Space Shuttle: The Final Mission


Space Shuttle: The Final Mission

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'On 8th July, 2011, Atlantis left the earth for the last time.

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'After 30 years and 135 missions,

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'the space shuttle was making its final flight.

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'I'm Kevin Fong and I used to work at NASA

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'with the shuttle's medical research team.

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'For the last month of this last mission,

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'I was granted unprecedented access to the shuttle programme.'

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It's a machine that's going to come alive very, very soon.

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'I was with the astronauts as they went through

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'their final weeks of training.'

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-I'm glad I'm wearing this, not that.

-Yeah. It's a little warm.

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I'm bracing myself against the seat in front,

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dropping out of the sky like a stone here.

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'And I found the unsung heroes

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'who've worked on the shuttle since the beginning.'

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After this is all gone, what's next for you?

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To go look for another job.

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'And I met the man in charge of it all during one of the most

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'extraordinary and emotional months in NASA's history.'

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Today, this being Atlantis' last flight, was really special for me.

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Um...this was the first...first space shuttle I commanded.

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Before this era finally passes into history,

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I want to see what it takes to get this remarkable machine into orbit.

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And along the way, I want to talk to the men and women

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who've worked here at NASA as part of the shuttle programme

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and understand what the last three decades has meant to them.

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30 years ago, I was sitting in an assembly hall at school

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watching the first shuttle launch off the colour television then.

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Back then, I never imagined I'd get a chance to work here.

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And having done that, it's just incredible to get the chance

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to come back and see the last shuttle launch.

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And the last 25 days of the last flight of the last space shuttle.

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Thank you.

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'I'm on my way to Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

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'Johnson is home to the astronauts and their training ground.

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'And it's where I used to work.'

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They seem to be expecting me.

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'And I want to say hello to some friends in my old department,

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'the shuttle medical research team.'

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Guys! This is your doing?

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Yeah. A little bit. How are you?

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Good to see you. Good to see you.

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-How are you?

-Fine. How are you doing?

-It's good to see you.

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-It's good to see you. Got your flag.

-Yes.

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THEY LAUGH

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-Yeah.

-Is it strange with the shuttle finishing now?

-Oh, I know it's sad.

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I hate to see that, but...

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-You've been with the programme all along, haven't you?

-25.

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-Yeah, I've been here 25 years.

-Weird to see it go, isn't it?

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I know. Yeah. It is sad.

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'Today, I've been invited to see the final shuttle crew

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'and the mission control team being put through their paces.

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'This is mission control,

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'the nerve centre for shuttle flight operations.

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'Commander Chris Ferguson is in charge of this final shuttle crew.

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'They have a gruelling day of simulations ahead of them.

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'It's a full dress rehearsal for their worst nightmares.

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'This is a high-fidelity, full-motion simulation.

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'Everything is replicated, down to the last detail.

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'To the crew and mission control, it will feel like the real thing.'

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What you're seeing there is this little cabin.

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And on the inside, those black boxes are TVs facing into that cabin,

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showing them exactly the view they're going to get during

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all of these launch scenarios, all of the emergency-abort scenarios.

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They have a pretty good idea from being in that what it's going

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to be like if things go wrong on the day.

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'Neither the mission controllers nor the crew know what the

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'training team is going to serve up today.

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'Navigating through those simulated emergencies

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'is going to be quite a feat.'

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-"Liftoff confirmed."

-Copy liftoff.

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-"Programme, Houston."

-Roger, roll, Atlantis.

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This is a room full of people, each of them

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with a mission-critical task,

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but the most important person down there at the moment

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is the flight director, Richard Jones,

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just sitting just off to the left there.

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And it's his job to orchestrate all of this to keep that crew

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and that vehicle safe.

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'It's only seconds after launch and the crew are in trouble.

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'They've lost an engine and there are problems with the cooling system.'

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-What's going on?

-"It just went off."

-We've lost PDL.

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-"We've got a leak."

-Leak on the right.

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We do see the helium leak on the right. Go to work the procedure.

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-And tell him he's still hot mike.

-And you're still hot mike, Chunky.

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"You're still hot mike, chunky."

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'The crew must decide whether to proceed or abort.'

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"It's an upper system leak."

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'The shuttle has past the point of no return.

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'From here, they either continue to space

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'or perform an emergency landing across the Atlantic.'

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-Thank you.

-Negative return.

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-Atlantis, negative return.

-Stay out open.

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Stay out open, Chunky. It's a tank leak.

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'One wrong decision here

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'and this emergency could become a catastrophe.'

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Press the ATO, you can select Istres.

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Looks like the right will make it to 23K, Chunky.

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'They can't make it to orbit, so decide to land is Istres, France.'

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OK. DPS, we have a little bit more time.

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'That transatlantic flight would take a jumbo jet nine hours,

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'but shuttle would do it in just 35 minutes.'

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All right, we're going to have to live with that hot mike on board.

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And how many launches have you overseen in your time as flight director?

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I've seen five before. This is going to be my sixth one.

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What would you say to people who shrug and say,

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"Well, it's been flying for 30 years, human space flight,

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"mostly has become routine."

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To what extent does it feel routine to you?

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Putting humans on top of that explosion, in a way,

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that is going on underneath it just to get it into orbit,

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it's just amazing.

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And it's not even close to being routine.

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You must have sims where everything goes wrong and theoretically,

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the crew and the vehicle are lost.

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How seriously do you take those?

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Those are really ugly.

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There are scenarios sometimes that you just cannot win.

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Sometimes you might have to do a bailout or it's a loss of control.

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Those feel horrible when you have to go through them,

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but there's so much to learn when you do go through them.

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They're almost like pieces of gold.

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'As the morning unfolds, the crew face launch after launch,

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'each one featuring a new emergency.'

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-Pick up.

-We're going. Do we need all this capability?

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They've chucked the kitchen sink at them.

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During the launch simulations, they've had engine failures,

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they've tried to get to orbit, couldn't get to orbit.

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They've then had to fly across the Atlantic, look for a landing site in Europe.

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And it's far from a foregone conclusion

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that this simulation is going to work out all right.

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-Abort ATO.

-Atlantis, abort ATO.

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"Abort ATO."

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-This is Chris Ferguson.

-Hey, Kevin.

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Hi. Sorry to jump you after a long day in front of...

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'After four hours in the sim, I get to meet commander Chris Ferguson.

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'He only found out in January this year that the mission

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'he was preparing for would be the shuttle's last.'

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So, 24 days now before you go.

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Have you managed to believe

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you're going to be commanding the last flight?

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I haven't counted the 24 days, but it's that close, huh?

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-It's that close.

-Yeah, they're clicking off pretty quickly now.

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I think I speak on behalf of my crew, we're extraordinarily honoured

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and we're going to make everyone in America very proud

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of 30 years of successful space shuttle.

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Of course, the last landing is going to be kind of, I guess historical.

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We want to make sure we recognise the right people at the right time.

