1 00:00:00,470 --> 00:00:03,460 \h Mike Curie/STS-133 Launch Commentator: 2, 1, 2 00:00:03,460 --> 00:00:05,310 \h booster ignition. 3 00:00:05,310 --> 00:00:08,460 \h And the final liftoff of Discovery! 4 00:00:08,460 --> 00:00:11,610 \h Perhaps one of the most impressive images is that of a space shuttle 5 00:00:11,610 --> 00:00:16,090 \h lifting off the launch pad, riding plumes of bright orange flames. 6 00:00:16,090 --> 00:00:20,680 \h But more than just providing an impressive sight, shuttle images play a critical role 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,680 \h in launch safety. 8 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:27,270 \h Each successful launch depends heavily on still and video images that allow the launch 9 00:00:27,270 --> 00:00:32,850 \h team to closely scrutinize the spacecraft both before and during liftoff. 10 00:00:32,850 --> 00:00:37,010 \h Long before the main engines fire and the solid rocket boosters ignite, 11 00:00:37,010 --> 00:00:41,610 \h the entire shuttle stack has been thoroughly photographed and continually monitored 12 00:00:41,610 --> 00:00:45,690 \h by TV cameras as the countdown clock ticks down. 13 00:00:45,690 --> 00:00:49,120 \h Members of a group called the Final Inspection Team play a key role, 14 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,340 \h providing the imagery directly from the launch pad and analysis from the 15 00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:55,860 \h Launch Control Center. 16 00:00:55,860 --> 00:00:59,060 \h Tom Ford, NASA Team Lead: "The images we take on the Final Inspection Team 17 00:00:59,060 --> 00:01:03,230 \h are sent back to the LCC. When we give the report to the Mission Management Team, 18 00:01:03,230 --> 00:01:08,640 \h and to the launch director, to the SPE, they can look at our imagery, 19 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,900 \h and in particular the ones we single out and tell them that we know 20 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:15,800 \h there is a problem here, they can do analysis of their own on those images." 21 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,800 \h The team members can identify and photograph problems that might go undetected 22 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,490 \h without their on-the-spot inspection. 23 00:01:22,490 --> 00:01:26,190 \h But the launch director and his team aren't limited to just images from the 24 00:01:26,190 --> 00:01:27,950 \h inspection team. 25 00:01:27,950 --> 00:01:31,270 \h Ivan Bush, Engineer United Space Alliance: "In the LCC we have the ice-frost console 26 00:01:31,270 --> 00:01:36,750 \h and we continuously monitor upward to 135 different camera locations. 27 00:01:36,750 --> 00:01:42,310 \h Those assets are controlled by NASA and other contractors, some as far as, 28 00:01:42,310 --> 00:01:48,150 \h I believe, close to 20 miles south and 20 miles north of the launch complex. 29 00:01:48,150 --> 00:01:54,090 \h Some of these assets are basically large telescopes and they are able to film the orbiter 30 00:01:54,090 --> 00:01:57,660 \h several minutes into its flight profile. We also have, 31 00:01:57,660 --> 00:02:01,520 \h I want to say, about 60 cameras within the actual perimeter of the launch pad. 32 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,130 \h Some of the various assets some are infrared, some are HD, 33 00:02:05,130 --> 00:02:08,490 \h some are standard, some are at higher and slower speed. 34 00:02:08,490 --> 00:02:12,360 \h A lot of them are at about 400 frames per second so we can catch a very, 35 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,590 \h very slow behavioral aspect of each vehicle component, because some components we 36 00:02:17,590 --> 00:02:20,860 \h want to watch how they work the moment they are supposed to go to work. 37 00:02:20,860 --> 00:02:24,310 \h And we'll see them frame-by-frame we watch them frame-by-frame." 38 00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:28,630 \h So as the final space shuttle pierces the sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center