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i'm joined right now by one of our

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mission controllers here in houston uh

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iss ground controller bill foster bill

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thank you so much for being here with me

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today well thank you for having me dan a

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real honor i've heard you called an icon

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of mission control and i know that gc

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you guys are kind of the gatekeepers to

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everything that goes on here so why

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don't you tell me you know how did you

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get that title okay well the ground

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control is just like you said it's the

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gatekeeper we're the the representative

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to the flight director for all the

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functioning of the mission control

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center and for the network

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so we work with people within the

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building our engineering support

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maintenance support

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backroom operations people

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to control the data flow through the

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building make sure the equipment's up

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running

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everything from the the front end

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processors to the bathrooms you know

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we're responsible to make sure the

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entire building is working properly

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uh we also work with people at the

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network at goddard space flight center

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white sands complex

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some of the ground stations around the

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country

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to ensure that we have data flowing

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through the space network the tdrs

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satellites so that we can communicate

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with the space station or other

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spacecraft

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and

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you know make sure everything is working

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properly okay and i mean that's that's

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something that a lot of people don't

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always recognize where it's not just you

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know the people in this room are not the

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only part of mission control there are

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people in back rooms all over this

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building and other centers you know

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other states even even other countries

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and you're kind of tying them all

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together that's correct uh last two

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nights i've been working at the ground

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control console in this room and we're

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dealing with people in in

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germany in moscow

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in japan

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the canadian space agency we're dealing

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with people all over we've got the

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marshall space flight center which is

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our primary payload operations center

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for all the science that goes on with

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the space station so

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yeah if they have a problem with

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anything dealing with getting data to

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them then it's our responsibility as the

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ground controllers to coordinate

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whatever effort is necessary to resolve

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that problem and i know you guys have a

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really integral role and actually the

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the communication between the people

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here on the ground and

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everyone up in space you guys are kind

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of you know holding all the keys to who

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gets to

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talk to the astronauts while they're up

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there you have to do all the

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communication flips and things like that

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talk a little bit about that that's

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correct we have one of our backroom

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positions known as the houston comm tech

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controls the space to ground loops that

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let us talk to the crew

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if we need to set up for a private

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medical conference or family conference

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then it's our comm tech that coordinates

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with the the

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medical people and in terms of getting

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the right phone calls patched in and

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then at the time that the conference

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starts

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moving it into a private area so that

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the only people hearing that are the two

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parties involved the medical or the

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family and the crew

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now we also

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secure the space to grounds when the

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crew goes to sleep so we don't

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inadvertently send something up to them

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and wake them up that's never a popular

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thing to do

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although i remember several years ago

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we were doing some testing in here and i

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actually did set a a test message up

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during crew sleep

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that you get some attention when you do

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that but they weren't too happy oh no

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okay well um

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that kind of covers our day-to-day now

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uh as a gc you're kind of integral in

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the role of not only maintaining but

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also you know looking ahead towards the

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future and i understand you're getting

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heavily involved with mission control's

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role in the upcoming orion test flight

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eft one that's correct um

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before

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shuttle ended i spent most of my time

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down there working launch and landing

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for the last

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13 14 years for all the space shuttle

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missions

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and now that it's retired

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the room that we

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used to support shuttle from is being

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primarily used for testing but it will

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come back into a mission support mode in

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2014 when we do the eft-1 flight

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right now we're working with lockheed

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martin out of denver who is the the

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company that's building the orion

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capsule

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and they're they're managing all of the

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the flights for nasa

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uh eft one is

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again

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we think going to go up in the april

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2014 time frame

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eventually orion will launch on the new

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space launch system the sls that nasa is

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building but for this flight

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they're

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um buying the services from

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united launch associations delta iv out

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of cape canaveral so it'll launch on a

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delta iv it'll make two orbits of the

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earth

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on the second orbit it will

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um

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for its reentry burn it will actually

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go up into a highly elliptical

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orbit going up to about 3 600 miles

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and this is the farthest we've sent

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anything intended for human you know

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occupation since the the days of apollo

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that's correct the last time we had

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people up that high and of course there

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won't be there will not be people on