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Have you imagined that moment, wheel stop?

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It's going to be hard to capture 30 years of tremendous shuttle operation

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in a sentence or two when it's all said and done.

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We'll try to say something that's fitting.

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Have you thought about what those words are going to be?

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I have, but I can't let you know them now.

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-Oh, go on.

-No, no, I can't.

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'I'm in Florida, on my way to Cape Canaveral.

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'If Houston is the home of the astronauts,

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'then Florida's Kennedy Space Centre is where the rockets are kept.

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'And it's where Atlantis will launch from in 20 days' time.

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'Since it last flew in 2010,

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'the spacecraft has undergone a complete refit.

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'As this mission got closer,

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'it was transferred to the giant vehicle-assembly building...

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'..where it was attached to its vast external tank

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'and twin solid rocket boosters.

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'A week ago, this whole assembly was transferred to the launch pad,

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'taking five hours to make the three-mile trip.

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'And it's there that Atlantis will undergo all the final system checks

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'that will make it ready for launch.

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'Normally, it's impossible to get up close to a shuttle on the launch pad.

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'But today, an astronaut friend from my NASA days is visiting Atlantis.'

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That's a much better way to come to Florida.

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'Dan Tani has a vital role on the ground for this mission.

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'He's part of the CAPCOM team.

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'He'll be in mission control,

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'providing the vital communications link with the astronauts in space.'

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-Hey, Dan.

-Greeting crew!

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-LAUGHTER

-Nice ride!

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'Dan has launched on two shuttle missions.

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'He knows this journey well.

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'For this final flight, NASA has chosen Pad 39A,

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'the same launch pad that sent Armstrong and his crew

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'to the moon in 1969.'

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So on launch morning, you get out of the Astrovan and, er...

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you know, you stand here and you think

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it's unbelievable that humans could

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put something so complicated together.

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And what an incredible privilege it is, not only to stand there,

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but hopefully in about four or five hours,

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we're going to be circling the earth at 17,000 miles an hour.

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It's really awesome.

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You look up at the vehicle and steam is coming from it.

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There's some creaking. There are motors that you hadn't heard before.

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You feel like it's a beast that is awakening.

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And you get this awareness that it's a machine

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that's going to come alive very, very soon.

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'At the base of the launch platform,

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'a shuttle sleeping in its protective metal cocoon.

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-This is the tail...?

-The tail, yeah.

-The rudder shuttle.

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Yeah. Here's the rudder and the tail structure.

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Those tiles, they're close enough to touch, but you don't touch them.

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Oh, no, you don't touch anything out here.

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We don't touch a flight part unless it's a requirement.

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'For a successful shuttle launch, millions of things have to go right.

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'If they don't, the result could be catastrophic.'

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What you can see here, these stainless-steel things,

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there are four of them on each SRB, so there's eight altogether.

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These are the hold-down bolts that hold the entire stack,

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4.5 million pounds of space shuttle

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and booster to the launch platform on these four points.

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What's interesting is at the moment of launch...

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..the moment the SRBs are ignited,

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there are pyrotechnics on the bolts and they're blown apart...

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..to release the space shuttle from the launch platform.

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"Liftoff. 30 minutes..."

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And that's just another component that has to work.

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Has to work 100%. If one of those bolts were to fail,

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it would be a catastrophic failure.

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You cannot turn off this booster.

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So it's a must-work function.

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-Let's go.

-It's probably the first and last time

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I'll be catching a lift to a space shuttle while it's in the launch.

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'This is the astronauts' lift

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'and I'm going up 195 feet to the level of the flight deck.'

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-This is it.

-Welcome to 195.

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'It's where every shuttle crew has entered their vehicle on launch day

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'and it's a highly-restricted area.'

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This is it. Once you're ready, and you have to be ready,

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they'll wave you in and you'll make the walk out.

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That's to the white room.

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You get ready and then you climb in from the white room,

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through the hatch into the shuttle, get strapped in.

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Here's a piece of technology that passed us by

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for the first couple of times we were up here,

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but then somebody clued us in.

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They go, "That phone up on the 195 works. It's a functional phone."

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And, er...so what we started getting smart and doing is

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on launch morning, bringing a couple of phone numbers

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with you and you call your wife,

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"Hey, just about to get on the space shuttle.

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"I'll see you in a couple of weeks." Or I called my mom.

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-Did you really do that?

-Absolutely.

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Hey, I had 20 minutes before I got strapped in.

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It is just beautiful up here.

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And 200 feet in the air off the coast, you know,

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some sunshine, breeze in your hair.

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And you're parked next to a hydrogen bomb.

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And if you're the crew,

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you're just about to get into a machine for the next few days,

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if not few months, and leave the earth at 17,000 miles an hour.

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'The astronauts are about to move to the next phase of their training.

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'And it's time for some real flying.

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'The two hardest feats in all of rocket science

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'are starting and stopping.

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'Commander Chris Ferguson and Atlantis pilot Doug Hurley

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'are about to practise landings in a specially-adapted jet

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'that behaves exactly like a returning shuttle.

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'And they've invited me along for the ride.'

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-Are you looking forward to this?

-Yeah, these are fun.

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We don't do a tonne of suited ones, but we do a fair amount.

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-We do a lot of simulators.

-I'm glad I'm wearing this, not that.

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-Yeah, it's a little warm.

-It's pretty warm.

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'The shuttle returns to earth unpowered and falls from the sky

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'at an angle seven times steeper than a commercial jet.'

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Our shuttle trainer, which is a modified Gulfstream II business jet,

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it has the exact same flying qualities as a space shuttle.

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Of course, in order to get the flying qualities of a space shuttle,

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you need to employ drastic techniques.

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You need to deploy the landing gear at 30,000 feet

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and the engines that are actually working

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to push the shuttle training aeroplane backwards,

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it's a tremendous rate of descent.

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I still remember my first experience.

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It was 30,000 feet, I looked down at the runway,

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it was a tiny little strip right under my left arm and I said,

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"There is no way we are going to possibly land on that thing."

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And he's says, "OK. You ready? I'm going to show you."

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And it's amazing. You come downhill really fast, but it works.

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And the space shuttle's the same way.

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So I'm about to get on this aircraft.

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Chris Ferguson, commander of SCS 135,

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is going to take it up to 20,000-odd feet,

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put those engines into reverse...

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..stick it in a 20-degree down dive,

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get about 10 feet off the runway, as far as I can tell,

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pull up, go around, do that 10 times.

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It's going to be interesting.

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'The shuttle is designed so it can be steered

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'at hypersonic speeds in the upper atmosphere.

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'But as it gets close to home, below the speed of sound,

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'its short wings mean that it sinks like a stone.'

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So we're on the climb on the way up to the first of those approaches.

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We're getting ourselves up to something like 20,000 feet now,

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getting ready to put ourselves at that very steep dive

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with the engines in reverse.

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'Chris Ferguson's side of the cockpit

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'is identical to the flight deck of Atlantis.'

