1
00:00:00,010 --> 00:00:04,170
A day like any other brings the sun. But this

2
00:00:04,190 --> 00:00:08,350
is not a day like any other. It’s Day One of NASA’s Robotic

3
00:00:08,370 --> 00:00:12,530
Refueling Mission, or RRM. The action is on the

4
00:00:12,550 --> 00:00:16,700
International Space Station, but also on the ground. Aimed at developing

5
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,860
capabilities for servicing…even refueling…spacecraft on orbit,

6
00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,010
RRM is like doing precise surgery at a distance, doctor and

7
00:00:25,030 --> 00:00:29,150
patient separated by the void and vacuum of space. It’s tough…

8
00:00:29,170 --> 00:00:33,270
but the payoff is huge. No refueling on Day

9
00:00:33,290 --> 00:00:37,380
One, however. That’s Day Five. Today’s goal… unscrewing

10
00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,470
a mechanical cap. But first the team has to get through a locking

11
00:00:41,490 --> 00:00:45,550
wire. Ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and

12
00:00:45,570 --> 00:00:49,620
engineers using the high fidelity mock-up here at Maryland’s Goddard Space Flight

13
00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,660
Flight Center wait. Months of careful software development,

14
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,720
hardware design, and procedural rehearsals come to this. Then…

15
00:00:57,740 --> 00:01:01,900
snip. The tool cuts through, but one tiny

16
00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,080
end wiggles itself into a crazy position that could get in the way of unscrewing

17
00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:10,260
the fuel cap. A penny’s worth of wire could foul the whole

18
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,440
operation. Smart people get to work. And that’s the

19
00:01:14,460 --> 00:01:18,630
point of RRM: test, test, test…and learn everything

20
00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:22,810
possible from what happens next. Once flying,

21
00:01:22,830 --> 00:01:26,990
satellites are uncooperative creatures, and learning how to tame them in space

22
00:01:27,010 --> 00:01:31,160
takes patience and wit. Soon that pesky wire gets nudged

23
00:01:31,180 --> 00:01:35,300
, and the team goes in for the grapple. Contact…