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this particular mission but the last

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time we've sent a spacecraft designed

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for humans up that high was the apollo

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17 mission and the reason we're sending

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it up that high is so that when it

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re-enters it's coming in it'll be coming

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in at about

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20 000 miles an hour not quite the

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apollo speeds but close enough that we

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can get a good test

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of the heat shield and control of the

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capsule to make sure that

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the design is correct and those speeds

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are something that you experience when

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you do go out much further that's

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correct when you're just in low earth

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orbit they come in about 17 500 so

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coming back from the moon you're going

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well over 20 000 miles right now around

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25 000 miles

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when you're coming back from the moon so

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it's it's it's close it's closer than

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what you experienced you know from low

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earth orbit

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okay well why don't you tell me a little

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bit about what you guys are doing uh to

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to prepare for this test flight and kind

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of

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uh

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i mean you you mentioned that the old

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shuttle mission control room is kind of

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being converted over for testing and

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it's going to be used for this flight

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what's actually going to be happening in

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that room what kind of data are you guys

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going to be tracking from there and you

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know what's your role going to be okay

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um for for eft one

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we're there's a couple of things going

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on one we're trying to do at this the

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lowest cost possible

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because there's not a lot of budget

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right now so we're going to be using

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many of the same systems we use to

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support shuttle now we are using a

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different front-end processor a

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commercial application from harris

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corporation called comet so one of the

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things the gcs are doing is we're trying

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to understand how to operate that it's

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it's different from what we've done in

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the past

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and

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we're holding weekly data flows in the

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white figure the white flight control

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room which is the old shuttle room

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where we're basically just trying to

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learn how to operate the system how to

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flow data how to run simulations as we

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get a little bit closer to the mission

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we're going to be doing end-to-end

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testing with

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an orion test rig up in denver also with

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the orion capsule when it moves to ksc

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it'll be in the operation and checkout

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building for several months and we'll

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flow data between that in here

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so you know basically just coming up to

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speed on what we need to do and the rest

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of the flight control team that will be

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supporting are developing display so

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while we're flowing data

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into the the new system

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they can be down in the room building

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displays so that they can you know have

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the right insight into the vehicle

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during the test

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okay we just showed a few a few views

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that you were just seeing now uh we're

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in that old shuttle mission control the

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white ficker as it's known around here

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and uh are they running kind of a

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simulation today i mean up on the screen

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you can see kind of models of uh

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of that eft one launch vehicle that's

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correct uh we we do have that running

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now the the models or the the graphics

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up there are not in sync with the data

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but we like to put that up just to give

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a little bit of a flavor of what we're

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doing and the more familiar we are with

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what the mission profile is then the

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better we're going to be able to support

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it

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now the data we're flowing today is from

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a a simulator

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that's built into the workstations

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that basically just generates the

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basic onboard status during different

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mission phases

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okay uh well then aside from you know

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all these upgrades being done to the

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white figure i know that uh miss control

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is kind of in a 21st century

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revolutionary stage right now where you

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guys are looking to kind of you know

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upgrade everything

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that we're operating on i mean i know

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recently in this room we just got our

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new uh device systems so replacing some

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of the old

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uh divas which i mean how long have we

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been using the divas deepest that's the

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digital voice interface subsystem it

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came on the floor in 1993 originally it

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replaced the old viz system voice

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interface subsystem which was hard push

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buttons and a rotary dial phone

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which is it's kind of funny when

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tourists come in here because up on the

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third floor of the building we we have

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preserved the apollo control room

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then

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in that room we have the old viz key

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sets in so when when kids come through

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there they look at this round thing with

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holes in it and have no clue what it's

283
00:09:18,630 --> 00:09:17,200
for

284
00:09:20,630 --> 00:09:18,640
and then once you explain it to them

285
00:09:22,150 --> 00:09:20,640
it's funny just saying you know

286
00:09:23,990 --> 00:09:22,160
go ahead try and dial your phone number

287
00:09:26,150 --> 00:09:24,000
and after about three or four numbers

288
00:09:30,389 --> 00:09:26,160
they get fed up and quit

289
00:09:32,550 --> 00:09:30,399
but yeah so divas came in in 1993 it was

290
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originally designed to last about seven

