Constellation Program Mission Operations Project Office, Status and Support Philosophy

Abstract

The constellation program mission operations project office (CxP MOP) at Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas is preparing to support the CxP mission operations objectives for the CEV/Orion flights, the Lunar Lander, and Lunar surface operations. Initially with the retirement of the Shuttle, the Orion will provide access to the International Space Station, then progress to the lunar missions. While initial CEV mission operations support will be conceptually similar to the Shuttle mission to ISS, we have set a challenge to support the Orion missions to ISS with 50% of the mission operations support currently required for Shuttle missions. Therefore, we are assessing more efficient ways to organize the support and new technologies which will enhance our operations support. This paper will address the status of our preparation for these CxP missions, our philosophical approach to CxP operations support, and some of the technologies we are assessing to streamline our mission operations infrastructure.