The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Tex., is the development, training, and operations center for U.S. manned space
missions. It was named in 1973 by act of Congress, in remembrance of President Johnson's support for space research. The installation began as the Space Task Group, an autonomous unit of Goddard Space Flight Center at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. The group was then assigned with development of the one-man Mercury
spacecraft. Following President John F. Kennedy's commitment in 1961 to land a man on the moon, plans were announced to build a manned-spacecraft center responsible for manned space
missions, including the design, development, and testing of manned spacecraft, the training of astronauts, the coordination of tracking stations, and mission control. The Apollo, Gemini, and Skylab missions were directed from mission control, and beginning in 1974 it was modified to support the Space Shuttle program.