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There you go. That noise...

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is the engines of this aircraft going into reverse.

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'We're experiencing the deadweight and powerlessness of the shuttle.'

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Looking out of the window now, I am looking straight down at the ground.

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'We're falling at 28,000 feet per minute.'

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All the way down. Bracing myself against the seat in front.

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It feels like you're falling out of the sky now.

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'And just a few feet from the ground,

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'we pull up and soar back into the sky.'

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That's just amazing! It's just amazing!

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We'll have come down 16,000 feet

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by the time we're lined up with the runway.

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You really do feel like this thing's pointed right at the ground.

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Dropping out of the sky like a stone here.

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'A mission commander has to complete at least a thousand of these

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'practise runs before they fly the real shuttle.

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'Chris Ferguson has completed one thousand.'

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Off we go again. It's just incredible! It's just amazing!

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That is the craziest thing I think I've...ever done.

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That was an hour and a half of going 28,000 to zero.

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28,000 to zero, 28,000 to zero.

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Um...it was just incredible.

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Just incredible. And the thing just drops out of the sky like a rock.

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And you're being flown by the guy

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who's about to command the last space shuttle.

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During its mission, there are many phases

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when the shuttle is under extreme stress.

0:20:000:20:03

The fierce heat of re-entry is more than enough

0:20:030:20:06

to destroy an unprotected vehicle.

0:20:060:20:08

On 1 February 2003, space shuttle Columbia was due to

0:20:110:20:15

return from a 16-day mission.

0:20:150:20:17

-SHUTTLE:

-'This is Columbia, Houston.

0:20:180:20:20

'We see your tyre pressure messages and we did not copy.'

0:20:200:20:23

-MISSION CONTROL:

-Is it instrumentation?

0:20:230:20:26

'Columbia, Houston - UHF com check.'

0:20:270:20:30

In the skies above Texas, Columbia broke up as she hit

0:20:430:20:46

the upper atmosphere.

0:20:460:20:48

Her insulating shield had been damaged on take-off

0:20:520:20:55

and she could not survive the heat of re-entry.

0:20:550:20:58

All seven crew members - lost.

0:21:010:21:03

Terry White has worked on the shuttle's thermal protection

0:21:100:21:13

system since the beginning.

0:21:130:21:16

'His last job is to make Atlantis ready for mission.

0:21:160:21:20

'With Atlantis on the launch pad, he showed me around another

0:21:200:21:24

'shuttle - Discovery - which flew her last mission in February 2011.'

0:21:240:21:29

What we see is extreme temperature about 3,000 degrees

0:21:290:21:33

Fahrenheit on re-entry.

0:21:330:21:35

So it's really important to have the thermal protection system

0:21:350:21:38

intact to make sure that the orbiter, its payload

0:21:380:21:43

and the astronauts, get home safe. Right.

0:21:430:21:46

Were you to take one of the tiles of the vehicle,

0:21:460:21:49

this is what it would look like.

0:21:490:21:51

That's a lot lighter than it looks like it should be.

0:21:510:21:53

That feels a bit more like a polystyrene block.

0:21:530:21:56

Yes, that's the closest thing it's similar to.

0:21:560:21:58

These are easily damaged. You can actually hear one

0:21:580:22:01

when I push my thumb into it, you can hear it crack.

0:22:010:22:04

The coating is about the thickness of an eggshell.

0:22:040:22:07

This is one of the new tiles. This one's so strong

0:22:070:22:09

you can actually bang it on the end of the table.

0:22:090:22:11

And these were developed after...

0:22:130:22:15

They were developed before the Columbia incident, but we started

0:22:150:22:19

using them after the Columbia incident.

0:22:190:22:21

That was a way to make the vehicles even safer.

0:22:210:22:23

So if you want a new tile, just one tile on the vehicle,

0:22:230:22:26

end-to-end, start to finish, how long would that take?

0:22:260:22:30

It takes ten days to two weeks,

0:22:300:22:31

-depending on where it's at...

-One tile?

-One tile.

0:22:310:22:34

-How long would it take to put 24,000 on?

-A couple of years!

0:22:360:22:41

And they're about to send this to the museum.

0:22:420:22:45

After this has all gone, after these processing facilities

0:22:450:22:49

are empty, what's next for you?

0:22:490:22:52

To go look for another job!

0:22:520:22:55

I've been doing this for 33 years, but I'm not quite ready to

0:22:550:22:58

retire, so I'll go look for something else to do.

0:22:580:23:01

The last three decades have seen an extraordinary

0:23:100:23:13

team of specialists like Terry come together,

0:23:130:23:16

each an authority in their own field, each one dedicated to

0:23:160:23:20

a particular system needed to make the shuttle what it is.

0:23:200:23:24

And with no new craft fully developed to take manned

0:23:240:23:27

space flight to the next level,

0:23:270:23:28

this unique group of people will have to be broken up.

0:23:280:23:31

Today the astronauts have arrived in Florida for a dress rehearsal.

0:23:350:23:39

-Permission to go aboard.

-Absolutely.

-Permission to go aboard.

0:23:390:23:42

Have a great day, guys.

0:23:420:23:44

It's the first time they'll enter the shuttle on the pad.

0:23:440:23:47

-Come on in, boss!

-How are you doing?

-Great, man.

-You look marvellous.

0:23:470:23:51

Waiting for them is another specialist team -

0:23:510:23:54

the Closeout Crew - who make sure

0:23:540:23:56

the astronauts are fully equipped and ready for launch.

0:23:560:23:59

These guys have obsessive attention to detail as a job requirement.

0:24:020:24:07

They must check every last aspect of the astronauts equipment,

0:24:070:24:10

powering their flight suits and strapping them in to the vehicle.

0:24:100:24:13

You are literally the last people on earth that the crew see

0:24:150:24:18

-before they go.

-We connect with them

0:24:180:24:20

when they come in there and we make it

0:24:200:24:23

a point to connect with them because we want to make them comfortable.

0:24:230:24:27

'We're there for them and to help them do their job.'

0:24:280:24:32

All right. I'm going in. She's going in. Look out!

0:24:320:24:36

Chick comin' aboard!

0:24:360:24:38

'We've got to know several over the years

0:24:380:24:41

and got to be real good friends with a lot of them. We want to do it.

0:24:410:24:45

But we're not going to get the shot, you know.

0:24:450:24:48

And we see them do it, we love it.

0:24:480:24:49

And we connect with all of them the best we can.

0:24:490:24:52

One of my biggest jobs that I'm going to have on launch day is

0:24:520:24:56

accounting for him, to make sure he's not in there

0:24:560:24:59

when I close the hatch!

0:24:590:25:01

Because he would go and fly on it, you know, as we all would.

0:25:020:25:07

That's my main job, my main check list.

0:25:070:25:09

All right, guys.

0:25:110:25:12

And then the last thing we do is we look at the Commander in the window

0:25:120:25:16

and he's usually laying there and he gives us the thumbs up, he or she.

