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I guess on a personal level I was

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working for General Motors years ago and

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I had my family on vacation I took my

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kids to Disney World in Florida and we

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heard on the radio that there was going

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to be a shuttle launch so we looked into

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it and found out and we went down to the

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beach and it was like going to a rock

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concert basically those were the days of

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people having boom boxes and everybody

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did the countdown on the beach and as it

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turned out it was the initial maiden

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voyage of the Challenger and just a few

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years later I was working down in

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Florida working for Pratt Whitney and

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unfortunately I did see the demise out

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the window of the second store building

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with all my coworkers of the Challenger

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disaster I would I was very remorseful

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to the whole situation and I guess

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that's the key key thing that keeps me

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driving I and in the passion of the

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shuttle program I'm getting goosebumps

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my first engine test was that canoga

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park up on the up on the hill at santa

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susanna and the shockwaves that came off

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the engine the power that came off of

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our ian was so amazing

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it just filled me with an excitement

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that I can't even I can't even share

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with you in words because you have to

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feel it and I felt that when I've been

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at every ssme launch and it's never

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changed I think it has a major effect on

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on how you look at the job that you have

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to do I'm still filled with excitement

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and energy and that's what's important

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here to support shuttle you have to be

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energized and you have to be motivated

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to do that that job just the best that

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you very best you can one of the things

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that stand out in my mind when we first

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ran our fuel pumps the gases that went

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through the turbine was exhausted

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through a war fish that was ignited and

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put a big flame out decided a hot gas

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manifold and in the hydrogen it was

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pumped went up a stack and they actually

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had to call a Palm Beach International

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Airport every time I ran and rerouted

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commercial traffic around the area when

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we were going to do our runs and I was

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pretty amazed about that that the the

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heat from the from the running could go

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that high to possibly interrupt a

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a group of us were at KSC and we had had

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the good fortune to visit the Columbia

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room where they store recovered

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artifacts from the Columbia accident

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well our group was in the VA be waiting

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on our tour guide to arrive and we were

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all just kind of standing around talking

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laughing and joking around in the mood

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was very light when our tour guide

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arrived and took us to the artifacts

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room she opened the door and you could

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have heard a pin drop as we saw the

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displays it was a very somber very quiet

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moment and I think the magnitude of the

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tragedy really sink in with all of us

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and I think you know together we've all

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done some wonderful awesome things

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working main engine and working on the

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space shuttle program and so we

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celebrate those things but at the same

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time we're very mindful of the

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sacrifices that some extremely

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courageous people have made throughout

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the entire history of NASA to get us

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where we are today and we will always

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remember and honor that I think the most

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memorable time in my career working on

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SS army was in the early 90s when we had

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the on pad aborts that we had we had

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actually four of them within the span of

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two or three years and I had been an

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engineer at the company for four or five

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years when those happen so I was just

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getting my feet wet long hours and you

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spend a lot of time you learn a lot is

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what I'm trying to say and those

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experiences working for those aboard

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when the eyes of the world were on you

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that's something that's pretty memorable

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me I came to ssme and them around

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December 2005 so the first launch that I

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saw working for ssme was in December

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2006 my husband and I took vacation and

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took both of our mothers and a lot of

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our great nieces and nephews down for

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the launch so we were out in the

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causeway and it was a night launch oh it

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was fantastic beautiful and as as though

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you know after the launch and you're

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watching it you're going to watch it as

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long as you can and it's so excited and

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so then the of the guy comes over the

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intercom and says three main engines

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operating nominal and I'm going boo boo

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and then the launch goes out of sight

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and my great nephew came up to me and

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patted me on the shoulder and said good

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job Anna Lisa and you know to me just

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fantastic in the 80s we had a major

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engine incident we were supposed to fly

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nine days later and we literally worked

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around the clock to make sure that we

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could clear that engine and we had

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different failure scenarios that we were

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working we didn't know exactly what it

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was but we had to make sure for any of

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those failure scenarios that were

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possible that the next flight was not

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going to experience that same problem so

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that's one of those fire drill memories

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that you have the other memory is are

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just I love working with the folks

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around here you know just working with

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true rocket scientists you know people

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that are experts in their field

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passionate about what they do really

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dedicated to keeping astronauts safe we

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get to talk with astronauts and get to

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know them so that's just kind of a day

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to day pleasure to work here mm I folks

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I think the one of the saddest memories

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that I have is when we decided to move

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engine assembly out of canoga park it

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was a business decision at that time and

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it was a good decision to do it because

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we weren't building that many more

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engines but one member we had is we took

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a picture of it and we were all waving

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goodbye to the engine as it was the last

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engine that left the engine line so

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that's one of the sad memories that I

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had of the engine line but there's tons

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and tons of other good memories of

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successful launches and great accolades

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for everyone that have done good things

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here at rocketdyne so there's a there's

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a whole archive of good memories across

