The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center ("JSC") is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight activities. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres (656 ha) located in southeast Houston, Texas. Johnson Space Center is home to the United States astronaut corps and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. The center, originally known as the "Manned Spacecraft Center" was constructed on land in Houston's Bay Area donated by Rice University and was opened in 1963. On February 19, 1973, the center was renamed in honor of the late President and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Johnson Space Center is home to Mission Control Center (MCC-H), the NASA control center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States. MCC-H directs all Space Shuttle missions and activities aboard the International Space Station. The Apollo Mission Control Center, a National Historic Landmark can be found in building 30. The center handles most of the planning and training of the US astronaut corps and houses training facilities such as the Sonny Carter Training Facility and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which is a critical component in the training of astronauts for spacewalks. The center is also responsible for direction of operations at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, which serves as a backup Shuttle landing site and as the coordinating facility for the upcoming Constellation program, which will replace the Space Shuttle program after 2010.