0:25:160:25:20

And we like that part.

0:25:200:25:22

We get to wave to them and then we go down the elevator

0:25:220:25:24

and we go over here in this field and we wait.

0:25:240:25:27

We have to close and lock the hatch.

0:25:290:25:32

And this is the tool that you use to do that.

0:25:320:25:35

This is the key to the space shuttle.

0:25:350:25:37

This is the key to the space shuttle. This is called the locking T-tool.

0:25:370:25:41

And we turn it 450 degrees and then you lock it right there,

0:25:410:25:46

from the outside and you push these tabs and remove it.

0:25:460:25:49

-How many of these do you have?

-18.

0:25:490:25:51

Always good to have spare keys for the space shuttle, I should imagine.

0:25:510:25:54

-Yes.

-I just quite like this "remove before flight" label!

0:25:540:25:57

-You don't want to take off with the keys still in the door!

-No!

0:25:570:26:01

The launch is getting ever closer, so I am lucky to be able to grab

0:26:060:26:10

lunch with Rex Walheim, another member of the Atlantis crew.

0:26:100:26:13

I want to know how being an astronaut affects those

0:26:130:26:16

closest to them.

0:26:160:26:17

It's really tough on the family. How does your family cope?

0:26:190:26:22

My kids since they can remember, I've been an astronaut

0:26:220:26:25

so they've always know it's part of my job and the first time I told

0:26:250:26:28

them... I didn't tell them for a few days I'm going on the shuttle,

0:26:280:26:31

you know and I'll be gone a couple of weeks.

0:26:310:26:33

I kind of told them in their rooms and they were three and five

0:26:330:26:36

at the time. And they're kind of, OK. Everybody does that(!)

0:26:360:26:40

So, it wasn't a real big deal for them. It's kind of a vague memory

0:26:400:26:43

now, but they kind of know this is what dad does.

0:26:430:26:46

Who finds it hardest out of everyone on launch day?

0:26:460:26:49

On launch day, the spouses. Definitely the spouses.

0:26:490:26:52

It is hard on them, especially my wife. It's hardest on them,

0:26:520:26:55

they understand what we're going through and they have no

0:26:550:26:58

sense of control over it like we do when we're in the cockpit.

0:26:580:27:01

-Did you know her when you got selected?

-Yes.

0:27:010:27:04

When I was first dating her I told her

0:27:040:27:06

I was applying to be an astronaut and being the type who tends to

0:27:060:27:10

worry a little more than others,

0:27:100:27:12

it was really kind of funny that she ended up married to someone

0:27:120:27:14

-who's an astronaut, so...

-Will she be glad when you stop flying?

0:27:140:27:18

Yes. I think when I'm done doing the flying in space stuff

0:27:180:27:21

she'll be very happy about that!

0:27:210:27:22

In less than a week the astronauts will

0:27:240:27:26

arrive in Florida for the final time.

0:27:260:27:29

They'll go into quarantine in dedicated, if somewhat spartan

0:27:290:27:32

crew quarters, where every astronaut

0:27:320:27:35

since Apollo has spent their last days on earth.

0:27:350:27:38

'Cameras are rarely allowed here but before the crew of Atlantis

0:27:380:27:43

'arrive, my friend Dan gives me a guided tour.'

0:27:430:27:46

This is really our home away from home down here. It's awesome.

0:27:460:27:49

When you come down flight T38 in,

0:27:490:27:51

the crew will, you make the drive over here and just make this walk

0:27:510:27:56

and once you get in the elevator,

0:27:560:27:57

you think it's unbelievable... the real thing.

0:27:570:28:00

'Dan introduces me to Gloria and Dolores,

0:28:010:28:03

'two of the most important people to the astronauts in isolation.'

0:28:030:28:07

All right. So, first of all these are the folks that keep us happy

0:28:070:28:12

down here and you want happy crew. Because they provide the food.

0:28:120:28:15

One of the things we do in the kitchen is to try to make

0:28:150:28:19

everything as home-made as we possibly can and everything

0:28:190:28:22

that we feed them and put on weight, they lose up in space!

0:28:220:28:26

We try to!

0:28:260:28:28

One of the things I didn't know about a week before launch,

0:28:280:28:31

there's a sheet came around and said what kind of sandwich do you want?

0:28:310:28:34

You know, on orbit. And I thought, a sandwich? What? And... I don't know.

0:28:340:28:39

Ham and cheese, I guess.

0:28:390:28:42

And so the morning of the lunch, these folks make

0:28:420:28:45

sandwiches for the crew, pack 'em away in a bag and they're on

0:28:450:28:48

the shuttle with us, under the seat, tied to the seat,

0:28:480:28:51

so that it doesn't float away.

0:28:510:28:53

And then as soon as you get into orbit, take off your suit,

0:28:530:28:57

you can have a sandwich. And I didn't know that so...

0:28:570:29:00

-Yours was ham and cheese.

-Ham and cheese!

0:29:000:29:02

The biggest majority of them, peanut butter and jello.

0:29:020:29:06

It's a sin to say that!

0:29:060:29:08

The quarters are set up especially for each new crew.

0:29:080:29:12

'I meet manager Judy Hooper in the astronaut common room.

0:29:130:29:16

'Judy has been here since the beginning looking after

0:29:180:29:21

'astronauts and their families in the run-up to launch.'

0:29:210:29:24

I've been here since STS One. I came on board in 1979.

0:29:240:29:30

And it was the most exciting thing that you could ever, ever imagine.

0:29:300:29:37

Everybody you run into, every engineer, every tech,

0:29:370:29:41

every astronaut, it didn't matter where they worked.

0:29:410:29:45

They would have done it for free. That's how cool it was.

0:29:450:29:49

I mean, you're working on the space shuttle.

0:29:490:29:53

What else could be better than that?

0:29:530:29:55

'I asked Judy about the toughest times she's faced here

0:29:550:29:59

'and she spoke about the first shuttle accident -

0:29:590:30:02

'Challenger in 1986.'

0:30:020:30:04

I was up on the LCC roof, watching the family through there. Um...

0:30:040:30:11

And I remember looking up and...

0:30:150:30:18

..somehow you know.

0:30:190:30:21

You know, you don't know the minute you realise it,

0:30:230:30:27

because I think you kind of go into shock.

0:30:270:30:29

And liftoff.

0:30:320:30:34

Liftoff of the 25th Space Shuttle mission,

0:30:340:30:37

and it has cleared the tower.

0:30:370:30:38

Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight in the skies above Florida.

0:30:400:30:45

Challenger, go at throttle-up.

0:30:450:30:48

Roger, go at throttle-up.

0:30:480:30:50

RUMBLING

0:30:530:30:55

A fault in one of the solid rocket boosters

0:31:060:31:08

caused a catastrophic failure.

0:31:080:31:10

-Go ahead.

-RSO reports vehicle exploded.

0:31:160:31:19

Copy.

