1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 Music. 2 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:25,400 From touch down after a mission -- through processing for the next flight -- to liftoff again -- 3 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,200 NASA's Space Shuttle fleet calls the Kennedy Space Center home. 4 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,133 It takes a vast array of facilities and workers to prepare, launch, and land the Shuttles -- 5 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,533 a process KSC has handled for more than twenty years. 6 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:54,533 The first Shuttle flight blasted off from Pad 39-A at KSC on April 12, 1981. After this successful mission to test the orbiter's major systems, 7 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:06,000 it returned to Earth as scheduled -- landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. -- with a KSC landing convoy standing by. 8 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:13,466 The California landing required a return ride to KSC aboard one of the two massive 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. 9 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:14,666 Those piggy-back flights became less frequent after February 11, 1984, 10 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:18,200 when the first Shuttle touched down at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility -- one of the world's longest runways. 11 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:25,666 Since then, primarily weather has kept returning Shuttles from making the roundtrip directly to KSC, 12 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,000 since landing here saves both time and money. 13 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:43,066 But no matter which landing site is used, KSC's skilled crews are on call to handle the returning orbiter. 14 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:44,200 Landings and launches are the most visibly recognizable Shuttle events at KSC, 15 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:49,400 drawing live coverage by news media from across the country and around the world. 16 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,666 Permanent facilities for the major networks and news organizations are part of the Launch Complex 39 17 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,400 Press Site area, where reporters monitor the huge countdown clock. 18 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Music. 19 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:25,066 Leading up to each mission, flight hardware is prepared at Kennedy Space Center. Astronauts practice and train while staying in the crew 20 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:37,400 quarters of the Operations and Checkout building. Launch dress rehearsals are staged that include practice emergency escape plans at the pad. 21 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:38,066 Between missions, the fleet of orbiters and other flight hardware are constantly undergoing processing by KSC's one-of-a-kind workforce. 22 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,000 Music. 23 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:53,866 After the first two minutes of a Shuttle's climb toward space, the two reusable solid rocket boosters separate from the external tank 24 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:09,600 and parachute back toward Earth for a splash down in the Atlantic Ocean. Divers aboard two special ships -- known as Liberty Star 25 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:11,800 and Freedom Star -- retrieve the boosters. The ships tow them back by way of Port Canaveral so the refurbishing process can begin in 26 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:19,733 Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Even the parachutes are recovered from the ocean using 27 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:32,666 large reels and returned to the Parachute Refurbishment Facility where they are washed, dried and stored for reuse. 28 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Music. 29 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:43,266 When a Shuttle returns to KSC, it's met by the Orbiter Convoy -- 30 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:47,400 which normally begins its operations about two hours before the scheduled return. 31 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:59,400 The convoy consists of about 25 specially designed vehicles or units of a team of around 150 trained personnel. 32 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:08,733 They help the crew exit the orbiter and "safe" the vehicle. They tow it to the Orbiter Processing Facility within hours of landing. 33 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:12,600 It is here -- in one of the three high bays -- that processing begins for the next mission. Separate facilities and crews prepare 34 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:20,533 the multitude of components that go into the final integrated launch vehicle. One is the Thermal Protection System Facility that 35 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:29,666 houses the repair and manufacture of the materials that protect the exterior of each orbiter from the heat of launch and re-entry. 36 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:35,866 Several facilities accommodate payload processing -- including the Space Station Processing Facility -- 37 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:48,466 which serves as the central preflight check out point for hardware destined for the International Space Station. 38 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 Music. 39 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:02,600 The heart of Launch Complex 39 is the huge Vehicle Assembly Building -- one of the largest buildings in the world, 40 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:12,666 and certainly the most recognizable at KSC. It is in the VAB that all the components -- the orbiter, 41 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:22,733 external tank and solid rocket booster segments -- are assembled before being moved to the launch pad. Moving at one mile per hour, 42 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:25,600 one of the massive crawler transporters has the heavy task of moving the Mobile Launcher Platform and assembled launch vehicle -- 43 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,066 with a combined weight of 12 million pounds -- to one of the two launch pads at Complex 39. 44 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:49,933 There -- after final preparation -- it awaits liftoff and another mission in space. "We have a go for main engine start 45 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:56,933 -- 4 -- 3 -- 2 -- 1 -- zero. We have booster ignition and liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery as NASA 46 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,000 embarks on the final mission ů" And when that mission ends,