Space History Photo: JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility

JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility began collecting tracking and scientific information in 1964 with the Ranger 7 mission. Credit: NASA.

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, in May 1964, a ceremony was held to dedicate the new Space Flight Operations Facility, which used state-of-the-art equipment for mission operations and communications with JPL's unmanned spacecraft.

One of the first missions to use the facility was Ranger 7, which went to the Moon in July 1964. The Space Flight Operations Facility collected the tracking and scientific information for the Deep Space Network. In 1985, the Space Flight Operations Facility was designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is still in use.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).