0:31:220:31:24

All seven crew members,

0:31:260:31:28

including NASA's first civilian astronaut, were lost.

0:31:280:31:32

It's just so sad, because this was such a great crew, you know,

0:31:410:31:46

and to me, they're still great.

0:31:460:31:48

And I'm so glad that what they sacrificed could mean something,

0:31:480:31:54

because we learned from that, like everything else.

0:31:540:31:58

You're never ever going to make

0:32:050:32:07

human space exploration completely safe.

0:32:070:32:10

It's always going to be like this.

0:32:100:32:12

This is a memorial to all of the NASA astronauts who have died

0:32:120:32:16

either while training or on mission, and look at that monument.

0:32:160:32:20

There is plenty of space for more names. It will always be like this.

0:32:200:32:24

Exploration will always be risk, and without risk, there is no progress.

0:32:240:32:30

First Challenger and then the Columbia accident

0:32:340:32:37

cast long shadows over the programme

0:32:370:32:39

and caused NASA to search its soul.

0:32:390:32:42

They sought to learn from their mistakes

0:32:420:32:44

and make Shuttle ever safer.

0:32:440:32:46

With the flight of Atlantis days away,

0:32:460:32:49

I want to see one of the more recent weapons in that armoury.

0:32:490:32:52

-Kenny, this is your office here.

-This is it.

0:32:540:32:57

If you will, let's open this up and undo those snaps

0:32:570:33:00

and show the cameras.

0:33:000:33:03

'Kenny Allen is a specialist cameraman.

0:33:030:33:06

'On launch day, he'll be one of the closest human beings to Atlantis.'

0:33:060:33:10

This is our camera tracking mount.

0:33:100:33:13

'After Columbia, NASA invested 39 million in specialist digital images.

0:33:130:33:19

'The pictures taken reveal in minute detail any damage the shuttle experiences during launch.'

0:33:190:33:25

The whole system is top-notch.

0:33:250:33:28

You won't find anything better than this anywhere in the world right now.

0:33:280:33:32

There's no way.

0:33:320:33:33

I see a seat in the middle of this, so that's your throne for the day.

0:33:330:33:36

On launch day, I come out here and I sit in the seat and we hear

0:33:360:33:38

the countdown and it's getting exciting and everything's nerve-racking,

0:33:380:33:44

and as soon as the shuttle lifts off and the sound comes in,

0:33:440:33:47

and your clothes, everything, it starts pounding,

0:33:470:33:50

and you can see I'm in this little enclosed area

0:33:500:33:53

and the sound waves start coming in here

0:33:530:33:55

and it really feels like somebody's just punching on my chest.

0:33:550:33:58

Its neat. At liftoff, I'm concentrating right on the joystick,

0:33:580:34:02

and I look through the scope

0:34:020:34:03

and I track throughout the duration of the flight,

0:34:030:34:07

and then as it goes up, and I track down and I stop, it's like,

0:34:070:34:11

"Yes! All right! We did another one."

0:34:110:34:13

Then you go rush off to see what you did.

0:34:130:34:15

Immediately after launch,

0:34:150:34:16

Kenny's images can be analysed frame by frame.

0:34:160:34:20

This is where we record the video that's shot out there.

0:34:200:34:22

-This is Tim Terry.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

0:34:220:34:25

The imagery's stunning, there's no doubt,

0:34:250:34:28

but it's not stunning just for stunning's sake.

0:34:280:34:31

There's groups of engineers looking at different parts

0:34:310:34:33

of the shuttle, just like I'm doing here, frame by frame, and they

0:34:330:34:36

all have their own little interest, their own little department, and

0:34:360:34:39

they all are looking at things in the minutest of detail, every launch.

0:34:390:34:44

If the shuttle's tiles were found to be severely damaged, NASA could

0:34:440:34:48

make a call whether to undertake repairs in space or offload

0:34:480:34:52

the crew to the International Space Station and abandon the shuttle.

0:34:520:34:56

You have all these cameras trained on this vehicle

0:34:560:34:59

because of a catastrophic accident.

0:34:590:35:03

Well, if you go back and look at the history,

0:35:030:35:05

135 Space Shuttle missions, we've had two mishaps.

0:35:050:35:09

On the Challenger, the only thing that found out what happened,

0:35:090:35:12

the only thing that identified what happened was photo.

0:35:120:35:15

The same thing with Columbia, when the foam hit the wing, it was seen.

0:35:150:35:21

But what we're here for at the end of the day is to say,

0:35:210:35:24

that shuttle's safe. It's not damaged in any way.

0:35:240:35:27

It's flying, we're going to bring those guys home.

0:35:270:35:30

With four days to go, the crew of Atlantis

0:35:340:35:36

arrive at Cape Canaveral on American Independence Day.

0:35:360:35:39

That's Chris and Sandy arriving in the jet on the right,

0:35:420:35:45

and Rex and Doug are on the jet on the left,

0:35:450:35:48

and they're in quarantine now,

0:35:480:35:51

which means that nobody except for front-line mission operations

0:35:510:35:54

personnel or close family are allowed within ten feet of them.

0:35:540:35:58

Good afternoon to everybody.

0:36:010:36:03

I think it's wonderful that you've all come out to join us,

0:36:030:36:06

when I know and I certainly hope that you will have an opportunity

0:36:060:36:09

to go home when this is all done and enjoy some barbecues,

0:36:090:36:12

some fireworks and some apple pie.

0:36:120:36:15

The crew now in quarantine, I wanted to find out what

0:36:170:36:19

goes through the mind of an astronaut

0:36:190:36:21

as they step away from the public gaze

0:36:210:36:23

and think of the mission they're about to embark upon.

0:36:230:36:26

So I went to meet with Dan Tani again,

0:36:290:36:31

and two astronaut friends he trained with.

0:36:310:36:34

Over the last decade, Dan has spent over four months in space.

0:36:350:36:38

Greg Chematov put the last bolt in the International Space Station,

0:36:400:36:44

and British-born Piers Sellers has clocked up

0:36:440:36:47

over 40 hours in space walks.

0:36:470:36:50

If we go through the arithmetic on it, this is amongst the most

0:36:500:36:53

risky jobs outside of the military during war there is.

0:36:530:36:58

I don't even like watching other people's launches.

0:36:580:37:01

If I'm back here, I never enjoy them. It just makes me nervous.

0:37:010:37:07

It's a dangerous business.

0:37:070:37:08

Anybody who tells you otherwise is lying,

0:37:080:37:10

and launch is probably about the most dangerous phase.

0:37:100:37:14

The more you know about the vehicle, the more you know about all

0:37:140:37:17

the very small margins, you know, there's a lot at risk.

0:37:170:37:22

So when you're watching, it is nerve-racking.

0:37:220:37:24

When you're in it, it's great, because you're going.

0:37:240:37:27

You have something to do. You have a job.

0:37:270:37:29

THEY LAUGH

0:37:290:37:34

Explain that a bit to me, because you know what can happen,

0:37:340:37:36

you've seen what can happen,

0:37:360:37:38

and yet your launches, that's not in your mind.

