)
This let personnel observe the display screens shown at top in the cutaway diagram. Those displays mattered more than anything they could see through the windows.