NASAfacts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Hangar AE, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station 

in Florida, provides real-time voice, video, and data 

for vehicle checkout and launch operations. The 

building contains a Mission Director’s Center, three 

Launch Vehicle Data Centers, a telemetry ground 

station, and offices for payload and contractor personnel. Services can be configured to concurrently 

support any uncrewed launch vehicles, making Hangar AE a crucial communication center for NASA’s 

Launch Services Program (LSP).

LSP vehicle engineers use Hangar AE to provide independent verification and validation of the launch 

vehicle and NASA spacecraft readiness. This separation from the vehicle-specific launch system provides 

managers and engineers insight into processes and 

operations of the commercial launch market for all of 

NASA’s missions.

Built in 1958, Hangar AE originally was designed for 

the Department of Defense Mace missile program, 

housing missile components. The facility was acquired by NASA in 1960 from the U.S. Air Force and 

modified as a telemetry station for the U.S. uncrewed 

rocket program and occasionally used during the 

Space Shuttle Program.

Currently, LSP uses Hangar AE as its communications center and can operate 24 hours a day, seven 

days a week, 365 days a year. It receives, records, 

processes, and displays telemetry data signals from 

pre-launch checkout through launch, spacecraft 

separation, and orbital insertion. In some missions, 

like Artemis, AE acts as the prime interface between 

NASA’s Launch Control Center, external ground data 

stations, and space tracking assets like the Tracking 

and Data Relay Satellite System, a communication 

signal relay system. 

As access to space grows, Hangar AE is committed 

to keeping up with the increasing launch cadence by 

continuing to improve its systems and capabilities.

Mission Director’s Center

The Mission Director’s Center, or MDC, is LSP’s 

premier control room in Hangar AE. The MDC is designed for senior managers to support ground testing 

and liftoff of any launch vehicle. The MDC includes 

Hangar AE

Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida houses control rooms providing real-time voice, data, and video 

information for expendable launch vehicle checkout and operations, and is used to support the uncrewed launch vehicle fleet. 

Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

MDC Quick Facts

• 41 console positions 

• Dedicated area for two Public Affairs Officers

• Fully configurable voice, video, timing, 

telemetry, and internet services per console 

• 3 high-definition (HD) cameras

• 32-foot mission video wall
Hangar AE 2 NASA Facts

34-inch ultra high definition monitors which allow senior managers to see video, voice, and data all on one screen. With the 

modular design of the systems, the MDC can support missions 

at both Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the East Coast 

and Vandenberg Space Force Base on the West Coast.

Launch Vehicle Data Center

The Launch Vehicle Data Center, or LVDC, is LSP’s worldclass, multipurpose control room. The LVDC, consisting of 

three rooms, was developed to support multiple operations 

in parallel or a single launch. Each room contains up to four 

34-inch, ultra high-definition monitors with a side touchscreen 

voice instrument for heavy data users.

Each LVDC console has a multichannel voice instrument called 

a Mission Operation Communication System, or MOCS. MOCS 

provides viewing of 40 voice nets simultaneously. These voice 

nets are connected to all NASA centers, commercial launch 

providers, customer mission operation centers, and the U.S. 

Space Force.

The video system can have up to 256 high-definition video signals from around the Cape, including commercial launch providers, spacecraft processing facilities, and tracking cameras. 

Each console can display up to eight of the 256 signals via 

unique, customizable size-and-location video windows. Each 

LVDC also has a 16-by-9-foot mission video wall.

Console users can view processed telemetry data using inhouse applications like WinPlot and Iris Client. Winplot allows 

users to plot large quantities of real-time or archived data onto 

graphs, while Iris Client displays real-time measurements on 

custom, user-built pages. With portable and scalable services, AE can securely display data to any user, anywhere 

around the world.

Telemetry Lab

The Telemetry Lab, or TMLAB, is designed to process the 

ground and airborne telemetry streams of any launch vehicle. 

The TMLAB can process every sample and measurement of 

12 simultaneous data streams. Ground testing is conducted 

through AE’s fixed antennas and other antennas around Cape 

Canaveral. The TMLAB can provide concurrent telemetry 

streams while analyzing data and the best source selecting 

from one, to many, launch vehicles. Additionally, TMLAB maintains an online archive of decades of launch vehicle telemetry.

Combining AE products and TMLAB’s connectivity to NASA, 

the U.S. Air Force, commercial sites, and networks downrange, 

LSP maintains the capabilities to support any vehicle, at any 

time, and at any location around the world. 

The Mission 

Director’s Center 

(MDC) is a control 

room inside Hangar 

AE. Mission 

managers support 

ground testing 

and liftoff of launch 

vehicles from 

the MDC. Photo 

credit: NASA/Ben 

Smegelsky

Inside Hangar AE’s Launch Vehicle Data Center, NASA and contractor 

managers and engineers monitor progress of the countdown and liftoff of 

rockets that boost payloads to low-Earth orbit and beyond. Photo credit: 

NASA/Ben Smegelsky
3

1956

1967 1998

2023 2023

1960 1963

LSP Communication Engineers monitor the progress of a launch countdown in the Hangar AE Communications Room. Photo credit: NASA/Ben 

Smegelsky

Inside Hangar AE’s Launch Vehicle Data Center, NASA and contractor managers and engineers monitor progress of the countdown and liftoff of rockets 

that boost payloads to low-Earth orbit and beyond. Photo credit: NASA/Ben 

Smegelsky

www.nasa.gov FS-2023-03-273-KSC

Historic Timeline

A view of the Telemetry Laboratory in February 1967. The lab 

is designed to process the ground and airborne telemetry 

streams from any launch vehicle in the U.S. fleet and also has 

supported numerous spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA

When the Vanguard project concluded, NASA 

took responsibility for supporting the Thor 

launch vehicle which was later renamed Delta. 

Support was provided from Hangar H and 

additional trailers. Photo credit: NASA

During 1956, prior to construction of Hangar 

AE, the Vanguard project was intended to be 

self-contained to the maximum extent possible. 

Its telemetry stations were located in trailers at 

the T-Pad, Hangar C, and later, Hangar S. Photo 

credit: U.S. Air Force

The expendable launch vehicle data station 

moved out of trailers into Hangar AE, 

establishing both the Mission Director Center 

and the Launch Vehicle Data Center. Photo 

credit: NASA

In 1998, Launch Services Program is born and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is 

responsible for agency oversight of launch operations and countdown management. 

A multi-year project began to upgrade the telemetry processing and voice switching 

systems in Hangar AE. Photo credit: NASA