(Music)
Brian Norton, LSP Strategic Planner, NASA's Launch Services Program:
Each customer is different. They have different needs. They're looking for different things.
Diana Calero, Mission Manager, NASA's Launch Services Program:
It's really the people that are working together and the team that we form.
Shaqueena Lewis, Contracting Officer Representative, NASA's Launch Services Program:
Customers come to us - typically it's early in the process - and because we've launched
so many missions, we have a lot of historical data that we use. We use that information
and we analyze the data to give them the best cost estimate, knowing their requirements
at the time.
Paul Schallhorn, Chief, Environments and Launch Approval Branch, NASA's Launch Services Program:
LSP's investment in the special studies that we perform are aimed at increasing capabilities
of launch vehicles, better serving our customer, reducing their costs, and improving their
launch opportunities.
Mike Carney, Chief, Flight Analysis Division, NASA's Launch Services Program:
All of the disciplines in the division are involved, forming a mission assurance role
to make sure what we're getting from the launch service provider is correct.
Akash Vangani, Senior Fleet Systems Engineer, NASA's Launch Services Program:
We provide that mission assurance early on. We understand the risks. We mitigate those
risks to the greatest extent possible and we inform our customers. We want them to get
to the launch site, process their satellite, get on top of the vehicle and launch successfully.
NASA Launch Commentator: Main engine start, ignition and liftoff of the Atlas V with MAVEN.
David Mitchell, MAVEN Project Manager, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center:
Well, the great thing about working with KSC LSP is, as a project manager or a mission
manager on a spacecraft, you can work with a community down there that is well-versed
in all the opportunities matching with other organizations, launch service providers, work
from really the beginning to find a good match for your mission.
Mitchell: In a case of one of my missions I worked,
it was what they call a turn-key with an industry partner. So you are working more directly
with industry. For me personally, there's a level of comfort having LSP there with you,
working issues, because in my role as a project manager on the spacecraft side, I'm not the
expert in launch vehicle systems and readiness for launch. So it's always good to have them
there. When you've invested - in the case of MAVEN, I invested eight years of my life
getting to that point of launch day - and to have the professionalism which is KSC LSP,
working with the professionalism of ULA for the Atlas V in this case, it gave me great
comfort that we had the best position to succeed on this mission with those teams aligned together.
Amanda Mitskevich, Program Manager, NASA's Launch Services Program:
The LSP team considers customers more than just customers. We build a relationship over
the many years it takes to integrate a mission on a launch service. And together, we're ensuring
mission success.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden: This is Charlie Bolden. I just want to take
a moment to say how proud I am to be here with this team. What a great team we have
demonstrated that we are. In twelve days, you know, you all have turned from launching
a TDRS at Cape Canaveral to coming out here and launching LDCM all the way on the other
coast, and that is no small feat.
Suzanne Hilding, Director, NESDIS Office of Projects, Planning and Analysis, NOAA:
For our mission, they selected a new entrant vehicle. And from beginning to end, communication
was outstanding. The mission assurance task was more demanding, I believe, than in a regular
mission, and the adaptability and the flexibility that LSP demonstrated was also quite remarkable.
Mike Freilich, Director, Earth Science Division, NASA's Science Mission Directorate:
This really requires a specific engineering and programmatic expertise that not every
division in the Science Mission Directorate or every directorate at NASA could have. But
LSP has it and they apply it for all of NASA.
Hilding: I don't think there's any other organization
that has the years of experience. They go into the job of providing the launch vehicle
as though it is their satellite that is sitting on top of the launch vehicle. That sense of
ownership, that sense of responsibility and accountability, is tremendous. And that's
what sets them apart.
NASA Launch Commentator: Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket with Jason-3.
Sammy Kayali, Deputy Director for the Office of Safety and Mission Success, Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
We had a very good experience with the Launch
Services Program on the Juno mission. It is my advice to involve them early and involve
them often. It's very beneficial to have them by your side. They understand the process,
they understand the technology, they understand the implications, they understand the problems
that arise and can give very good advice and very beneficial advice to help you work your
problems and get you mission success.
NASA Launch Commentator: Liftoff of the Atlas V with Juno on a trek to Jupiter.
Innovative. Transparency. Flexible. Expertise.
Mark Wiese, Acting Chief, Flight Projects Office, NASA's Launch Services Program:
It's what LSP provides. It's what we're made
of. It's how our organization is set up. To make sure we understand every intricate part
about a launch vehicle, and the entire flow of marrying a spacecraft customer with the
right solution to get them to orbit. The universe is vast, and our science community has a lot
left to explore. And that drives us to remain world-class, so we can continue to be Earth's
bridge to space.
NASA Launch Commentator: And liftoff of the Atlas V with Curiosity, seeking clues to the
planetary puzzle about life on Mars.
Mitskevich: There's never really a prouder moment for
the LSP team than to be part of a successful mission for our customers, to see the science
returns, to actually be a part of the launch and part of the excitement that we see with
them. Our success is really intertwined with their success. And as we head towards the
future we're going to continually evolve in order to meet all of their needs and continue
to maximize their success.
Telemetry Officer: Eighteen degrees per second and we have MMS-1 separation.