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so

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i'm lori meggs and welcome to a special

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edition of focus on marshall we're here

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at the kennedy space center florida

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where we're focusing on the space

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shuttle main engines and joining me now

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is space shuttle main engine project

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manager jerry cook and jerry we have a

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shuttle on the launch pad ready to go

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but let's remind folks what it takes to

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get those main engines ready for launch

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okay lori uh you're right this is a

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culmination of weeks and months of

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effort that to turn the shuttle around

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the ssmes are part of the shuttle

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propulsion elements managed by marshall

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once the solid rocket boosters separate

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the three main engines provide the

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ascent thrust to get the vehicle up on

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orbit and jerry a lot of power and a lot

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of hard work that goes into this for 520

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seconds let's talk about the workforce

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here that gets these things ready the

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workforce is outstanding and it's made

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up of the people both here at the

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kennedy space center the people back at

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marshall uh the engines themselves are

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manufactured by pratt whitney rocketdyne

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they're located in canoga park in

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california and the high pressure pumps

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are manufactured down in west palm beach

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just a couple hours south of here so

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it's an amount an enormous amount of

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effort goes into every mission not only

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pre-launch but also during the launch to

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maintain uh the telemetry data that we

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need as well as the post-launch

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operations all right i think we're going

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to see some of the operations here at

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ksc thanks jerry thank you

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i'm here in the engine shop at ksc and

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joining me now is paul breske he is a

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launch support engineer with pratt and

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whitney rocketdyne and paul we are

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standing in front of the main engines

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that will be installed on atlantis and

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launching sts-132 shortly tell us about

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what happens here in the engine shop

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once an engine all three engines return

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from their previous mission they go

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through a horizontal and vertical

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processing that takes about eight to ten

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weeks we have this processing area here

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and we also have over to our right the

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high bay where they get hardware

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replacements if required and special

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inspections what's interesting about

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these engines especially is this is the

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nozzle thrust chamber and there's a

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thousand eighty individual tubes that

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the hydrogen flows down through and

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cools the engine to protect it from the

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combustion byproducts

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and most people don't realize that we

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use the hydrogen not only as fuel but as

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a coolant for the whole engine paul the

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main engines have been one of the most

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stable components of the shuttle

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propulsion system how many engines have

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we flown and are we still flying the

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same engines today since sts-1 we have

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flown 46 different engines however we've

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constantly upgraded them and since

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sts-105 we're now flying the block 2

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engine with an upgraded power head

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advanced turbo machinery manufactured in

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west palm beach and a new advanced

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health monitoring controller the main

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computer for the engine and why do we

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need these upgrades well primarily for

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safety and reliability especially the

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new engines have a larger throat in the

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main combustion chamber which lowers the

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temperature and pressures of the engines

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during operations while not changing the

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performance at all

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and i know you guys are proud of this

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little statistic i see on the wall there

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over a million seconds of power and

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counting yes in our entire test and

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flight programs we've have over a

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million seconds and counting and if you

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took that as three engines per flight

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that's over 700 space shuttle missions

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of operation so a lot of work has gone

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into this engine shop oh definitely and

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this this engine shop is new relatively

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speaking they used to have an engine

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shop in the vehicle assembly building

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and this is a major upgrade to those

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facilities all right well thanks for

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showing us around paul oh thank you

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i'm here with sharon fagan and she is in

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launch operations with the marshall

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resident office here at kennedy space

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center and sharon it's very exciting to

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be standing outside an orbiter

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processing facility tell us what happens

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here well currently they're working on

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the atlantis orbiter getting it ready to

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be launched for the sts-132 mission so

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all the different ksc folks are doing

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the different jobs that they have to do

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to get the orbiter ready prior to launch

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and we're talking specifically about

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main engines for us tell us what happens

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to the main engines in this facility

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it's in this facility that they both

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install the main engines and remove them

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after it lands it after the orbiter

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lands at kennedy space center and they

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do that in a specific order they always

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start with engine one which is at the

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top and then they move on to engine

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three and then engine two for each of

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the missions they remove them in the

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opposite order they remove them again

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back in the opposite order it's very

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confusing i'm always thinking of 3-2-1

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but it doesn't go that way here tell us

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why it's done in that order well they

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want the reason the top one's put in

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first is of course you don't want to

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disturb the ones that are below it as

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you're putting in the first engine and

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then they do three next because they

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don't have to rearrange their equipment

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to put in three when they get to two

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it's clocked 90 degrees so they have to

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move their equipment around before they

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can install that last engine so sharon

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how long does this operation take in the

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opf it takes one shift per engine and it

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takes around 10 to 12 people to do that

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work um the the person that's actually

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at the top doing the work is called the

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mood director and that's actually one of

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the highest certifications that you have

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to hold at kennedy space center because

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it's such a precise operation and it

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takes a lot of skills and experience to

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do that thanks sharon

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i'm here now with mike cosgrove and he

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is the flow manager for the main engines

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and mike we've seen what happens in the

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opf we've seen what happens in the

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engine shop but there's a lot more work

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to do right tell us what happens from

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there yes there is once the uh vehicle

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rolls out of the opf with the engines

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installed we're on our way to the vab

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and then we're in the vab the vehicle is

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rotated vertical

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and lifted into position and mated with

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the the booster stack and then

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we do a few walk downs and a couple of

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leaked checks to finish off our our

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integrated portion in the vab

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the vehicle is then rolled out to the

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launch pad and we're getting set for a

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real launch mission there

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and there's a lot of testing that goes

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on even out of the pad too right with

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the engines absolutely once we get to

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the pad the first thing we do after the

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vehicle powers up is we power up the

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controllers and we go through a uh

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flight readiness test with the

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hydraulics and pneumatics on the engine

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to make sure we're still ready to go

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after we're integrated with the vehicle

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and the pad

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and it's not just i know you're in the

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lcc here the launch control center but

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you guys are monitoring it all over the

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country right even in huntsville

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absolutely huntsville have the haask and

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at canoe park we have the rosk and we're

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in constant communication and then after

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of course we get closer to launch day uh

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we get we do a uh f compartment complete

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walk down remove the gsc and the

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protective closures close the aft up for

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flight and then about a day and a half

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before launch we power up the

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controllers and do a

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sensor and a

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igniter checkout on the engines and then

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we're ready to support tanking and then

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of course on launch day

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uh when tanking comes around about eight

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hours or so before the launch uh we're

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in the data room we're also in the

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firing room monitoring and we're

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actively talking to the hospital nerask

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and monitoring for any uh real time

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issues that come up that we can talk

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about

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and then of course uh as we count down

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we're uh always thankful that we can

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watch a very uh what we call a boring

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countdown uh no events and just standing

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by and waiting and then uh

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everything goes well for us we light up

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and we have a nice day all right well we

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can't wait to see it i hope it's very

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so all of the hard work and preparations

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culminate right here on a launch pad at

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kennedy space center the shuttle and the

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engines are ready to go