291
00:09:37,030 --> 00:09:34,240
to ten years

292
00:09:39,670 --> 00:09:37,040
we've gone way beyond that time frame

293
00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:39,680
the device digital voice interface

294
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communication equipment i think

295
00:09:44,470 --> 00:09:43,440
is what that stands for

296
00:09:46,790 --> 00:09:44,480
um

297
00:09:49,430 --> 00:09:46,800
has been on the drawing boards for many

298
00:09:51,590 --> 00:09:49,440
years it's it's a commercial product as

299
00:09:53,590 --> 00:09:51,600
opposed to divas which was

300
00:09:55,430 --> 00:09:53,600
custom designed and built by ford

301
00:09:56,150 --> 00:09:55,440
aerospace back when they controlled the

302
00:09:58,230 --> 00:09:56,160
the

303
00:10:00,870 --> 00:09:58,240
control center

304
00:10:02,310 --> 00:10:00,880
but it's almost completely

305
00:10:04,790 --> 00:10:02,320
integrated into the building now we're

306
00:10:06,949 --> 00:10:04,800
still pulling out a few old divas key

307
00:10:09,030 --> 00:10:06,959
sets and installing some device key sets

308
00:10:10,949 --> 00:10:09,040
and some of the back rooms that aren't

309
00:10:13,269 --> 00:10:10,959
currently being used but as far as all

310
00:10:16,710 --> 00:10:13,279
the operational areas

311
00:10:18,150 --> 00:10:16,720
we've moved over to device so it's it's

312
00:10:19,430 --> 00:10:18,160
interesting getting used to it its

313
00:10:21,269 --> 00:10:19,440
characteristics are a little bit

314
00:10:22,790 --> 00:10:21,279
different than the diva so we're all

315
00:10:24,710 --> 00:10:22,800
going through growing pains with that

316
00:10:26,949 --> 00:10:24,720
but it's it offers a lot of capability

317
00:10:28,310 --> 00:10:26,959
but yeah but again we're we're upgrading

318
00:10:29,670 --> 00:10:28,320
you know we're working on the new

319
00:10:31,750 --> 00:10:29,680
technology what are some of the other

320
00:10:32,870 --> 00:10:31,760
you know 21st century innovations you

321
00:10:34,630 --> 00:10:32,880
guys are going to be looking to

322
00:10:36,310 --> 00:10:34,640
implement down the road yeah the the

323
00:10:38,550 --> 00:10:36,320
buzzword going on within mission

324
00:10:42,230 --> 00:10:38,560
operations directed is the 21 projects

325
00:10:45,910 --> 00:10:42,240
we have mcc 21 training systems 21 and

326
00:10:48,310 --> 00:10:45,920
user apps 21 all integrated together to

327
00:10:50,389 --> 00:10:48,320
give us a framework to move into the

328
00:10:53,350 --> 00:10:50,399
future programs

329
00:10:55,110 --> 00:10:53,360
at lower cost more capability a lot more

330
00:10:56,310 --> 00:10:55,120
automation

331
00:10:59,030 --> 00:10:56,320
right now

332
00:11:00,790 --> 00:10:59,040
the original iss control room down the

333
00:11:03,509 --> 00:11:00,800
hall from here has been outfitted with

334
00:11:04,790 --> 00:11:03,519
new consoles new displays

335
00:11:06,550 --> 00:11:04,800
and

336
00:11:09,190 --> 00:11:06,560
they're using that as a prototype

337
00:11:10,710 --> 00:11:09,200
environment to work up

338
00:11:12,949 --> 00:11:10,720
where we're going from here it's it's

339
00:11:14,710 --> 00:11:12,959
going to be another couple of years

