Music
NARRATOR: NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is home to three of the most high-tech garages
in the world . . . where some of the most skilled and dedicated technicians ready a spaceship
for amazing adventures and huge cranes move tons of cargo into place.
Wayne Bingham - United Space Alliance: "I spent my life here. This is pretty much my career.
Working on the spacecraft, launching the spacecraft, remodeling or updating spacecraft."
NARRATOR: They're officially called orbiter processing facilities, but often go by OPFs, bays,
or hangars. Since 1979, space shuttles have spent about two-thirds of their time inside the
custom-built, 29,000-square-foot buildings. It starts with a short tow from Kennedy's Shuttle
Landing Facility following a mission and some careful maneuvering to pull the spacecraft in
just right. Then, platforms and a main access bridge surround the shuttle like a glove.
Wayne Bingham: ?Each high bay has a footprint of the orbiter, and when it rolls in, it has to
fit to that footprint. And the reason it fits that footprint is we jack-and-level it and take
it to what we call 'maintenance height' and all those platforms then interact.
And we try to keep those platforms within a maximum distance can be 6-8 inches, but a minimum
distance of 4 inches. So, as these platforms flip down or raise up, we need at least a 4-inch
clearance all the way around the spacecraft.?
NARRATOR: During the first couple of days inside the bays, tech?nicians drain hazardous fuels,
dry the engines and open the door panels to gain access. Then, they remove the previous
mission?s payload. Next, it?s on to about three month?s worth of work to check the heat shield
tiles, swap out the space shuttle main engines, and assess the vehicle?s structural,
mechanical and electrical integrity. It's all extremely detailed work that requires quite the
team effort.
Mike Leinbach - NASA Shuttle Launch Director: "We do virtually the same testing and checkout
and work on the three orbiters, but, each team has its own feel and it?s really created at
the leadership of the team from the flow director on the NASA side and the flow manager on the
USA side. They set the tone for their team much like a commander sets a tone for a mission."
Wayne Bingham: "And, we all think we're the best, which is good. And it keeps everyone in a
competitive spirit and keeps everybody on their toes."
NARRATOR: Columbia was the first shuttle to occupy one of these processing hangars after
arriving from its assembly plant in Palmdale, California, atop a 747 carrier aircraft in March
1979. It didn't journey out of the OPF and to the Vehicle Assembly Building until
November 1980- more than a year and a half later.
Mark Barnes - United Space Alliance: "So, what we were doing in bay 1 was we were taking the
thermal tiles off of Columbia that were installed at the plant in Palmdale, California, and we
were bringing them into bay 2 and running them through the back shop densification process and
then reapplying them to Columbia."
NARRATOR: At their disposal today are 30-ton bridge cranes with hooks at 66 feet high for
lifting operations . Communications rooms, offices and supervisory control
rooms complete the facilities.
Mark Barnes: "Then we keep the temperature very, very moderate. Couple reasons for that,
mostly it's for the hardware. The workers benefit from that obviously during the summer months,
it's nice working in here versus outside."
NARRATOR: The comfortable environment, meant to protect the shuttle hardware from corrosion,
is a clean one, too. Everyone who works inside lives by very strict house rules that begin
with foreign object debris training and orbiter access clerks who log everything that goes in
and out- and it ends with daily and weekly walkdowns of the shuttle.
Jim Bolton - NASA Vehicle Manager: "Something as innocuous as a staple, which we don't allow on
the paper products out here, but a staple in the crew module just finds a place and it rests.
Well, during launch vibrations, during the zero gravity, that staple could move around and it
could create an electrical short."
NARRATOR: On occasion, OPF workers get to put their hands on the spacecraft or payloads flying
aboard a shuttle, specifically those processed in a horizontal position. And sometimes
they have to troubleshoot issues or replace crucial sys?tems . . . but not without informing
the astronauts who will be strapped aboard traveling about 17,500 miles per hour into space.
Dan Johnson - United Space Alliance: "We try to keep them tied in, or just communicate the
problems that we've had and it's just a way to maintain rapport just so they know, well we
replaced this box or we troubleshot and changed out this component so they understand.
Especially if it was an in-flight anomaly from a previous mission, they know we addressed it
and she's ready to fly."
Rex Walheim - Astronaut: "It's just been a pleasure. I love the space program and I know they
love the space program every bit. And they are all so detail oriented and so meticulous and
precise and they won't let something go that's substandard. I've known that and absolutely
trust their work implicitly and I'm very, very proud to be associated with everyone of them."
NARRATOR: That implicit trust could stem from the personal re?lationship each OPF worker
develops with their shuttle while working in a bay.
Wayne Bingham: "You get to identify with the orbiter. You spend time with it,
or you spend time with the spacecraft and what you find is it takes on its own personality.
And you become attached to it. You actually walk around sometimes and talk to it.
You know, 'you got to be good today, you can't break, you gotta do this test, we gotta do it on
time, so you've got to perform.' And, you know, people look at you who are outside the
business and think you're crazy. But in reality, it's just the niche that you develop with the
spacecraft."