Hey @trag! That is cool you worked at NASA! What did you do there? Oh, I know some stuff is classified. I am just wondering.
Cheers!
Well, I like @JDW 's answer better. It really wasn't very exciting, unfortunately. NASA has never been what it was in the 60s since then.
I worked there from 84 to 87 in Space Shuttle Payload Integration. Which sounds kind of cool. Get the payloads connected and ready, right? Except we didn't That all happened at the Cape. At JSC we wrote documentation about the payloads which might get used during the flight.
Also, for every person you see on TV in that big control room, there were 1 - 3 in a back room somewhere supporting them. So during "my" missions (I worked on three) I was part of mission control with the 9" B&W display and headset but I was in the other room that isn't on TV.
BTW, those panels of lit/unlit buttons you see are communications channels. If a bunch of them are lit at once, then that person is trying to listen to several channels at once -- which was an essential and expected skill. One needed to be able to sort out at least three conversations at once. Different colors for listen only or listen and talk.
We had pneumatic tubes (like at bank drive-ins) to send documentation back and forth. Also, back then we didn't have a network of relay satellites in orbit so there were long periods where we didn't have communications with the shuttle (LOS - Loss of Signal). During LOS those of us in the back room might be sent on a run to Burrito King which was open late (all night?) and near the JSC gate.
You can send burritos through the pneumatic tube system okay, but don't send canned or bottled sodas -- or if you do, don't open them for 20 minutes afterwards....
