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[music]

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>>It's gonna be a straight FORCAST removal today,
usual procedure, I think the biggest difference

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is the fact that we're right out here on the
flight ramp, and we're using the cargo truck

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with the canopy on it. We'll do the un-cableing,
then after that we're ready for the instrument

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removal. Then after that, they'll rotate to
17, take off the counter-weight rack, and

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take out the PI rack. The HIPO PI rack pallet
is gonna go in the number three position.

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>>Today we are swapping a science instrument
on the telescope. We are actually exchanging

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the FORCAST instrument with the HIPO instrument
and FLITECAM instrument that mounts with it,

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in preparation for observing a Pluto occultation
event in a few more days. The entire instrument

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exchange begins with disconnecting the electrical
cables of the science instruments, and then

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unbolting it from the telescope flange, and
then reversing that whole process. We do this

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quite often, but this is the first time we've
done it in New Zealand.

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[music/background work]

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>>This is FLITECAM.

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FLITECAM is the First Light TEst Experiment
CAMera for SOFIA. It's a near infrared imager

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and spectrometer that looks at light from
one to five and a half microns.

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>>HIPO is an optical instrument. It's designed to observe occultations of stars by planets.

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>>FLITECAM could look at the occultation alone, but we've got a special advantage when we can co-mount

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with HIPO, because we see different wavelengths
of light.

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>>When we mount them together they're called the FLIPO configuration.

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>>Every science
instrument has a different weight, and the

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shape is also different, so they have a different
center of mass as well. So every time we put

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on a new science instrument, we have to balance
the telescope again. Every science instrument,

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again, needs a different button. Some science
instruments use that button to calibrate,

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some just need it to get rid of some stray
light.

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>>FLITECAM is plugged into the MCCS IRIG-B

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signal, and that's working.

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>>Thank you very
much, Ted. FLITECAM, confirm you are receiving

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GPS data?

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>> Yes.

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>>I see nothing wrong over here.

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>>It takes a lot of teamwork to get everything

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ready to go, to get these instruments ready
to fly, but everyone pulled together and did

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a really good job.

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>>The functional check is
complete, and I'm gonna say everything is go for flight.

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>>I think everyone's excited
at this point, at least I'm excited at this

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point. We've all worked really hard and prepped
really well, and I think it's gonna be a great