1 00:00:01,460 --> 00:00:05,410 \h George Diller/Ares I-X Commentator: We're joined now in the Mission Director's Center by Jon Cowart, 2 00:00:05,410 --> 00:00:14,070 \h who is the Ares I-X deputy mission manager from the Kennedy Space Center. And Jon, welcome, but first of all, 3 00:00:14,070 --> 00:00:21,560 \h I wonder if you could kind of give us a status? Give us an update on where we stand in the countdown and the activities? 4 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:26,530 \h Jon Cowart/Deputy Mission Manager: Well, George, right now we're somewhere in the neighborhood of about a half-hour down. 5 00:00:26,530 --> 00:00:33,070 \h We've, once again, we've been -- this is a band-new rocket doing things that we don't normally do. 6 00:00:33,070 --> 00:00:36,990 \h So, the team is moving very methodically through the process right now. 7 00:00:36,990 --> 00:00:43,130 \h And so, with that -- and probably some of you have heard -- we had what's called a torque-tip failure. 8 00:00:43,130 --> 00:00:46,480 \h They had to run and go get a replacement as they were putting on one of the doors. 9 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:52,290 \h Just these things build up over time. It's a natural occurrence. And we're working our way through it. 10 00:00:52,290 --> 00:00:59,910 \h And you can see on some of the cameras right now they're retracting platforms, getting some of the final preps too. 11 00:00:59,910 --> 00:01:05,590 \h Once those platforms are full back and secured, they'll move the old -- what we used to call the GOX vent arm, 12 00:01:05,590 --> 00:01:09,670 \h or the GVA -- that's our highest access point into the rocket. 13 00:01:09,670 --> 00:01:16,920 \h You know, we've removed that GOX vent hood that we had and put a platform in there, as well as a purge air duct. 14 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:22,380 \h Get those things retracted and pulled back. But we're only about a half-hour down, like I said, as it stands right now. 15 00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:29,990 \h And what I anticipate is that this really won't affect our launch time of T-0, of 8 o'clock. 16 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:31,850 \h George Diller/Ares I-X Commentator: Well, give us a little bit more information about how 17 00:01:31,850 --> 00:01:38,240 \h the launch pad was modified -- reconfigured from the shuttle program for Ares I-X. 18 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,360 \h Jon Cowart/Deputy Mission Manager: Well, there are a few very obvious things. The first one, of course, 19 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,900 \h I just mentioned -- was that that old beanie cap that we had that supported the shuttle -- that was, as you know, 20 00:01:46,900 --> 00:01:51,290 \h since it went over the very top of the external tank, that was the highest point on the shuttle right there. 21 00:01:51,290 --> 00:01:58,270 \h Well, that provided us access to a door, which is really only about half way up the rocket on us. 22 00:01:58,270 --> 00:02:01,880 \h So, that's one of the mods we've done. 23 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:06,210 \h As I said, gave you a platform to go in there, as well as a purge air duct. 24 00:02:06,210 --> 00:02:12,860 \h A little further on down we had to remove -- in order to put up another structure -- we had to remove the orbiter access arm, 25 00:02:12,860 --> 00:02:18,710 \h which is at what we used to call the 195-foot level on the fixed service structure. Once that was removed, 26 00:02:18,710 --> 00:02:21,810 \h we were able to put into place the vehicle stabilization system. 27 00:02:21,810 --> 00:02:26,350 \h These are the two big arms that you can see on some of your channels right now. 28 00:02:26,350 --> 00:02:32,900 \h These actually hold on to two -- for lack of a better term -- two trailer balls that we installed on the side of the rocket. 29 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:37,650 \h These are obviously very expensive and very beefy trailer balls that allow us to hold the 30 00:02:37,650 --> 00:02:42,930 \h rocket very steady when it's out at the pad in winds up to 65 knots. 31 00:02:42,930 --> 00:02:45,780 \h So, we did that modification right there. 32 00:02:45,780 --> 00:02:50,140 \h And then off of the rotating service structure -- just once again, we're trying to be as efficient with 33 00:02:50,140 --> 00:02:55,370 \h what we had out there at the pad already and not build any more structure than we have to. 34 00:02:55,370 --> 00:02:59,180 \h There was one more access point we needed to build off of the rotating service 35 00:02:59,180 --> 00:03:02,330 \h structure that got us access into what we call the FSAM, 36 00:03:02,330 --> 00:03:09,580 \h or the first stage avionics module, area. With those modifications done, we now have three points where we can get into the rocket. 37 00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:16,330 \h One there in the upper stage, one for the FSAM, and then the last one is an existing one that we're using left over from shuttle, 38 00:03:16,330 --> 00:03:20,320 \h and that gets you to the igniter at the top of the solid rocket booster. 39 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:27,170 \h You have to go in there and do some final closeout preparations in there right before we go fly. And so, we've done that. 40 00:03:27,170 --> 00:03:32,280 \h In fact, as far as the upper stage and the FSAM access, 41 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,940 \h there was really no intent when we got to the pad to go in there and do any normal operations. 42 00:03:36,940 --> 00:03:41,080 \h But we wanted to maintain that capability, so if there was something that required us to go 43 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,240 \h in there we didn't have to roll all the way back to the VAB. 44 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:49,390 \h So, we did the most rudimentary things we could do in order to get us the access that 45 00:03:49,390 --> 00:03:52,860 \h we might need and keep operations as simple as possible. 46 00:03:52,860 --> 00:03:54,520 \h George Diller/Ares I-X Commentator: Alright, Jon, thanks very much. 47 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,490 \h And we're going to be listening to this weather briefing shortly. 48 00:03:57,490 --> 00:04:02,750 \h And they're getting ready to pull back the rotating service structure. So, we've got some activity coming up here. 49 00:04:02,750 --> 00:04:08,390 \h And we'll be talking with you a little bit later about how we got the vehicle out to the pad. 50 00:04:08,390 --> 00:04:09,420 \h Jon Cowart/Deputy Mission Manager: OK, George, thank you. 51 00:04:09,420 --> 00:04:13,080 \h George Diller/Ares I-X Commentator: Thanks very much. At T-1 hour, 11 minutes, 52 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:24,510 \h 26 seconds and counting, here's the upper stage access arm retracting.