Yes. He said Omar Baez sitting right next to me here. You know, he teamed up with your fellow
launch director, Tim Dunn, to launch SWAT today. How did the launch go from your perspective?
Oh, the launch was perfect. I can't find anything wrong with it. The count went really smooth. The
weather cooperated. The instrumentation downrange worked fantastic. And the team worked through
observations and stuff. Tick tock. And we made it to the beginning of the window.
Yeah. And you said that you watched the launch from
inside, but you did run out to see the booster landing, and that was awesome, you said.
Yeah, a lot of people always asked me, you know, you have the luckiest job in the world.
You get to see all these launches. Yeah, I get to see them through a TV set. But this
time I took the opportunity to go outside after it launched and actually watched the
booster land. And that was spectacular with the weather today here in California.
Yeah, that's cool. So counting SWAT, how many missions have you had as launch
director with NASA's Launch Services Program? Oh, boy, counting SWAT. So it's easier if I if I
look at how many countdowns I've been through. Okay.
And I could say it's north of 300. Oh, my gosh.
And, and that's in my career. I've been doing this for going on 33 years.
And we're taking a trip down memory lane because SWAT is your last mission before you retire.
That's right. So how was today knowing the finality of it?
Oh, it was cool. It was, I was relaxed and I'm going to miss it. But it's time for me to go
and move on to other stuff. So yeah, I'm going to miss it. I had one of the best jobs in the
world and I've been doing this particular function for the last 21 years. And I've been telling you,
it's the luckiest and nicest position to be in within the LSP program.
And uh, and I just loved it. And getting back to the numbers. Yeah. You know, whenever we do
a launch, there's also a rehearsal or a tanking test or whatever. So if I look at it countdowns,
north of 300. If I look at LSP, well, we did 101 and I did a majority of them. And as the Prime
Launch Director, Tim added it up earlier, it was 41 for me, something like 30 for Chuck Dovale,
who retired six months ago, and then Tim's done about 21 of them, maybe 22 today after SWAT.
You have too much experience. You're not allowed to go. I know you said you're ready. We're not
ready to let you go. And actually, we have some of your colleagues --they wanted to
surprise you with this video of some of your highlights from your career.
And joining us here in the broadcast booth is Omar Baez, NASA launch director for today's liftoff.
It's another great launch for the Launch Services Program. This one's been a long time. And coming.
And I'm glad that we were able to get this payload up in orbit and in a safe condition.
This is very simple. The simpler you people, the better, exciting.
Exciting, and the team is jubilant from what I can see in the control room.
They’re super excited to be launching the last Atlas V from the West Coast.
I personally was fortunate to be a part of all the rovers on Mars. It
does have a special place in my heart,
and it's cool that it's not just us in our nation, it's the whole world going to another world.
This is stuff that's good for the global community. So this will be good for all of us.
There's a fun launch. In my operational function, this this is about as good as it gets.
The anxiety level is higher, the adrenaline's flowing, but what a cool way to fly.
It's all a team sport and we're all ready to go.
The guys really worked hard through the day yesterday and into the night,
but all is going well, and Delta performed nominally. Just a perfect flight today,
and we're right on it. There's a challenge and a penalty that goes with doing these things,
and I've seen the team react and overcome all of that and it makes me very proud.
We got off on the first opportunity at 10:02 in the morning, looked great.
The weather cooperated with us, and the upper level winds cooperated with us. So,
the vehicle was perfect, the spacecraft was perfect, the range instrumentation
worked great, couldn't ask for better. And all the stations on the NLM net,
this is the NLM with our final launch readiness poll. Launch vehicle, spacecraft,
and range are reporting green. Yes, at this point that means that
we can bring to a conclusion our coverage today. This is Atlas launch Control.
Conclusion. Wow!
How are you feeling?
A lot of memories there. I can't leave. Yes, that video did what we wanted it
to do, which was to convince you to stay. No. That was beautiful. Thanks everybody,
for putting that together. I know it took some work to do that and that was beautiful.
A lot of memories there. And, you know, that's our family, the traveling circus.
You know, just to know that you played such a role in so many historical missions and
made such great friends throughout the way , to call them a family,
you'll be missed. Absolutely, Omar, you’ll be missed.
And I'll miss them. That's you know, this job takes a lot out of you because of the travel.
We're out here doing a launch or we're out in Kwajalein doing a launch here. I'm in DC or
Denver or something. So, there's a there's a price you pay for this. It's a very rewarding job.
But, you know, it's time for me to retire and maybe go do some
of those things I missed out on. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Again, hard to see you
to leave, but you definitely deserve a wonderful retirement. We wish you all the best, Omar.
Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, guys, back to you.