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yes he said oh Marvia is sitting right

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next to me here you know he teamed up

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with your fellow launch director Tim

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Dunn to launch SWAT today uh how did the

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how did the launch go from your

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perspective oh the launch was perfect I

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can't uh uh I can't find anything uh

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wrong with it

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um the account went really smooth the

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weather cooperated the instrumentation

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downrange uh worked fantastic and the

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team worked through

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um observations and stuff Tick Tock and

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we made it to the beginning of the

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window yeah and you said that uh you

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watched the launch from inside but you

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did run out to see the booster landing

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and that was awesome you said yeah a lot

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of people always ask me you know you you

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have the luckiest job in the world you

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get to see all these launches yeah I get

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to see them through a TV set but this

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time I took the opportunity to go

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outside after it launched and actually

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watch the the booster land and that was

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spectacular and with the weather today

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here in California yeah that's cool so

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counting SWAT how many missions have you

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had as launch director with NASA's

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launch Services Program boy accounting

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slot

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um so it's easier if I if I look at how

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many countdowns I've been through okay

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and I could say it's it's Norfolk 300.

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oh my gosh

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and and and that's in my career I've

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been doing this for uh going on 33 years

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and we're taking a trip down memory lane

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because SWAT is your last mission before

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you retire that's right so how was today

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knowing the finality of it oh it it was

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cool it was I was relaxed and and I'm

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gonna miss it but uh it's time for me to

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go and and move on to other stuff so

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um yeah I'm gonna miss it I had the one

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of the best jobs in the world and I've

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been doing this particular function uh

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for the last 21 years and uh and I've

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been I'm telling you it's it's the

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luckiest and um nicest position to be in

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within the LSP program

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and uh and I just loved it and and

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getting back to the numbers yeah

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um

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you know whenever we do a a launch

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there's also a rehearsal

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[Music]

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um or a tanking test or whatever so if I

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look at La at countdowns at Norfolk 300

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if I look at LSP well we did 101 and I

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was a bit of majority of them and as the

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prime launch director I Tim added it up

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earlier it was 41 for me something like

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30 for Chuck de Val who who retired six

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months ago and then Tim's done about 21

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of them maybe 22 today after SWAT you

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have too much experience you're not

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allowed to go I I know you said you're

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ready we're not ready to let you go and

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actually we have uh some of your

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colleagues they wanted to surprise you

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with this video of some of your

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highlights from your career

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[Music]

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and joining us here in the broadcast

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Booth is Omar Baez NASA launch director

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for today's liftoff

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it's another great launch for the launch

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Services Program

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this one's been a long time and coming

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and I'm glad that we were able to get

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this payload up in orbit and in a safe

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condition

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this is very simple the simpler you keep

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it the better

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exciting and the team is jubilant from

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what I can see in the control room

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I'm super excited to be launching the

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last Atlas five from the West Coast

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I personally was fortunate to be a part

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of all the Rovers on Mars

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does have a special place in my heart

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and it's cool that it's not just us in

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our nation it's the whole world going to

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another world

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this is stuff that's good for for the

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global community so this will be good

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for all of us

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foreign

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launch in my operational function this

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this is about as good as it gets

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the anxiety level is higher the

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adrenaline's flowing but what a cool way

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to fly

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it's all a team sport and we're all

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ready to go

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the guys really worked hard through the

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day yesterday and Into the Night

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but all is going well

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Delta performed nominally just a perfect

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flight today and we're right on it

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there's a challenge

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and a penalty that goes with doing these

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things and I've seen the team react and

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overcome all of that and it makes me

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very proud

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we got off on the first opportunity at

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1002 in the morning looked great the

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weather cooperated with us and the upper

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level winds cooperated with us so the

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vehicle was perfect the spacecraft was

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perfect the range instrumentation worked

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great couldn't ask for better in all the

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stations on the nlm net this is the nlm

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with our final lunch Readiness Bowl

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launch vehicle spacecraft and Ranger

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Port ingrained

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I guess at this point that means that we

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can bring to our conclusion our coverage

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today this is atlas launch control

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how are you feeling

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a lot of memories there

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I can't leave

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[Laughter]

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to do which was to convince you to stay

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that was beautiful thank you thanks

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everybody for putting that together I

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know it took some work to do that and

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that was beautiful

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a lot of memories there

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and

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you know that's our our family

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the traveling circus

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00:06:26,930 --> 00:06:24,660
you know just to know that you've played

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such a role in so many historical

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missions and made such great friends

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throughout the way enough to call them a

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family

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you'll be missed absolutely Omar you'll

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be missed and I'll miss them that's uh

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you know this uh this job takes a lot

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out of you because of the travel we're

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00:06:47,930 --> 00:06:44,880
out here doing a launcher we're out in

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00:06:50,990 --> 00:06:47,940
kwajalein doing a launch or I'm in DC or

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00:06:53,390 --> 00:06:51,000
Denver or something so there's a there's

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a price you pay for this it's a very

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rewarding job but uh you know it's time

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for me to retire and maybe go do some of

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those things I missed out on

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so again hard to see you to leave but

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you definitely deserve a wonderful

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retirement over we wish you all the best