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the board I had a recent experience that

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I think is really pretty special to me

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it changed some of my perspective I took

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a class in ground operations for the

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shuttle at KSC and course during this

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class they're talking about the whole

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flow from the day of shuttle lands and

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all the steps that they go through to

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get it ready to launch again and they

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have schedules literally down to 15

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minute increments during the flow of

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everything that has to happen to that

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shuttle and in all of these flows

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there's just this little tiny part about

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the ssme and it basically is a little

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black that says install ssme or remove

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ssme that kept thinking wait a minute

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we're like the most important thing on

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the orbiter why are they only spending a

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couple little bars on all these

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flowcharts and after about three days of

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this I finally figured out you know why

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we aren't showing up on that because we

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are always there ready to support our

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hardware is ready the folks doing the

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flow at KSC they don't even have to

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think about the ssme because they know

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we are going to be there ready to

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support yeah we're the ssme we're there

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we're supporting our customer and they

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I remember when I was a little kid

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probably about 12 years old and I was

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excited about space program I remember

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writing a letter to NASA and I didn't I

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don't know what I wrote but i think it

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was along the lines of deer nasa please

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send me stuff and i remember getting an

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envelope back from them a big old brown

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envelope and for all i knew at that time

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it was sent to me by john glenn himself

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and i opened it up and it was pictures

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of the apollo 8 program and the decal

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about circling the moon and circling the

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earth with the big 8 and that's truly

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why i got excited about the space

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program i remember the excitement that i

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felt and admittedly i was probably only

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11 or 12 years old but that really had

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an impact on me and at that point in

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time i decided hey i want to be part of

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something bigger and I thought the space

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program you can't get any bigger than

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starting here at the test stands they

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had to burn stack so you get the burn

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stacks going first and the flame a

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hydrogen flame that was shoot in the

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year 5,000 feet a lot of tests were late

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at night seemed like he got things done

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during the day and tested at night

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that's historically true for anybody but

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you were so close you could feel the

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heat and then right before that the the

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start sequence would be enabled the

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valves would start to create ice would

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start to fall and you that that sense of

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what's going to happen next just built

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and then when the pump lid off the roar

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the sound it was just incredible it to

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be so close and so much power at the end

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of day when I walk away from the Space

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Shuttle main engine program one of their

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most memorable or rewarding parts of

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working on the program where the people

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that they worked with there's not a lot

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of people in the world that have the

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opportunity to work on rocket engines

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and so you become very close I think

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when you leave ssme or leave or retire

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always remember one time I decided to

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take my wife to a launch and I decided I

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would just enjoy the launch with my wife

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and so we were at the the viewing area

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on on the Banana River and and I

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remember that you know I was on the cell

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phone constantly with the guys in the

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launch control room asking them for data

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and they would feed be numbers and ask

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questions we went back and forth and

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finally the launch went off right on

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time which was kind of special in those

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days and I always remember we were

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sitting in this large grandstand of

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people and you know everybody was

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cheering and yelling as the shuttle took

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off and then when you finally couldn't

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see it anymore everybody started leaving

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of course we were sitting there still

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glued on my cell phone as because the

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shuttle engines were still firing and by

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the time we hit Miko my wife and I were

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the only one sitting in a grandstand

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everybody else was left and we're

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already partying I guess at that time

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but you know is always special those

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missions to hit me co and yet the the

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thrill of that was just something

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special and a lot of us got together

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there's my first time actually going to

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stephs I never been a stance before I've

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seen pictures of the test stands and

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whatnot but I never been on top of them

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I decided I was going to make a little

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paper airplane just to see how it was

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stand up to a flying off the top of the

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test and I really didn't tell anybody

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that I was doing it so who knows i

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probably could have got a little bit of

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trouble doing that but when i first got

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up there I was uh probably like anybody

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else I was a little scared because uh

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it's a little high up there when nobody

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was looking and I turned to the side

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when over there walking like I was

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looking at the trees and trying to see

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what else was out there I threw it and

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needless to say because of the wind and

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everything

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paper airplane didn't fare so well

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that's my little special story dealing

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with SS at me the controller software

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lab used to be in Canoga Park California

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billing for and in 1994 there were there

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was a decision to bring the lab closer

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to the Marshall Space Flight Center

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customer and there were a number of us

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working in the Huntsville that were

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integrated with the canoga park team to

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facilitate that move crew or three of us

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and Kevin and Bob I myself we moved the

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lab from canoga park over here with pen

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a lot of days underneath the floor I

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remember a funny story because uh Bob

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that we sent him underneath the floor

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and he will disappear the only thing we

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could see with his feet and then Kevin

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and I when he needed to get out we will

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pull him out by his feet out of the

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floor spent four days underneath the

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raised floor with about one foot of

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clearance you know I go underneath there

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at eight o'clock and come out for lunch

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and dive back in there again pulling

