 FACT: After the shuttle clears the launch tower at the Kennedy Space  Center in Cape Canaveral, FL, all radio transmissions are  immediately sent and received from the Mission Control room at the  Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Kennedy has no more contact  with the shuttle after the initial liftoff, so none of the members  of Launch Control including Andys Husband Zack would be able to  talk to them. Also, the radio installed for the FRF test would be  the same radio used on regular shuttle missions. It sort of comes  standard with the electronics and is not interchangeable.