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Today Kennedy Space Center employees inaugurated the Young-Crippen Firing Room with a ribbon cutting ceremony in preparation for the much anticipated launch of the Ares 1-X test rocket this fall. The Ares 1 rocket is NASA’s next generation human space flight vehicle and is being developed as part of the Constellation Program to replace the Space Shuttle.

“KSC workers are ready to take human space flight to the next level,” said Congressman Bill Posey, who as a young man worked on the Apollo program years ago. “NASA has always looked toward the future and today we have taken another step in that direction. This is a positive step toward keeping our nation’s space program on track. It’s now up to the Administration to give the final go ahead.”

The Young-Crippen Firing Room, formerly Firing Room 1, was the first firing room constructed at the Launch Control Center (LCC) and has played an integral role in NASA’s Human Space Flight Program throughout the years. The facility has been a part of almost every major space flight milestone since Apollo such as the first launch of Saturn V, the first crew flight of Saturn V, the first crewed mission to the moon, and the first Shuttle launch. Firing Room 1 was renamed after Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen, the first Astronauts to fly the Space Shuttle (Columbia) on April 12, 1981.