This workstation is part of an old range-safety installation at Cape Canaveral. A range-safety officer monitoring a launch would use this terminal to send a radio signal to the rocket, causing it to self-destruct. All rockets launched at both CCAFS and KSC are required to have a self-destruct feature, even those carrying humans, so that a malfunctioning rocket can be destroyed before it gets close to any populated area. There is a very strict protocol for destroying any rocket carrying humans into space; those who watched the Challenger disaster will recall that it took about thirty seconds after the Shuttle disintegrated before the RSO made the decision to destroy the two Solid Rocket Boosters. Most of the equipment here is just video switchers to monitor the launch from the many video camera positions available.
Copyright 2011, Garrett Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2011-02-26.