340
00:11:15,670 --> 00:11:14,720
before it's fully integrated within the

341
00:11:17,350 --> 00:11:15,680
building

342
00:11:20,310 --> 00:11:17,360
but when we get there we're going to

343
00:11:22,389 --> 00:11:20,320
have various front room control

344
00:11:24,150 --> 00:11:22,399
facilities such as this room the the

345
00:11:25,750 --> 00:11:24,160
flight control room number one that iss

346
00:11:28,230 --> 00:11:25,760
runs out of

347
00:11:29,829 --> 00:11:28,240
the white ficker and the blue ficker

348
00:11:32,470 --> 00:11:29,839
blue flight control room which is the

349
00:11:34,550 --> 00:11:32,480
old iss room we're also going to build

350
00:11:35,590 --> 00:11:34,560
in what were some of our back room areas

351
00:11:37,910 --> 00:11:35,600
we're going to build what we call

352
00:11:39,750 --> 00:11:37,920
operation suites which are like smaller

353
00:11:40,870 --> 00:11:39,760
versions of a control room

354
00:11:43,269 --> 00:11:40,880
and we're going to make all this

355
00:11:45,910 --> 00:11:43,279
available not only for nasa programs

356
00:11:47,990 --> 00:11:45,920
supporting with the orion program and

357
00:11:49,430 --> 00:11:48,000
other projects that come up but also

358
00:11:51,590 --> 00:11:49,440
make it available for commercial

359
00:11:53,190 --> 00:11:51,600
customers to come in and and

360
00:11:54,790 --> 00:11:53,200
use the facilities

361
00:11:56,710 --> 00:11:54,800
so it's it's a

362
00:11:59,910 --> 00:11:56,720
it's a sort of a bold initiative that's

363
00:12:01,269 --> 00:11:59,920
going on and i think if i heard right

364
00:12:03,110 --> 00:12:01,279
y'all are going to be covering some of

365
00:12:04,790 --> 00:12:03,120
that in the in the near future showing

366
00:12:06,790 --> 00:12:04,800
some of the consoles and things i

367
00:12:08,470 --> 00:12:06,800
believe we are planning on showcasing so

368
00:12:10,310 --> 00:12:08,480
i mean it is really exciting to work

369
00:12:11,990 --> 00:12:10,320
anytime we get to you know show off

370
00:12:14,069 --> 00:12:12,000
whatever new systems are controlling our

371
00:12:15,430 --> 00:12:14,079
spacecraft yes and i mean that's what

372
00:12:18,790 --> 00:12:15,440
this room's doing

373
00:12:20,389 --> 00:12:18,800
and now bill again as as a gcu you've

374
00:12:21,829 --> 00:12:20,399
been exposed to a lot of the different

375
00:12:24,069 --> 00:12:21,839
not only the systems but also the

376
00:12:25,670 --> 00:12:24,079
culture here inside of mission control

377
00:12:27,910 --> 00:12:25,680
the culture in the in the mcc is

378
00:12:30,870 --> 00:12:27,920
something that's that's very unique the

379
00:12:32,629 --> 00:12:30,880
way we do business the way we train

380
00:12:34,069 --> 00:12:32,639
the the hours that we put in is

381
00:12:36,230 --> 00:12:34,079
something that you don't see in a lot of

382
00:12:38,230 --> 00:12:36,240
places

383
00:12:39,990 --> 00:12:38,240
if you look around the room you'll see a

384
00:12:41,430 --> 00:12:40,000
lot of plaques on the wall

385
00:12:43,350 --> 00:12:41,440
the whole tradition of hanging the

386
00:12:44,790 --> 00:12:43,360
plaques and then

387
00:12:47,030 --> 00:12:44,800
what that means

388
00:12:48,870 --> 00:12:47,040
