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id="thebody" style="defaultCaption">Mike
Massimino: Hi, I'm Mike Massamino.
For the past few shuttle flights we've taken you behind the scenes to meet the crews as
they train for their flights and the people around the country who make those missions
fly.Mike Massimino: But there's a lot of footage that
we haven't shown you yet.
So we'd like to take you back to some of our recent flights, and introduce you to more
of the people who do everything at NASA.MM:
We hope you enjoy this episode of NASA, Behind the Scenes.MM:
We're here in the Mission Control Center.
You're supporting STS-131.
You're a 2-time Shuttle Commander, and 2-time Shuttle pilot.
So you've flown in space 4 times.
What were you doing today here with these guys?
What's going on?CJ Sturckow: So today I
was the asset entry Cap Com for STS-131 crew and we had way too many malfunctions Sim Supervisor
really hammered the crew, and the Mission Control Team with about eleven independent
failures.CJS: But, the team handled it well, and the crew
executed all of their procedures perfectly, so it was a good day.
We're handing over to the Orbit 2 Team.MM:
Right.CJS: And- and we're in good shape for our Orbit
Operations.
This is 1 of our final simulations though before the actual launch.<p begin="00:01:19.066"
end="00:01:24.000">MM: And you'll be here of course doing your job for the actual launch
as well as their Cap Com?CJS: For the actual launch
I'll be asset re-entry Cap Com, and then I'll be also their Cap Com for their- their orbit.
CJS: I'll be the Shuttle Orbit 1 Cap Com.
This works out extremely well because the 131 mission is very similar to the mission
we just flew on STS-128.
So-CJS: I'm familiar with all their tasks.<p begin="00:01:42.000"
end="00:01:43.633">MM: Right.CJS: Ready to support anything
that might come up with the mission and their crew.MM:
Alright.
And you mentioned failures.
When you've been- You've been on the flight deck for- As a commander and pilot for four
launches, and how many- do you know how many times you've been in here for a launch as
a Cap Com?CJS: I'm not exactly sure, but a lot of times,
yeah.MM: But a lot, right?
Okay.
So have you ever seen anything in flight that's like- I mean the sims are always worse than
the flight, right?CJS: Fortunately, the sims
are so far worse than the flight for the most part.
And that's a good thing.
CJS: But we do believe that practicing all these
malfunctions is useful training to get us ready.
It stresses the team, and the crew and it gets us ready for the real thing.<p begin="00:02:23.100"
end="00:02:26.000">CJS: We have had a few malfunctions for real.<p begin="00:02:25.700"
end="00:02:26.966">MM: Right.CJS: And so we were well
prepared to handle those.MM: Alright.<p begin="00:02:30.033"
end="00:02:36.500">CJS: But there is such a thing as excess and sometimes the sim suits
do get a little carried away, and we understand that.MM:
Alright, man.
I know you've got to go, but if you don't mind, you tell me some interesting stuff as
we would- Because as we were handing over you told me what was going on.<p begin="00:02:43.133"
end="00:02:54.733">MM: You were telling us about some of the cool stuff you've done earlier.
We were looking at the Shuttle flying over Baja, right?
In the sim and you mentioned at one point in your life you actually raced in Baja.<p
begin="00:02:54.366" end="00:03:00.400">CJS: I did.
I was on pit crew since I was about fifteen years old down there in Baja for the Good
Year pit crew.MM: Yeah.<p begin="00:03:01.066"
end="00:03:12.666">CJS: And then had the opportunity later on, I was part of a racing team, and
I was a driver, and I raced in the Baja 1000.
Racing the Baja 500 and some other races.CJS:
And then some other desert races in California and Arizona.
So it's always interesting to me when we fly overhead in the Space Shuttle to look down
there and see the places where we chewed up a little dirt down there.<p begin="00:03:22.200"
end="00:03:29.066">MM: Yeah.
Yeah.
Did that get you- now you flew F-18s, and then you flew Space Shuttles.<p begin="00:03:28.566"
end="00:03:29.900">CJS: I did.MM: I know you flew a lot
of other stuff too, but did that racing, you think, get you ready for what you were going
fast in those other vehicles?CJS: It did.
It did.
You know there's a lot of racers have to improvise, you know?
You have a plan for the race, but things always happen with the race cars, with the pits,
and so you have to improvise.CJS: And adapt and overcome.
So I think racing prepared me very well for service in the Marine Corps, and also for-
at NASA to fly on the Space Shuttle.MM:
Yeah.
Cool stuff, man.CJS: It's all good.<p
begin="00:03:59.600" end="00:04:00.966">MM: Alright.MM:
You're the Flight Director for this STS-131 crew.
