Wyche on tributes to spaceflight control teams: 'These benches will serve as a constant reminder of this lasting legacy'

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association (MSOA) will host a ceremony to dedicate three benches to past spaceflight control teams at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in southeast Houston on Thursday (April 28), per a press release.

The release said that the MSOA privately funded the benches, which will be installed in front of the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center on the JSC grounds. Among the participants in the ceremony are JSC Director Vanessa Wyche and ex-JSC director Gerry Griffin, according to NASA.

The release said that the ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. outside of Mission Control near a 35-year-old historical marker recognizing its role during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Former NASA flight director and MOSA president Bill Reeves said in the release that the benches' purpose is two-fold.

"We would like to formally dedicate these monuments to preserve the history and perpetuate the memory of the men and women who planned, trained and operationally supported past spaceflights from Mission Control, Houston," Reeves said.

Wyche expressed his appreciation toward his nonprofit organization's work.

"We're thankful to the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association for dedicating these benches in honor of our NASA flight control teams who captured the world's attention and demonstrated the power of America's vision and technology through many historic missions spanning Gemini to Shuttle," she said, per the release. "These benches will serve as a constant reminder of this lasting legacy, as we work to inspire the next generation of explorers with our Artemis Moon to Mars program."

According to NASA, the benches pay tribute to all flight control teams of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and space shuttle programs in addition to the the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

The government agency said that the International Space Station (ISS) isn't included because it's still active. 

JSC is currently celebrating the 60th anniversary of its founding, per the release.