is part of the culture you walk into the

389
00:12:49,750 --> 00:12:48,880
apollo control room

390
00:12:51,430 --> 00:12:49,760
and

391
00:12:53,350 --> 00:12:51,440
you know you can just fill the history

392
00:12:55,750 --> 00:12:53,360
that's there you can almost still see

393
00:12:57,269 --> 00:12:55,760
the smoke hanging from the ceiling

394
00:13:00,069 --> 00:12:57,279
back when they used to smoke here and

395
00:13:03,509 --> 00:13:00,079
then they used a we used a system called

396
00:13:07,430 --> 00:13:03,519
pneumatic tubes to move paperwork around

397
00:13:09,430 --> 00:13:07,440
and that was part of the the 1960s email

398
00:13:11,110 --> 00:13:09,440
right the bet if you wanted to print out

399
00:13:12,710 --> 00:13:11,120
you pushed a button on your console it

400
00:13:14,470 --> 00:13:12,720
went to a printer in another part of the

401
00:13:16,870 --> 00:13:14,480
building and about two minutes later it

402
00:13:18,069 --> 00:13:16,880
popped up at your console in a in a

403
00:13:20,550 --> 00:13:18,079
p-tube

404
00:13:23,590 --> 00:13:20,560
so kind of an interesting thing though

405
00:13:25,590 --> 00:13:23,600
one of the big cultural aspects

406
00:13:27,990 --> 00:13:25,600
of this is is our flight directors from

407
00:13:30,550 --> 00:13:28,000
the very beginning with chris kraft they

408
00:13:33,590 --> 00:13:30,560
picked names for their teams and chris

409
00:13:36,470 --> 00:13:33,600
craft was known as red flight he had the

410
00:13:40,310 --> 00:13:38,870
gene kranz became white flight you know

411
00:13:41,990 --> 00:13:40,320
from apollo 13

412
00:13:43,990 --> 00:13:42,000
fame if you saw the movie and he saw him

413
00:13:46,310 --> 00:13:44,000
in his white vest you know he he always

414
00:13:47,990 --> 00:13:46,320
wore the colors of his team

415
00:13:49,990 --> 00:13:48,000
john hodge was blue flight those were

416
00:13:52,870 --> 00:13:50,000
the first three flight directors

417
00:13:54,230 --> 00:13:52,880
and as others came online glen lunny was

418
00:13:55,269 --> 00:13:54,240
black flight and

419
00:13:57,829 --> 00:13:55,279
dumb

420
00:14:00,069 --> 00:13:57,839
they eventually ran out of useful colors

421
00:14:03,030 --> 00:14:00,079
to do so they they started picking

422
00:14:05,670 --> 00:14:03,040
either constellations or just something

423
00:14:07,750 --> 00:14:05,680
that was symbolic to what they are

424
00:14:09,829 --> 00:14:07,760
and a few years ago

425
00:14:11,750 --> 00:14:09,839
working with them i started designing

426
00:14:12,790 --> 00:14:11,760
some emblems to go along with their team

427
00:14:13,670 --> 00:14:12,800
names

428
00:14:15,829 --> 00:14:13,680
and

429
00:14:18,470 --> 00:14:15,839
have gotten to the point where i've got

430
00:14:20,310 --> 00:14:18,480
pretty much a emblem design for

431
00:14:22,629 --> 00:14:20,320
all the active flight directors and even

432
00:14:23,990 --> 00:14:22,639
a few of the past ones

433
00:14:26,230 --> 00:14:24,000
and i think you may have some that you

434
00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:26,240
can show for i think we do we have uh

435
00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:28,480
atlas flight here yeah atlas flight is

