page_title: Johnson Space Center
section_title: Personnel and training
hierarchical_section_title: Johnson Space Center / Personnel and training
caption_attribution_description: English: Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong (left) and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin train for the Apollo program's first manned lunar landing in Building 9 at the Manned Spacecraft Center.
context_page_description: The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is NASA's center for human spaceflight, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was built and leased to NASA by Joseph L. Smith & Associates, Inc. It was renamed in honor of the late US president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson, by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973.
  It consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in the Clear Lake Area of Houston, which acquired the official nickname "Space City" in 1967. The center is home to NASA's astronaut corps, and is responsible for training astronauts from both the US and its international partners. It houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, which has provided the flight control function for every NASA human spaceflight since Gemini 4. It is popularly known by its radio call signs "Mission Control" and "Houston".
  The original Manned Spacecraft Center grew out of the Space Task Group headed by Robert Gilruth that was formed to coordinate the US crewed spaceflight program.
context_section_description: About 3,200 civil servants, including 110 astronauts, are employed at Johnson Space Center. The bulk of the workforce consists of over 11,000 contractors. As of October 2014, Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies took over United Space Alliance's primary contract. As of May 2018, the center's 12th director is Mark S Geyer, the first being Robert Gilruth.
  NASA's astronaut training is conducted at the Johnson Space Center. Astronaut candidates receive training on spacecraft systems and in basic sciences including mathematics, guidance and navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, astronomy, and physics. Candidates are required to complete military water survival prior to beginning their flying instruction. Candidates are also required to become scuba-qualified for extravehicular training and are required to pass a swimming test. EVA training is conducted at the Sonny Carter Training Facility.  Candidates are also trained to deal with emergencies associated with hyperbaric and hypobaric atmospheric pressures and are given exposure to the microgravity of space flight.  Candidates maintain their flying proficiency by flying 15 hours per month in NASA's fleet of T-38 jets based at nearby Ellington Field.
caption: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong (left) and Buzz Aldrin train in Building 9 on April 18, 1969
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