0:37:380:37:41

They say when you climb Everest, you know the places where people

0:37:410:37:45

fell off and been killed, and for Shuttle, both my launches,

0:37:450:37:51

you listen for "go at throttle-up"

0:37:510:37:53

and you know that this is the moment that you lost Challenger,

0:37:530:37:56

and then when you're coming back home and you're coming through Mach 19,

0:37:560:38:00

you know this is when we lost Columbia,

0:38:000:38:02

so you have these, you pass these moments, and for me, there was

0:38:020:38:05

certainly relief past "go at throttle-up" and coming in past 19,

0:38:050:38:10

where you think, "Wow..." Not that that same thing's going to hit you,

0:38:100:38:14

but this was the moment, and I'm glad to be past it.

0:38:140:38:21

I never felt an active sense of jeopardy.

0:38:210:38:23

I guess it was there in the background,

0:38:230:38:26

but I never really paid attention to it,

0:38:260:38:28

and then coming down in the shuttle,

0:38:280:38:30

and it wasn't until I touched down,

0:38:300:38:32

and all of a sudden I felt this relief that must have been

0:38:320:38:37

collected for months, about, I'm really home,

0:38:370:38:39

I'm really going to be back, I'm really going to see my family again,

0:38:390:38:43

it's really over, I really got back down safely.

0:38:430:38:45

This is the question that everybody outside the fence is always

0:38:450:38:49

going to ask. 30 years of Shuttle, 135 flights. Why did you do it?

0:38:490:38:55

Why did WE do it?

0:38:550:38:57

It's raised our ability to do things in space from a very

0:38:570:39:01

rudimentary level to an extremely ambitious level. Now look what we do.

0:39:010:39:06

We have pretty much building sites up there with these gigantic arms

0:39:060:39:09

flying around doing things, so it's raised the level of technology

0:39:090:39:14

and engineering enormously over 30 years,

0:39:140:39:18

so that when we do get around to doing something further out,

0:39:180:39:21

we'll have a big repository of knowledge and experience to build on.

0:39:210:39:25

The world's news crews are gearing up for launch day.

0:39:270:39:30

The astronauts and the hardware are nearing their state of readiness.

0:39:300:39:34

But there's one thing that's still out of NASA's control.

0:39:340:39:38

So, worrying news, 48 hours to launch,

0:39:380:39:41

and I've just heard there's a 60% chance that the thing won't launch,

0:39:410:39:45

because of the weather conditions.

0:39:450:39:47

After all that engineering and all that technology,

0:39:470:39:49

it comes down to clouds and rain.

0:39:490:39:51

I'm just going to find out what's happening.

0:39:510:39:53

Kathy Winters is NASA's chief weather officer.

0:39:540:39:57

I wish I had better weather for the forecast,

0:39:580:40:01

but it is not looking favourable right now.

0:40:010:40:03

We're going to have some showers and potentially some

0:40:030:40:05

thunderstorms by launch time.

0:40:050:40:07

I'm Kevin from BBC. You have to understand, we're British

0:40:070:40:10

so we only ever talk about the weather, and you're the most

0:40:100:40:15

important weather woman in the world for me today, so I just wonder what

0:40:150:40:18

it's like to feel the pressure of getting this forecast right, Kathy.

0:40:180:40:21

I wouldn't call it pressure, I would call it exciting.

0:40:210:40:24

It's really an exciting situation we get into.

0:40:240:40:26

It's not really, I guess, a feeling like stress

0:40:260:40:29

until maybe afterwards and then a big letdown

0:40:290:40:31

if you do happen to screw up, but that's kind of how it is.

0:40:310:40:35

The next stage in Atlantis's countdown to launch is to get

0:40:350:40:39

fuel aboard its giant external tank.

0:40:390:40:42

But over the whole of the next day, the weather takes over.

0:40:430:40:47

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realise that

0:40:530:40:56

having lightning coming down when you're filling a vehicle with

0:40:560:40:59

thousands and thousands of tonnes, here we go,

0:40:590:41:01

of liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, it's a dangerous thing.

0:41:010:41:08

At the moment, they're trying to get the rotating service structure

0:41:080:41:12

back away from the vehicle

0:41:120:41:13

so they can get access to it to get the fuel on board,

0:41:130:41:16

but they need to have no lightning and better weather than this,

0:41:160:41:20

and if that process slips by more than four or five hours,

0:41:200:41:23

they're going to have to rethink the whole thing,

0:41:230:41:26

possibly going to have to scrub.

0:41:260:41:28

-It's a bit crazy in here today, Jeff.

-Absolutely.

0:41:280:41:31

'Atlantis's mission is to rendezvous with the International Space Station,

0:41:310:41:36

'but to do that, she has to launch at just the right time.'

0:41:360:41:40

I'm seeing lightning, and hearing thunder, do you really think

0:41:400:41:43

there's any chance of you getting off the ground tomorrow?

0:41:430:41:45

I think the weather we've got coming in tomorrow,

0:41:450:41:47

people have said there are some breaks in that weather,

0:41:470:41:50

and we only need, it doesn't matter how bad it is beforehand,

0:41:500:41:53

it's when we get to that key zero timeframe.

0:41:530:41:55

In any given day, how long is the window in which you can launch?

0:41:550:41:59

Normally it's about ten minutes long. It's designed to be ten minutes long.

0:41:590:42:03

When you're trying to an object going 17,000 miles an hour,

0:42:030:42:07

the ability for you to get that point in space at the same time they are,

0:42:070:42:10

starting from zero, is really a challenge, so you have to

0:42:100:42:14

shoot at just the right spot, at just the right angle so you have

0:42:140:42:16

enough of propellant and enough capability on board

0:42:160:42:20

to be able to steer the vehicle to meet the station at the right time,

0:42:200:42:23

because otherwise, you're not going to hit it.

0:42:230:42:25

It's the day before the launch, and taking advantage of a brief

0:42:280:42:31

break in the weather, the launch control team decide to press ahead

0:42:310:42:35

and peel back the orbiter's protective shield.

0:42:350:42:38

She's now ready for fuelling,

0:42:380:42:39

and I get my first proper look at Atlantis.

0:42:390:42:43

If the weather holds, Atlantis will be fuelled overnight,

0:42:460:42:49

ready for launch tomorrow.

0:42:490:42:51

In the early hours of the morning, I get the call.

0:42:550:42:58

Atlantis has been fuelled, countdown will begin.

0:42:580:43:02

Four o'clock in the morning, the morning of the launch.

0:43:020:43:06

If's kind of strange.

0:43:060:43:07

I didn't really think that I would feel anything in particular

0:43:070:43:11

this morning, but as time goes on,

0:43:110:43:16

I sort of start to feel like the people we've been talking to,

0:43:160:43:20

a bit happy, a bit sad.