436
00:14:32,470 --> 00:14:30,880
paul hill he's the head of the mission

437
00:14:34,150 --> 00:14:32,480
operations

438
00:14:36,230 --> 00:14:34,160
directorate right now

439
00:14:39,269 --> 00:14:36,240
and he wanted his emblem to look a lot

440
00:14:41,829 --> 00:14:39,279
like the mod emblem

441
00:14:46,550 --> 00:14:43,750
so that was that was a fun one to build

442
00:14:47,910 --> 00:14:46,560
had had a lot of help from mike kuda

443
00:14:50,150 --> 00:14:47,920
a friend of mine that used to work at

444
00:14:53,430 --> 00:14:50,160
star trek and getting that one designed

445
00:14:55,110 --> 00:14:53,440
carbon flight and then zeiss

446
00:14:57,750 --> 00:14:55,120
that was a fun one to work on coming up

447
00:14:59,509 --> 00:14:57,760
with the sort of the carbon ball type

448
00:15:01,189 --> 00:14:59,519
background

449
00:15:03,590 --> 00:15:01,199
and then he the

450
00:15:05,430 --> 00:15:03,600
wording around the the side toughness

451
00:15:07,269 --> 00:15:05,440
competence vigilance discipline are all

452
00:15:10,710 --> 00:15:07,279
part of the the culture of the flight

453
00:15:14,550 --> 00:15:12,790
eagle flight john mccullough up until

454
00:15:16,470 --> 00:15:14,560
the last week or so was the head of the

455
00:15:19,189 --> 00:15:16,480
flight director office as he's moved on

456
00:15:20,150 --> 00:15:19,199
to other assignments here at jsc

457
00:15:25,350 --> 00:15:20,160
uh

458
00:15:28,470 --> 00:15:25,360
did this this were a fun two to work on

459
00:15:30,629 --> 00:15:28,480
this one and the next one onyx flight

460
00:15:32,389 --> 00:15:30,639
onyx flight is brian lunny which was

461
00:15:34,550 --> 00:15:32,399
glenn's son the first

462
00:15:36,230 --> 00:15:34,560
and only right now father-son flight

463
00:15:39,269 --> 00:15:36,240
director that's been out there but glenn

464
00:15:40,550 --> 00:15:39,279
supported the apollo missions and

465
00:15:42,949 --> 00:15:40,560
um

466
00:15:44,949 --> 00:15:42,959
brian until the time that he left nasa

467
00:15:47,509 --> 00:15:44,959
was supporting the shuttle ascent so i

468
00:15:48,949 --> 00:15:47,519
got to work with him quite a bit

469
00:15:50,389 --> 00:15:48,959
okay well

470
00:15:51,509 --> 00:15:50,399
uh

471
00:15:53,430 --> 00:15:51,519
like you said you've had kind of a

472
00:15:54,389 --> 00:15:53,440
direct role in designing a lot of those

473
00:15:57,030 --> 00:15:54,399
patches

474
00:15:59,189 --> 00:15:57,040
yeah it's been fun doing that

475
00:16:01,590 --> 00:15:59,199
i got involved with designing a little

476
00:16:02,790 --> 00:16:01,600
bit after the columbia accident

477
00:16:04,389 --> 00:16:02,800
when

478
00:16:06,310 --> 00:16:04,399
sitting on console during the

479
00:16:08,790 --> 00:16:06,320
investigation you had a lot of time on

480
00:16:10,870 --> 00:16:08,800
your hands as a gc because we weren't

481
00:16:12,710 --> 00:16:10,880
necessarily actively

482
00:16:14,949 --> 00:16:12,720
doing stuff we were more the gatekeepers

483
00:16:16,949 --> 00:16:14,959
of the data that got handed out

484
00:16:19,110 --> 00:16:16,959
and i came up with the idea of designing

485
00:16:21,509 --> 00:16:19,120
a an emblem to represent all of the

486
00:16:23,590 --> 00:16:21,519
crews that we've lost in space

487
00:16:25,990 --> 00:16:23,600
and that's where my kakuta really came

488
00:16:28,069 --> 00:16:26,000
in very handy he uh

489
00:16:29,670 --> 00:16:28,079
helped with that quite a bit and then i

490
00:16:30,470 --> 00:16:29,680
would give him some concepts and he

491
00:16:33,189 --> 00:16:30,480
would

492
00:16:35,110 --> 00:16:33,199
send back uh pretty quickly a lot of

493
00:16:37,910 --> 00:16:35,120
neat designs on that and eventually that

494
00:16:42,629 --> 00:16:39,910
space flight memorial emblem

495
00:16:43,910 --> 00:16:42,639
which is hanging in the room right now

496
00:16:46,389 --> 00:16:43,920
okay well

497
00:16:48,389 --> 00:16:46,399
again bill foster gc gatekeeper mission

498
00:16:49,990 --> 00:16:48,399
control and icon as well i want to

499
00:16:51,509 --> 00:16:50,000
really thank you for giving us an inside

500
00:16:53,749 --> 00:16:51,519
look to everything it is that you guys

501
00:16:55,269 --> 00:16:53,759
do the workings of this room and what we

502
00:16:56,629 --> 00:16:55,279
have to look forward to thanks for being