in 1998 i was at KSC for a project and
they were going to launch atlantis two
days after we were there and I really
wasn't told what to expect and so I we
we went out of the the building five
minutes before launch I had my movie
camera and I stood right by the control
tower as I was filming and I saw the
lock the Rockets light up and saw it
lifts I really didn't hear anything
about 10 seconds later as I was filming
I started to hear the faint roar and
then it got louder and louder and then
the vibration went through the ground
right through me like almost like an
electrical shock and I was so blown away
I probably looked like a cartoon
character and I let go of the camera and
I've you know and I was kind of leaning
back and watching it but filming it at
the same time and I filmed I kept it in
the cameras view all the way to the
point where you couldn't see it anymore
I was the launch armory and I was lucky
enough to go see it for a second time
and the second time I watched it and I
filmed everybody else so I could kind of
imagine how I look like the large crowd
everybody looked the same like they were
all kind of when the sound and the roar
and you know and all that got there they
were all kind of blown away pretty cool
my special moment on the program I think
when it all hit what we do is my first
trip to KSC and looking at the Vehicle
Assembly Building it just made me
realize how many people it takes to
build the space shuttle and all the
support and teams across the country or
that go into making the space shuttle
fly and and supporting the astronauts
it's it's amazing that humans have the
capability to make something like that
happen and until you go down there and
see it I don't think it I know it didn't
with me hit home and it's just amazing
what Americans are able to do as a team
so back in the on the people intestine
back when I used to work space shuttle
main engine used to work on the turbo
machinery combustion devices arena if I
wasn't able to kind of go to all the
facilities the different test ends and
can remember on the b-1 stand we had an
alligator he was his good-sized
alligator 18 20 foot and they had a
contractor that used to work on the
facility with us and she would when it
was break time she'd go down and buy
some moon pies and she'd go out and
she'd walk out the door she yelled Rudy
because she'd need the alligator Rudy
and you could see Rudy hit the water
from the bank across the way and he swim
all the way over and she tossed him a
big triple decker moon pie he was quite
happy with that so although we're not
supposed to feed the alligators they've
been seen eating some something so it
was good
we were asked to go to Florida to get in
the shuttle to go behind the engine to
crawl up in there with a borescope to n
SPECT i believe it was impellers and the
problem that was on it was a thing
called idea intergranular attack meaning
that when the thing was cleaned or
manufacture somewhere somehow there was
like a a surface anomaly that was
happening on our titanium hardware so
that if there was I da the company would
have to remove the engine so it was easy
enough to take two engineers and fly
them out today to the to the hardware to
look at the the pump and we found there
was no I GA and that little flight you
know made us like a little we had our
little hero moment I lost seeing him
over you know that save the day but I
was happy as a young lad to come to this
firm and be given at awesome opportunity
to be the one like Derek Fisher on the
Lakers you know to shoot that shot saved
you know save the day we were able to
say save the flight by flying out there
securing the date and the schedule you
know because it's a lot to that but that
that's my fondest memory
since I've lived here in Florida though
I think one of my neatest moments was
hung for SES 115 I got to actually roll
out to the pad on the crawler with the
orbiter and it was part of a vibration
team and there was many people and they
were all on their computers and we had
sensors on the engine sensors on the
orbiter to see what the shaking of the
one mile an hour trip does for you and
part of my duties was just to make sure
nobody got hurt fell down stairs and
whatnot I really wasn't a vibration
person but one of the neatest things was
about six thirty in the morning we're
getting close to the pad than the Sun
rises over the ocean so you kind of
forget where we are when it was really
pretty and you stand next to a spaceship
that was pretty neat
about a year and a half after I started
working here by the opportunity to go to
a launch at KSC and while at a reception
I had the opportunity to meet John Young
and I was able to talk to him for a
while and he asked me what I was working
on and at the time I was working on an
investigation team for the high pressure
fuel turbine blades and he started to
ask me very specific questions the level
of detail indicated that he was very
familiar with the investigation at that
time it became clear to me how much was
riding on our engines how important it
was his leisure do our jobs not only
right but we do it right every time
probably the most memorable memorable
moment would be the first launched STS
70 with the LOX pump 14 I was the first
Pratt when he pumped to fly on the
shuttle that was July thirteenth 1995
and that launched not only was important
for us being the first product to fly on
the shuttle but it also was the launch
that was delayed by the woodpecker's
that were attacking the foam on the
external tank so we were patiently
waiting for the launch but it kept being
delayed because of foam problems with
the external tanks so now they they have
people guard against that with sirens
and horns to blow away you know scare
away the woodpecker's
well I think what's so amazing about
space and the shuttle and everything
that goes into this is the wow factor of
it I think as a child you are wowed by
almost everything everything to you is
amazing is captivating is interesting
and there are very few things that you
carry on as an adult that you feel the
same way about and I feel that the space
program and space exploration are one of
the few things at least for me that
still captivate me that still make me go
wow this is amazing every time I see a
picture of the planet Earth or the
northern lights or even other solar
systems it just shocks me and amazes me
so I think that's the importance of
space and how it makes people feel it
just makes you feel like a child again
that shocked that it gives you
back in about nineteen seventy and I was
a little girl my father was working on
the ssme capture proposal he was on the
proposal team and he worked incredibly
long hours as they all did I think they
were working about 16 hour days and for
a long period of time it really didn't
see him I might see him on the weekends
definitely never during the week because
he would work so late and there was
tremendous pressure put on all of those
people because they knew that with the
end of the Apollo program that if they
didn't capture the ssme contract that
this division may not exist anymore and
one night he came home with the news
that they had won the proposal and it
was very exciting thing and I can
remember my mom and my dad calling all
the relatives and letting them know that
they have won the program so it was a
big deal and that would have been around
1971-72 sometime in that time frame so
and he spent the rest of his career run
ssme
supporting sts-1
I went down there as a worker if you
will supporting and I had the foresight
to bring one of these big black briefing
cases full of view graphs we didn't have
all the electronic aids in those days so
in the two-day delay i ended up giving
briefing stole the dignitaries like
yardley in weeks and people like that
just to occupy them until we finally
launched and of course the launch was
the culmination of 10 years of intensity
where's the power I can remember my wife
looking at me and I'm standing there
with tears flowing down my cheeks and
she was slightly embarrassed and then
she looked around and everybody else
involved was in the same emotional state
you know so we just celebrated like you
couldn't believe several of us ended up
in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the
celebration with all our clothes on
my son you know he really um he's he's a
funny guy you know he's his mom I just
love to tell people that you work on the
space shuttle program and they asked me
about it all the time well what does
your mom do and and does she goes up on
the space shuttle you know these little
kids you know and he says no you know
she just make sure the hardware is
connected on the computer and when that
shuttle takes off it touches my heart
that I had something to do with it and
like i said it's very intriguing
the experience is almost a little bit
like Groundhog Day because every every
launch is different and new they've
never been done before that particular
launch that day whether it's during the
day or afternoon or evening is special
and there's a there's a certain thing
that you feel it's both a visual
experience as well as a physical you
feel like raising the American flag and
clapping and at the same time you feel
very patriotic about it all and amazed
by it all those of us who get to work
very close to the hardware and the
people who work on the hardware you are
just amazed at the complexity of the
whole thing and the beauty of the whole
thing so it's each one is a special
experience
you