1 00:00:01,750 --> 00:00:03,850 This is Atlas Launch Control. 2 00:00:03,850 --> 00:00:07,970 And after a successful launch today and the successful deployment of the TDRS-M 3 00:00:07,970 --> 00:00:12,840 satellite, we are very pleased to be joined by our NASA Launch Manager from NASA's 4 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:17,190 Launch Services Program here at Kennedy Space Center, Tim Dunn. 5 00:00:17,190 --> 00:00:18,290 Thank you Mike. 6 00:00:18,290 --> 00:00:19,520 Great to be here. 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,279 It was a beautiful launch and a great mission. 8 00:00:24,279 --> 00:00:29,340 We had a little bit of a delay earlier on, and I wondered if you could just give us an 9 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:30,929 overview of what that was all about. 10 00:00:30,929 --> 00:00:32,540 Oh sure, be glad to. 11 00:00:32,540 --> 00:00:36,970 So, obviously there's a lot of relief from the team right now. 12 00:00:36,970 --> 00:00:38,160 A lot of celebration. 13 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:40,240 A lot of excitement. 14 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,780 Loved spacecraft separation. 15 00:00:42,780 --> 00:00:45,500 It's the best part of a launch campaign. 16 00:00:45,500 --> 00:00:50,430 So many hours are put in to getting to this exact point when you know you have a healthy 17 00:00:50,430 --> 00:00:54,820 satellite that you've just separated from the launch vehicle about to go do its mission 18 00:00:54,820 --> 00:00:56,260 it was intended for. 19 00:00:56,260 --> 00:01:04,720 So, we had a beautiful morning, great weather, great rocket prop loading with the cryos. 20 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:05,720 No problems there. 21 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,369 Power-on sequence went really well. 22 00:01:09,369 --> 00:01:15,549 And as we were chilling the Centaur engine down we noticed one of the chilldown parameters 23 00:01:15,549 --> 00:01:21,520 on the thermal conditioning for the LOX side was not quite getting cold enough in time 24 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,240 to meet the original 8:03 a.m. 25 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:24,240 T-0. 26 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:30,759 So, we needed a little extra time, so you heard a little bit of discussion on the net. 27 00:01:30,759 --> 00:01:36,600 What we wanted to do was maximize our opportunity and try to preserve as much of our 40-minute 28 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:37,950 window as was possible. 29 00:01:37,950 --> 00:01:46,159 So you heard us kind of stepping through from a 8:03 to about an 8:15, 8:16, 8:18, and then 30 00:01:46,159 --> 00:01:48,990 we knew it was probably out around the 8:30 timeframe. 31 00:01:48,990 --> 00:01:54,110 So that's what you heard as we were marching through that, because should we not have launched 32 00:01:54,110 --> 00:01:59,680 on that opportunity, we wanted to leave ourselves 10 or 15 minutes on the backside to get another 33 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:00,750 potential recycle. 34 00:02:00,750 --> 00:02:03,130 So, appreciate everyone's patience. 35 00:02:03,130 --> 00:02:09,679 I know those, when you're not part of the team that's working the anomaly, and you're 36 00:02:09,679 --> 00:02:14,629 not, you don't look at the data, it's gets a little bit frustrating and you're not sure. 37 00:02:14,629 --> 00:02:16,440 Wait, are these guys going to launch today. 38 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:17,440 Are they not. 39 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:18,739 We don't know. 40 00:02:18,739 --> 00:02:25,190 But ULA did a magnificent job of managing the situation. 41 00:02:25,190 --> 00:02:30,620 Diligently mapping out and extrapolating the data to give us that opportunity and let us 42 00:02:30,620 --> 00:02:32,820 all target in on that 8:29 opportunity. 43 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:38,170 There was a lot of conversation going on nets behind the scenes. 44 00:02:38,170 --> 00:02:39,170 Absolutely. 45 00:02:39,170 --> 00:02:43,590 You and Bill Cullen, the United Launch Alliance Launch Director, and Ed Kitta, the launch 46 00:02:43,590 --> 00:02:50,269 conductor, and the teams, along with the TDRS-M spacecraft team, in working your way through 47 00:02:50,269 --> 00:02:52,180 that and coordinating a new T-0 time. 48 00:02:52,180 --> 00:02:53,180 Yes. 49 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:55,920 You may have heard my discussions with the spacecraft side. 50 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,140 Because TDRS-M was rock solid in the payload fairing, ready to launch at any point during 51 00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:02,330 our 40-minute window. 52 00:03:02,330 --> 00:03:07,510 But, I need to give the spacecraft mission director a heads-up so that he can prepare 53 00:03:07,510 --> 00:03:11,730 the downrange assets to know when the new T-0 is. 54 00:03:11,730 --> 00:03:13,760 So you heard a lot of that discussion. 55 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:20,880 But, I'll just take a moment to extend your comments about the team that you may just 56 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:27,970 hear guys like a launch director, an NLM talking, but there are thousands of people that we 57 00:03:27,970 --> 00:03:34,950 represent, from ULA, to NASA Goddard, NASA KSC, NASA Headquarters, and then Boeing, who 58 00:03:34,950 --> 00:03:36,910 built the spacecraft. 59 00:03:36,910 --> 00:03:42,319 They've got a wonderful team that built this satellite and got it ready for today, and 60 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:47,349 it's going to operate on orbit for what we hope is 10 or 15 years. 61 00:03:47,349 --> 00:03:50,390 So, a great day for the team. 62 00:03:50,390 --> 00:03:53,250 It's always a great day when you launch. 63 00:03:53,250 --> 00:03:55,879 And we're going to really celebrate this one. 64 00:03:55,879 --> 00:04:01,530 And one thing Mike I've got for you here is, you know I love the NASA meatball as much 65 00:04:01,530 --> 00:04:07,450 as any other person in our agency, but I also brought you something here. 66 00:04:07,450 --> 00:04:08,450 Thank you very much. 67 00:04:08,450 --> 00:04:09,450 It's the TDRS-M pin. 68 00:04:09,450 --> 00:04:12,970 And I got a second one, because I was watching you and Josh. 69 00:04:12,970 --> 00:04:15,570 You guys, I want you to put these on. 70 00:04:15,570 --> 00:04:16,840 You're part of our team. 71 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:17,840 We will do that. 72 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:18,840 Tim, thank you so much. 73 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:24,070 And thank you once again on a very successful launch today at 8:29 a.m. eastern time. 74 00:04:24,070 --> 00:04:26,150 It was a beautiful day and congratulations.