The Payload Operations Center (POC) is the science command post for the International Space Station (ISS). Located at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, it is the focal point for American and international science activities aboard the ISS. The POC's unique capabilities allow science experts and researchers around the world to perform cutting-edge science in the unique microgravity environment of space. The POC is staffed around the clock by shifts of payload flight controllers. At any given time, 8 to 10 flight controllers are on consoles operating, plarning for, and controlling various systems and payloads. This photograph shows the Photo and TV Operations Manager (PHANTOM) at a work station. The PHANTOM configures all video systems aboard the ISS and ensures they are working properly, providing a video link from the ISS to the POC.

S81-32876 (13 April 1981) --- Brig. Gen. William T. Twinting studies the monitor at the Department of Defense (DOD) console in the mission operations control room (MOCR) at the Johnson Space Center?s Mission Control Center (MCC). He is deputy DOD manager for Space Shuttle Support Operations. Gen. Twinting and the other flight controllers seen in the background listen as astronaut John W. Young, STS-1 commander, describes the scenery of a downlink TV transmission. Photo credit: NASA