What do you think of these guys and gals?
It's a mixed crew.
We've got guys and gals.Mike Sarafin: Crew Discovery
is awesome.
I'm looking forward to working with Dex and the rest of Discovery.
This is going to be one of the big logistics flights to round out Station before the end
of the Shuttle Program, and I know these guys are ready to go do it.<p begin="00:04:21.233"
end="00:04:24.966">MM: Alright, I know you went to Clarkson, and then did you come right
down here to work, or did you do something else?MS:
I- Well, I grew up on a dairy farm.MM:
Alright.MS: So, I guess I basically grew up into a job
there.
Family owned farm operation.MM: Yeah?
Were you supposed to stay there and work the farm?
MS: Yeah.MM:
And you're screwing around by coming over here?
Is that what happened?MS: My dad was mad as hell
when I told him I was going to engineering school.MM:
Really?
Yeah?MS: And my brother and I left the farm, and we
moved down here, but I went to engineering school at Clarkson.
Got a bachelors.MM: Yeah.<p begin="00:04:47.866"
end="00:04:52.566">MS: While I was there I did an internship with the Johnson Space Center
here in Houston.MM: Yeah.<p begin="00:04:53.000"
end="00:04:54.966">MS: Working on Shuttle Flight software.<p begin="00:04:54.533"
end="00:04:55.966">MM: That's pretty cool.MS:
And stuff.
Just kind of came down here and fell in love with the people and the work.
And it's been sixteen years.MM: Wow.
Wow.
And you said your brother.
Now, I know your brother is a diver out at the pool, right?
He works as a diver.
MS: Right.MM:
And he claims that you dragged him down here.
Is that true?MS: Ah, to make a long story short, I was looking
forward to coming down here.
And he was working as a auto mechanic in town.MM:
Yeah.
Alright.MS: And I basically said one day, "I got
the job offer," I went in at lunch time, and told him, "Hey, I'm going to Houston."
And I jokingly said, "I could use a room mate."MS:
And he came home at the end of the day and said, "I gave them my 2 weeks notice.
I'm going to Houston with you."MM:
Wow.MS: And we dumped that on our parents the same
day.MM: Yeah.MS:
They lost both their hired hands on the farm, and we moved to Houston.<p begin="00:05:40.200"
end="00:05:43.866">MM: I was- I was going to say, so both of you cut out on the farm.
So who is running the farm?MS: My parents sold it
in 1999, so they ran it themselves for six years.MM:
Oh, my goodness.MS: Yeah.
That's more than a full time job.MM: Yeah.<p begin="00:05:54.333"
end="00:05:56.400">MS: They live in town now.MM:
Where in town?MS: Richfield Springs,
New York.MM: Up in New York.
Okay.MS: It's like fourteen miles from Cooperstown.<p
begin="00:06:01.800" end="00:06:03.266">MM: Okay.MS:
In a small town, and they love it.Speaker 1: Thirty-two or
something like that, the flag anyway-MM:
What are you looking for?Dan Keenan: I'm looking
for a tile damage.MM: What's your name?<p
begin="00:06:26.833" end="00:06:30.500">MM: Ken Keenan?DK:
Dan Keenan.DK: Dan Keenan.MM:
Dan.
Dan Keenan.DK: Yeah.
I'm a tile guy.MM: A tile guy?<p begin="00:06:33.500"
end="00:06:34.966">DK: A TDS engineer.DK:
No, no, no.MM: Not- Not bathrooms?<p begin="00:06:34.800"
end="00:06:36.500">MM: You'd rather do bathrooms than these?DK:
These tiles.MM: Oh, that tile.
I just had the tile done in my kitchen.DK:
Oh, did you really?MM: Can you do that, too?<p
begin="00:06:40.766" end="00:06:42.133">DK: Ah, I can do that.
For you, I'll do it.MM: I know.<p begin="00:06:42.600"
end="00:06:45.633">MM: Ah, your a good man.
But no.
But what are you doing here, man?
What have you got going?DK: Actually, I'm looking-
See here's the problem, they all look the same.DK:
So now, I have to- I found one that had a little minor ding, and I'm trying to track
it down.MM: You can't find it?
Did you write down the number?DK: So I'm doing it geographically.
Okay.
It's right there or there- So-MM: Alright.
You've got to be smart for this job, Dan.
Think you'll find it?DK: No.
I know, I got through that hoop somehow.MM:
We've got plenty of film, if you've got-DK:
I've got good eyes.
I'll find it here shortly.DK: How was things?
How're things with you?MM: Oh, everything's good,
man.
I've got no complaints.DK: I'm glad to hear it.<p
begin="00:07:15.166" end="00:07:18.433">MM: I've got no complaints.
