NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Jim McClure talks to comedian Jay Leno, left, in the Dark Room at JPL in December 2016 during the taping of the show, "Jay Leno's Garage." Image credit: Jim McClure In non-COVID times, Space Flight Operations Manager Jim McClure is the face you are most likely to see if you visit Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. If you’re famous and want to learn about JPL, Jim will guide you to the heart of the control room, called the Center of the Universe. Newly hired at JPL? Jim will be your guide for orientation. Sending a spacecraft to the planets? Jim will facilitate your Mission Support Area needs. When that craft turns on its transmitter, the data will flow through the "Dark Room" for the Deep Space Network – a corner of Mission Control for which Jim is responsible.