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in 1998 i was at KSC for a project and

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they were going to launch atlantis two

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days after we were there and I really

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wasn't told what to expect and so I we

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we went out of the the building five

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minutes before launch I had my movie

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camera and I stood right by the control

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tower as I was filming and I saw the

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lock the Rockets light up and saw it

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lifts I really didn't hear anything

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about 10 seconds later as I was filming

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I started to hear the faint roar and

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then it got louder and louder and then

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the vibration went through the ground

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right through me like almost like an

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electrical shock and I was so blown away

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I probably looked like a cartoon

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character and I let go of the camera and

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I've you know and I was kind of leaning

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back and watching it but filming it at

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the same time and I filmed I kept it in

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the cameras view all the way to the

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I was the launch armory and I was lucky

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enough to go see it for a second time

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and the second time I watched it and I

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filmed everybody else so I could kind of

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imagine how I look like the large crowd

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everybody looked the same like they were

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all kind of when the sound and the roar

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and you know and all that got there they

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my special moment on the program I think

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when it all hit what we do is my first

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trip to KSC and looking at the Vehicle

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Assembly Building it just made me

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realize how many people it takes to

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build the space shuttle and all the

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support and teams across the country or

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that go into making the space shuttle

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fly and and supporting the astronauts

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it's it's amazing that humans have the

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capability to make something like that

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happen and until you go down there and

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see it I don't think it I know it didn't

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with me hit home and it's just amazing

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so back in the on the people intestine

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back when I used to work space shuttle

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main engine used to work on the turbo

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machinery combustion devices arena if I

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wasn't able to kind of go to all the

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facilities the different test ends and

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can remember on the b-1 stand we had an

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alligator he was his good-sized

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alligator 18 20 foot and they had a

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contractor that used to work on the

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facility with us and she would when it

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was break time she'd go down and buy

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some moon pies and she'd go out and

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she'd walk out the door she yelled Rudy

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because she'd need the alligator Rudy

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and you could see Rudy hit the water

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from the bank across the way and he swim

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all the way over and she tossed him a

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big triple decker moon pie he was quite

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happy with that so although we're not

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supposed to feed the alligators they've

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been seen eating some something so it

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we were asked to go to Florida to get in

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the shuttle to go behind the engine to

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crawl up in there with a borescope to n

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SPECT i believe it was impellers and the

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problem that was on it was a thing

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called idea intergranular attack meaning

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that when the thing was cleaned or

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manufacture somewhere somehow there was

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like a a surface anomaly that was

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happening on our titanium hardware so

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that if there was I da the company would

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have to remove the engine so it was easy

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enough to take two engineers and fly

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them out today to the to the hardware to

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look at the the pump and we found there

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was no I GA and that little flight you

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know made us like a little we had our

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little hero moment I lost seeing him

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over you know that save the day but I

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was happy as a young lad to come to this

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firm and be given at awesome opportunity

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to be the one like Derek Fisher on the

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Lakers you know to shoot that shot saved

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you know save the day we were able to

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say save the flight by flying out there

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securing the date and the schedule you

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know because it's a lot to that but that

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since I've lived here in Florida though

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I think one of my neatest moments was

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hung for SES 115 I got to actually roll

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out to the pad on the crawler with the

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orbiter and it was part of a vibration

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team and there was many people and they

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were all on their computers and we had

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sensors on the engine sensors on the

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orbiter to see what the shaking of the

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one mile an hour trip does for you and

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part of my duties was just to make sure

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nobody got hurt fell down stairs and

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whatnot I really wasn't a vibration

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person but one of the neatest things was

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about six thirty in the morning we're

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getting close to the pad than the Sun

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rises over the ocean so you kind of

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forget where we are when it was really

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pretty and you stand next to a spaceship

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about a year and a half after I started

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working here by the opportunity to go to

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a launch at KSC and while at a reception

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I had the opportunity to meet John Young

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and I was able to talk to him for a

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while and he asked me what I was working

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on and at the time I was working on an

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investigation team for the high pressure

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fuel turbine blades and he started to

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ask me very specific questions the level

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of detail indicated that he was very

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familiar with the investigation at that

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time it became clear to me how much was

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riding on our engines how important it

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was his leisure do our jobs not only

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probably the most memorable memorable

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moment would be the first launched STS

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70 with the LOX pump 14 I was the first

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Pratt when he pumped to fly on the

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shuttle that was July thirteenth 1995

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and that launched not only was important

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for us being the first product to fly on

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the shuttle but it also was the launch

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that was delayed by the woodpecker's

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that were attacking the foam on the

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external tank so we were patiently

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waiting for the launch but it kept being

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delayed because of foam problems with

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the external tanks so now they they have

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people guard against that with sirens

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and horns to blow away you know scare

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well I think what's so amazing about

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space and the shuttle and everything

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that goes into this is the wow factor of

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it I think as a child you are wowed by

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almost everything everything to you is

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amazing is captivating is interesting

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and there are very few things that you

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carry on as an adult that you feel the

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same way about and I feel that the space

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program and space exploration are one of

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the few things at least for me that

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still captivate me that still make me go

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wow this is amazing every time I see a

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picture of the planet Earth or the

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northern lights or even other solar

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systems it just shocks me and amazes me

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so I think that's the importance of

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space and how it makes people feel it

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just makes you feel like a child again

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back in about nineteen seventy and I was

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a little girl my father was working on

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the ssme capture proposal he was on the

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proposal team and he worked incredibly

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long hours as they all did I think they

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were working about 16 hour days and for

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a long period of time it really didn't

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see him I might see him on the weekends

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definitely never during the week because

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he would work so late and there was

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tremendous pressure put on all of those

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people because they knew that with the

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end of the Apollo program that if they

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didn't capture the ssme contract that

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this division may not exist anymore and

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one night he came home with the news

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that they had won the proposal and it

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was very exciting thing and I can

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remember my mom and my dad calling all

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the relatives and letting them know that

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they have won the program so it was a

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big deal and that would have been around

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1971-72 sometime in that time frame so

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and he spent the rest of his career run

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supporting sts-1

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I went down there as a worker if you

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will supporting and I had the foresight

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to bring one of these big black briefing

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cases full of view graphs we didn't have

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all the electronic aids in those days so

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in the two-day delay i ended up giving

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briefing stole the dignitaries like

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yardley in weeks and people like that

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just to occupy them until we finally

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launched and of course the launch was

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where's the power I can remember my wife

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looking at me and I'm standing there

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with tears flowing down my cheeks and

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she was slightly embarrassed and then

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she looked around and everybody else

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involved was in the same emotional state

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you know so we just celebrated like you

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couldn't believe several of us ended up

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in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the

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my son you know he really um he's he's a

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funny guy you know he's his mom I just

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love to tell people that you work on the

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space shuttle program and they asked me

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about it all the time well what does

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your mom do and and does she goes up on

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the space shuttle you know these little

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kids you know and he says no you know

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she just make sure the hardware is

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connected on the computer and when that

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shuttle takes off it touches my heart

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that I had something to do with it and

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the experience is almost a little bit

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like Groundhog Day because every every

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launch is different and new they've

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never been done before that particular

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launch that day whether it's during the

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day or afternoon or evening is special

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and there's a there's a certain thing

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that you feel it's both a visual

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experience as well as a physical you

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feel like raising the American flag and

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clapping and at the same time you feel

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very patriotic about it all and amazed

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by it all those of us who get to work

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very close to the hardware and the

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people who work on the hardware you are

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just amazed at the complexity of the

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whole thing and the beauty of the whole