0:43:200:43:24

There's a small part of me that doesn't want it to go today,

0:43:240:43:29

because then the end doesn't have to start so soon.

0:43:290:43:32

It's quite unexpected.

0:43:320:43:36

As I arrive at Kennedy, I see Rene and Travis from the close-out crew,

0:43:360:43:40

preparing to leave the shuttle on the launchpad.

0:43:400:43:42

-How are you?

-Great.

0:43:440:43:46

-You ready this morning?

-Yes, sir! Ready.

0:43:460:43:48

Do you think the weather's going to hold for you today?

0:43:480:43:51

Do you know, it's above my area of expertise.

0:43:510:43:54

I've had flight crews out there in the rain before

0:43:540:43:56

and we ended up launching,

0:43:560:43:59

so I've seen perfect weather and we ended up scrubbing.

0:43:590:44:03

So, who knows.

0:44:030:44:05

It's the space business, it's what we're in, if it cooperates,

0:44:050:44:08

we'll get her off the ground safe. If it's not safe, we won't go.

0:44:080:44:12

As dawn breaks, the odds of a successful launch have fallen to 30%.

0:44:180:44:23

The launch window opens at 11.21am.

0:44:230:44:26

If the weather forecast for that time isn't good,

0:44:260:44:29

countdown will be scrubbed.

0:44:290:44:32

But that hasn't stopped the public turning out in force.

0:44:320:44:35

-RADIO:

-..history here on Magic 107.7, with the Space Shuttle launch...

0:44:350:44:39

..traffic is backing up...

0:44:390:44:40

At 7.35am, Chris, Doug, Rex and Sandy leave their crew quarters

0:44:470:44:51

for the three-mile journey to the launchpad.

0:44:510:44:54

There they go. They've spent their last night on Earth

0:44:580:45:01

in the building just behind me. They're off to the pad now

0:45:010:45:04

and hopefully on their way to space in a couple of hours' time.

0:45:040:45:09

There's so much riding on this launch today.

0:45:110:45:14

The end is hard enough.

0:45:140:45:16

No-one wants to go through countdown for it to be

0:45:160:45:18

cancelled at the 11th hour.

0:45:180:45:20

Up on level 195, Rene and Travis are there to meet the astronauts

0:45:290:45:33

and prepare them for flight.

0:45:330:45:35

In Houston's Mission Control,

0:45:380:45:40

Richard Jones tells his team to expect a decision.

0:45:400:45:42

We're getting close, folks.

0:45:450:45:46

Expect a go/no-go in the next 10 or 15 minutes.

0:45:460:45:49

At the one-mile mark, Kenny is primed and ready.

0:45:570:46:00

And by the countdown clock, Terry White is watching.

0:46:120:46:16

-Opening event doors.

-Yes.

-OK.

0:46:170:46:20

MUFFLED VOICES OVER RADIO

0:46:200:46:24

With the astronauts strapped in and the door locked, everyone is waiting

0:46:240:46:28

to hear the weather all-clear from launch director Mike Leinbach.

0:46:280:46:33

OK, guys, let's get ready.

0:46:330:46:35

OK, we're starting to feel pretty good down here on the ground about this one today,

0:46:360:46:41

so on behalf of the greatest team in the world, good luck to you

0:46:410:46:45

and your crew on the final flight of this true American icon.

0:46:450:46:48

You are clear to launch Atlantis.

0:46:510:46:53

I copy that, sir, thank you.

0:46:540:46:56

T minus nine minutes and counting.

0:46:560:46:58

You know, despite all the weather that cheer you're hearing out there,

0:46:580:47:02

that's everyone being told that we're still go for launch,

0:47:020:47:06

so they've dodged around the weather, the rainstorms,

0:47:060:47:08

the thunderbolts, the lightning. It looks like it might just be

0:47:080:47:12

clear enough, and they're going to begin the final countdown to launch.

0:47:120:47:15

The giant vent hood is one of the last connections

0:47:150:47:18

between Atlantis and the launchpad.

0:47:180:47:21

When it's removed, liftoff can begin.

0:47:210:47:23

O2 flow.

0:47:230:47:26

T minus 35, 33.

0:47:300:47:33

T minus 31 seconds.

0:47:330:47:35

-We're holding at 31.

-We have a problem with the switches.

0:47:360:47:41

The launch is suddenly held.

0:47:410:47:43

A sensor is saying that

0:47:430:47:45

the giant vent hood hasn't retracted and locked.

0:47:450:47:47

We are trying to verify using a camera

0:47:470:47:50

and we're positioning camera 62 right now.

0:47:500:47:54

It's getting pretty desperate now.

0:47:540:47:56

There are two minutes left in the launch window,

0:47:560:47:59

31 seconds still on the clock.

0:47:590:48:01

They have less than two minutes to find out if the sensor is

0:48:010:48:04

faulty or if the hood is indeed blocking the launch of Atlantis.

0:48:040:48:09

Launch control hunt for a view of the hood. And a decision is made.

0:48:090:48:15

We verify it is retracted.

0:48:150:48:18

31 seconds still on the clock.

0:48:180:48:20

No, no, the clock has started again. So we're 31 seconds to launch.

0:48:210:48:27

-Go for sequence start.

-We are counting.

-Copy.

0:48:290:48:34

-Ten seconds.

-Copy that.

-Main engine start.

0:48:380:48:40

MUFFLED VOICE ON RADIO Roger, Atlantis.

0:49:230:49:27

GREAT RUMBLING

0:49:510:49:56

Three miles out and more now. You can feel that in your chest.

0:49:560:50:00

It's a deafening roar.

0:50:020:50:04

Atlantis, go up, throttle up, no action, DPDT.

0:50:080:50:11

-Throttle up, no action, DPDT.

-Single engine Zaragoza. 104.

0:50:110:50:18

Two minutes after launch, the solid rocket boosters detach

0:50:180:50:21

and fall back to the sea.

0:50:210:50:22

-Negative return.

-Atlantis, negative return.

0:50:280:50:32

-MECO, MECO confirmed.

-Copy MECO.

0:50:350:50:38

Now standing by for external tank separation.

0:50:380:50:41

As she pushes through the earth's upper atmosphere,

0:50:410:50:44

Atlantis detaches from its external tank.

0:50:440:50:46

Chris, Doug, Sandy and Rex are in orbit.

0:50:490:50:53

Atlantis's final mission to the International Space Station

0:50:580:51:02

would last 13 days.

0:51:020:51:04

Atlantis, station on the big loop, we have you in sight.

0:51:040:51:07

We'll be there soon!

0:51:070:51:09

The crew deliver over four tonnes of food, water and equipment

0:51:090:51:13

that will allow the Space Station to be manned for another year.

0:51:130:51:17

In Houston, my friend Dan Tani is capcom,

0:51:200:51:23

the astronauts' connection to Earth.

0:51:230:51:25

Atlantis crew on the ISS, this is Houston, are you ready for the event?

0:51:250:51:29

What advice do you have for kids wanting to get into NASA

0:51:290:51:32

and get in the field?