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cables you know all kinds of stuff we

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found her teeth there and packing it up

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and sending it to Huntsville a lot of

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hard work went into that move and you

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know we worked hard but we had a good

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time doing it and I think we did it very

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well and that makes me proud I think the

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most fulfilling piece was watching the

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first fuel pump fly I mean but the LOX

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pump was exciting to but I went up to

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launch for the for the first fuel pump

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as STS 104 I believe was and it was a

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5am launch so we all went up on the

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night before and we were lucky enough to

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take a family member with

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and I brought my son who was five years

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old at the time and we stayed up all

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night and five o'clock in the mornings

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awfully early for a five-year-old but he

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saw the shuttle launch had lit up the

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sky and he said dad that it looks like

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its morning time and then the shuttle

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left was dark again but he was very

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excited seeing that launch and that

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really gave me a lot of pride not only

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in what I do but for my family to one of

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our jobs here with the project support

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group is to transfer files back and

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forth when the NASA customer needs data

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whatever since we aren't compliant back

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and forth through our servers we serve

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as that conduit so canoga park will put

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or west palm whichever will put their

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charts in flight ops which is a server

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that the ssme team uses myself I have a

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folder it's called Marcie and over the

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years that servers been set out there

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for years and all of our guys that I

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work with it with the different product

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teams you know they know that that's

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where they're supposed to put the files

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so at canoga we were sitting out there

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one day when I was visiting with a big

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group of turbomachinery people and I

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knew God came up that I had never seen

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before and he has this amazed look on

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his face like wait a minute Marci as in

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the Marcy folder he said I thought that

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was not a real person eats that I

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thought that was a folder I had no idea

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there was somebody who actually took

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I think the strangest thing I've ever

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had to do on the program was actually

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non concur with a change that I wrote

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and the way that came down was when I

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was at the Cape the engineers up here

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called me and told me that we had got an

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action from the program to change a

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requirement well I immediately knew that

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whoever gave us the action did not even

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understand the test so I told him that

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that we can't do we can't complete that

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action so I told them I would call back

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to the CM guy back in Houston and

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telling that that action wasn't when it

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needs to be withdrawn because it wasn't

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appropriate so I called the JSC guy and

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he said they don't have a mechanism for

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withdrawing actions and so he said my

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only option was to submit the change and

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if I didn't agree with it non concur

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which I did I roved the change and it

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went through the change process then i

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wrote a non concur to the change that i

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wrote it went to the board and was

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rejected because we didn't concur with

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it and that closed the action and caused

382
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this twitch the shuttle is hugely

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important to the space program the space

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program is one of America's crown jewels

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and the shuttle is the centerpiece of it

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two things really stick out in my mind

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that that I just absolutely love number

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one is seeing a launch that's a very

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very moving experience and until you

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00:18:29,970 --> 00:18:28,030
have experienced it you can't really

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describe it there's nothing really

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prepares you for that experience the

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other thing is in my family we like to

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look on the website for when the space

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station is going to pass over again and

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I take my kids outside and we look at

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the space station go by and to see the

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brightest star in the night sky cross

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over and you can tell your children that

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the people that you worked with helped

401
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put it there that's quite special very

402
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in October I was at a suppliers it was

403
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one of his open house events and I think

404
00:19:13,619 --> 00:19:12,459
was a 20 year celebration and it was the

405
00:19:15,899 --> 00:19:13,629
first time I was getting the opportunity

406
00:19:20,149 --> 00:19:15,909
to go and be with an astronaut and the

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00:19:23,009 --> 00:19:20,159
astronaut was Robert hoot Gibson and I

408
00:19:24,930 --> 00:19:23,019
remember it very well because I when I

409
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showed up I had a lot of anticipation

410
00:19:30,389 --> 00:19:27,009
and being able to meet him talk to him

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get to know him and I remember that when

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I was introduced we had a quick little

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conversation and then he said well I'll

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get back to you and talk to you later

415
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well later never came because of the

416
00:19:43,949 --> 00:19:41,709
fact that we were so busy with the

417
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events and everything so after

418
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everything was over I went back to the

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hotel and I thought jeez I would have

420
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loved to have talked to him in shortly

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thereafter the phone rang and I picked

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it up and he said Lee and I said yeah I

423
00:19:58,199 --> 00:19:56,649
said this is hoot hoot Gibson he says

424
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how about meeting me downstairs in the

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lounge and have a couple beers and i

426
00:20:04,979 --> 00:20:02,469
thought god what a great thing to have

427
00:20:07,049 --> 00:20:04,989
happen he showed me he's a real person

428
00:20:10,019 --> 00:20:07,059
he was talking about his family his

429
00:20:11,879 --> 00:20:10,029
goals in life what he wanted and I think

430
00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:11,889
from that I took the fact that this is

431
00:20:16,379 --> 00:20:14,200
really for the astronauts and we need to