Operations and Checkout Building

Description

The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building is a historic site on Merritt Island, Florida, United States. The five-story structure is in the Industrial Area of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Its facilities include the crew quarters for astronauts prior to their flights. On January 21, 2000, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.Apollo programWhen it was originally built in 1964 to process spacecraft in the Gemini and Apollo era, it was known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building. It was renamed the Operations and Checkout Building during the Apollo program, known informally as the O&C.Altitude test chambersIn 1965, a pair of altitude chambers were installed in the High Bay for testing the environmental and life support systems of both the Apollo Command/Service Module and Lunar Module at simulated altitudes of up to 250,000ft. Each chamber is 58ft high (with a clear working height of 28ft) and an interior diameter of 33ft, were human-rated, and capable of reaching the maximum altitude (minimum pressure) in one hour. These were used by the prime and backup crews of all manned missions, from the ill-fated Apollo 1 in October 1966, through to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975.