0:51:320:51:34

I think our advice would be just to work really hard in school,

0:51:340:51:36

especially in science and math,

0:51:360:51:38

because that's very, very important in this business.

0:51:380:51:41

Sandy, Chris, could you guys turn a flip for us in zero gravity?

0:51:410:51:44

-I love it!

-There you go! I like the socks. Very nice.

0:51:480:51:52

America now want the commercial sector to take over

0:51:550:51:58

Space Station delivery runs,

0:51:580:52:00

freeing NASA to develop new spacecraft

0:52:000:52:02

to take humans beyond low Earth orbit.

0:52:020:52:05

Until then, astronauts travelling to the Space Station

0:52:050:52:08

will go on Russian vehicles.

0:52:080:52:10

NASA's vehicle assembly building is one of the largest structures

0:52:120:52:15

in the world,

0:52:150:52:17

but it now lies empty and with no immediate

0:52:170:52:20

successor to Shuttle, it's uncertain what will fill this void.

0:52:200:52:24

It's sort of eerie being here.

0:52:260:52:29

This place ordinarily, between missions, would have been a flurry

0:52:290:52:33

of activity while they processed a vehicle, but it's empty now.

0:52:330:52:37

And all of this huge, beautiful, specifically engineered infrastructure

0:52:370:52:41

is never going to be used to build a shuttle again.

0:52:410:52:47

After eight days aboard the Space Station,

0:52:490:52:51

Atlantis and her crew prepare to leave.

0:52:510:52:54

They still have to face the challenge of re-entry and landing.

0:52:540:52:58

We're glad to be heading home and we're happy to serve with you.

0:52:590:53:03

We'll see you again.

0:53:030:53:04

Thanks a million. We'll see you back home. Take care. Have a safe flight.

0:53:040:53:07

It's 5.45am, Kennedy Space Centre, and Atlantis is on her way.

0:53:080:53:13

Chris Ferguson has to wrestle with 100 tonnes of unpowered shuttle.

0:53:130:53:17

I know exactly what the view looks like from up there,

0:53:170:53:20

but this time it's for real.

0:53:200:53:21

They'll get one shot at the landing strip today.

0:53:210:53:23

This is where all that practice in the training aircraft

0:53:230:53:26

is going to pay off.

0:53:260:53:28

They really have to get down

0:53:280:53:29

and they only have one opportunity to do so.

0:53:290:53:31

Landing gear down and locked.

0:53:410:53:43

The last landing of Atlantis is perfect.

0:53:590:54:02

Nose gear touchdown.

0:54:040:54:06

And that's it.

0:54:080:54:09

30 years of Space Shuttle programme. As it comes to a halt there,

0:54:090:54:15

the whole thing comes to an end.

0:54:150:54:19

It's a difficult day for everyone, including someone I've known

0:54:410:54:44

for many years, Charlie Bolden, the head of NASA.

0:54:440:54:48

He's had to convince the world that it's the right time

0:54:480:54:51

-for Shuttle to come to an end.

-How you doing?

-Charlie.

-Good to see you.

0:54:510:54:55

-Great to see you.

-Fantastic, fantastic.

-Thanks for talking to me.

0:54:550:54:59

Do you think that we'll ever see a vehicle as complex

0:54:590:55:02

and as capable as a Space Shuttle again?

0:55:020:55:05

Shuttle is an incredible technological marvel,

0:55:050:55:08

but one of its drawbacks was its complexity,

0:55:080:55:12

and it is a vehicle that required

0:55:120:55:15

thousands, literally thousands of people just to prepare it for flight.

0:55:150:55:19

What we're going to do, hopefully, in the future,

0:55:190:55:22

is simplify the design, make them technologically superior,

0:55:220:55:26

so that it doesn't take an army of people to prepare a vehicle

0:55:260:55:31

and to fly it and to recover it.

0:55:310:55:32

But Charlie's also a former astronaut,

0:55:320:55:35

a veteran of four Shuttle missions.

0:55:350:55:38

This being Atlantis's last flight was really special for me.

0:55:380:55:41

Um...

0:55:410:55:44

CHOKING: This was the first Space Shuttle I commanded,

0:55:440:55:47

so that made it really special.

0:55:470:55:49

Um...

0:55:490:55:50

But as the administrator of NASA, my job is to do what don't do very well,

0:55:500:55:56

and that is to stand in front of people and try not to be emotional.

0:55:560:56:00

You've known me a long time,

0:56:000:56:02

and I'm just not a person who can not be emotional. I love these people.

0:56:020:56:07

I love the vehicles, I love the programme.

0:56:070:56:09

I love what they stand for.

0:56:090:56:11

The final Shuttle mission marks the end of an incredible era.

0:56:110:56:15

This week, NASA will let go of thousands of its brightest and best.

0:56:150:56:19

Like me, they got an opportunity to do the flying,

0:56:190:56:22

but we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the thousands,

0:56:220:56:25

literally tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands

0:56:250:56:27

of folk around the country who made all this possible.

0:56:270:56:31

-Toughest thing for you today?

-Yes, it is.

0:56:320:56:34

32 years ago, I was loaned to this building

0:56:340:56:37

for three weeks to work on the Shuttle.

0:56:370:56:41

32 years later, tomorrow I clear the last things off my desk

0:56:410:56:45

and I am no longer an employee of Kennedy Space Centre.

0:56:450:56:49

It's very sad.

0:56:490:56:50

What are people going to remember Shuttle for?

0:56:520:56:54

What is its legacy going to be?

0:56:540:56:56

All they have to do is go outside on a clear night at the right time

0:56:560:57:01

and they can see the Space Station go over.

0:57:010:57:03

It couldn't have been done without the Shuttle.

0:57:030:57:06

I hope it's remembered as the biggest, proudest icon of America.

0:57:080:57:15

I really do. Nobody else has done it.

0:57:150:57:17

I want to think that what we have done here,

0:57:200:57:25

what we have accomplished will lead to something equally as great

0:57:250:57:30

and I choose to look at it that way.

0:57:300:57:33

-Are you going to miss Shuttle?

-Sure, in a way.

0:57:360:57:40

But again, I have to look forward.

0:57:400:57:42

You can't spend time looking backwards, you got to look forwards.

0:57:420:57:46

So, for me, Shuttle is more than a machine, and having spent

0:57:460:57:50

a month in the company of the people who made it happen, I have

0:57:500:57:53

come to realise that its legacy is far richer than I ever imagined.

0:57:530:57:57

You know, it's not the science, or the engineering.

0:57:570:58:00

It's not the accidents, it's not even the Space Station.

0:58:000:58:03

Shuttle was always more than that.

0:58:030:58:06

It changed the way we saw the universe and inspired

0:58:070:58:10

everybody whose lives are touched, and he taught a generation to dream.

0:58:100:58:14

So that, for me, is its legacy. It is the bridge to all our futures.

0:58:140:58:20

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