Upbeat music.
We are here at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where a large team of engineers
and scientists are getting ready to launch the NPOESS Preparatory Project,
better known as the NPP satellite. It is the Nation's first attempt
to combine weather and climate observations on the same platform.
It's also here at Vandenberg where the NPP spacecraft is sitting on top
of Delta II rocket and we are going to take you inside, talk to the project scientist
about what this mission means and follow the engineers in their final steps
leading to countdown. What are the goals of the NPP mission?
James Gleason: We want to continue the scientific measurements that NASA satellites have been
making over the past decade and improved the
that will be used for weather forecasting. Malissa Reyes: What's special about launching
here from Vandenberg? James Gleason: Vandenberg is a very special place, it's
where we can do the polar orbiting launches, we can launch South
into a safe zone over the ocean. Malissa Reyes: Why a polar orbit?
view the entire Earth twice a day, which is very important for our measurements.
Malissa Reyes: Describe what we are seeing here in the tower. Michael Marosco: Ok the
building on the left is the Mobile Service
Tower or MST. It's a 177 feet tall
and its on wheels. Once the tower is retracted, you'll see the rocket
in all its glory. It's very exciting.
The building on the right is the fixed umbilical tower.
That provides the air conditioning, and other umbilicals over
to the vehicle that are required all the way through T0.
Malissa Reyes: What's going to be witnessed here on the ground after the count reaches zero?
Michael Marosco: Aaah, you see the engines ignite, the rocket lifts
off very quickly, after about two minutes, the rocket is pretty much out of sight.
It goes really quick. This is Mobile Service
Tower level 2. This is an 8-foot diameter tank.
The Delta II carries ten thousand gallons of RP-1 fuel.
So, this is what a ten thousand gallon fuel tank looks like.
We are standing now on the level C level of the Mobile
Service Tower. The forward end of the solid rocket motors.
They are 40-inch diameter and each solid motor is 42,5 feet long.
These solid motors each put out a
hundred thousand pounds of thrust. Underneath in the red blanket
is the rocket RS-27A main engine and that puts
out about 250 thousand pounds of thrust.
So, in this configuration at lift off
850 thousand pounds of thrust.
These motors will be jettisoned after about a minute and a half, two minutes of flight
and they will end up in the bottom of the ocean. Malissa Reyes: We are here outside the
Mission Director Center and we are joined by Jerry Nagy, the NPP Launch Operations
Manager from Goddard Space Flight Center and Jerry, what happens here on the day of
Jerry Nagy: Ok, well, this is really the hub of communication where
the various management organizations from United Launch Alliance,
NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and
Ball Aerospace will take inputs from all the people that are supporting the launch and give the
ok to actually launch the rocket. Malissa Reyes: How far are we from the tower right now?
Jerry Nagy: We are approximately 12 miles from the launch pad. Ken Schwer: This is where the entire launch
management team at the night of launch assembles. Each one of these
rows have what we call back rooms so we have people in
other parts of the facility in Vandenberg who are doing the engineering aspect of
what they are doing so this all feeds together, we integrate and as we get closer to
launch, each one of these groups has a person who says
Go! Malissa Reyes: So how do the people in this room prepare for launch day?
Ken Schwer: We actually have an event called a Mission Dress Rehearsal. So, we are all here, we have the countdown
script, and then there is a team that has developed simulated anomalies for us.
And each one of those groups needs to try to work through those and
get them back to a “go” criteria and then continue on. Tim Dunn: …it is fully operational
again. Malissa Reyes: So, the final Go! is given in this room? Ken Schwer: Yes,
the final Go! is given in this room. Malissa Reyes: How do you think it is going to feel for you
emotionally when you actually see that reaching into orbit? Ken Schwer: The safest
place for a satellite is in orbit. The emotions of making sure it's finally in its home,
it finally gets to do its job, it is hard to describe.
What makes the aerospace industry so exciting is that one day
a person can have a concept to meet our Nation's needs, which leads
to many dedicated people working for quite a few years
through the entire development until one day a satellite
like NPP is ready for launch.
Closing music.
Beep. Beep.