The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center ("JSC") is the NASA installation wherein is located the Mission Control Center (MCC) for all American manned spaceflights since Gemini 5. JSC was originally established as "Manned Spacecraft Center" in 1961 and subsequently renamed the "Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center" in 1973, honoring the late president Lyndon B. Johnson, a native son of Texas.
JSC is located in Clear Lake City, which since 1977 has been a part of Houston, Texas. The land occupied by the space center was donated to NASA by Rice University. JSC's location is the reason that the first word spoken from the Moon's surface was "Houston".
JSC is the home office for U.S. astronauts and is also the site of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, where the first astronauts returning from the Moon were quarantined and where returned samples of lunar soil and rock are stored.
See also: Robert Gilruth
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