I hope you're finding the tile.
What are these guys doing over here, Dan?DK:
Let's go look.
Oh, they're- they pull the carrier panel off.
That's a-MM: What does he got?
What?DK: A carrier panel with bib on it.
Flexible insulation blanket.MM: Alright.
Where'd they get that from?DK: They pulled it off.<p
begin="00:07:30.633" end="00:07:32.233">MM: Were they supposed to do that?<p begin="00:07:31.933"
end="00:07:33.833">DK: No way.
This is- I'm going to have get on them.MM:
Alright.
What is it?DK: And they've got the papers, so.
And Terry White's here.
So, we should be good.MM: Terry- Oh, Terry's
the master.
I'm in a wheel well.DK: He is the man.
He's the mayor of this place.
At least I think so.MM: Alright so what-<p
begin="00:07:43.866" end="00:07:46.566">DK: What they did was they pulled it off right
here.MM: Oh, okay.
Yeah, why'd they do that?
What did they do, Terry?
What happened?Terry White: After we get
a lift the Orbiter, when we get into the OPF, that's the attachment right there.<p begin="00:07:56.733"
end="00:07:58.500">MM: You're kidding?
Is that right, Dan?DK: Yes, that's it.<p
begin="00:07:59.766" end="00:08:02.400">TW: So, actually we can lift it with the forklift,
but that that's where we attach it to the big side jacks.
MM: Yeah?MM:
That little hole right there?TW: That's where it attaches.<p
begin="00:08:04.533" end="00:08:08.233">TW: That's the same one we use.<p begin="00:08:05.266"
end="00:08:06.933">TW: Yeah, that's the same hole we use now.<p begin="00:08:06.333"
end="00:08:07.933">MM: I'm going to zoom in on that one.MM:
There's a guy right up- There's a guy going in there.
What's he looking for, birds?TW: He's got to inspect.<p
begin="00:08:11.266" end="00:08:14.866">MM: He's got to- he's looking.
There's a lot of inspecting.TW: Yeah, he's with NASA
Quality, he's going to inspect it before- before they put this in there, and then we'll
actually put the attachment on the jack into that to support the Orbiter for the next several
months while we work on it.MM: My goodness.
That's amazing.
How deep is that?TW: That's the same attachment.
That's the same attach point we use to lift it in the vertical assembly building.
MM: No kidding?TW:
Yeah.MM: So, that's pretty strong there, isn't it?<p
begin="00:08:36.900" end="00:08:39.533">TW: If you want- Do you want me to get you permission
to go up there and look at it?MM: Yeah, can I go up there
and look at it?
Look at that.
Hey, it looks good to me.
It looks good to me.
You check it off.MM: Look at that.
Climbing up on the Space Shuttle.
Can you imagine?
Look how cool this is.MM: You guys like doing
this stuff?Worker: Oh, yeah.TW:
Too many times you get to see all of it because of the structure.<p begin="00:09:01.566"
end="00:09:07.800">MM: No.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
What's going to happen now?
You guys are going to tow it.
Is that right?
It's going to get towed?TW: Correct.
Yes.MM: And then it's going to get picked up over
by the SLF there, right?TW: Yeah, we're just going
to tow it all the way into OPF 1.MM: Oh yeah.
It goes- does it go up on a- On that thing there?TW:
Nope.
It'll go in there, and then there's three floor lifts that will lift it hydraulically
to the maintenance height.
We'll attach it here.
And then we'll start disassembling from this flight, and getting the last of the astronauts'
effects out.TW: And the payload customers want their stuff
out.
And then we'll start gaining access to the vehicle to start taking- you've got to put
all the platforms in so we can take engines out and that.
So.MM: Alright.Traffic
Controller: Stop.
And that's it.MM: It's going so slow,
you know?
It went- a few hours ago it was going seventeen thousand, five hundred miles an hour.<p
begin="00:10:10.133" end="00:10:15.566">MM: And now it's just going- what?
It's crawling.
Three miles an hour?MM: It's crawling.
Well, there's Atlantis.
Now, how many miles it got on it?Woman Producer: I didn't
read the cheat sheet.MM: It's got like a lot.<p
begin="00:10:32.066" end="00:10:40.166">Man Producer: Before this flight, it had four
thousand, four hundred and fifty-one orbits, one hundred and fourteen million miles.<p
begin="00:10:36.600" end="00:10:41.933">MM: Yeah?
It's probably got almost one hundred and twenty now?Man
Producer: Right.
That'd be about right there.MM: Hundred- hundred and
nineteen.
Alright.
Wow.
Man Producer: This was, you know, prior to that
mission.MM: Alright.
Amazing.