good morning we begin NASA television
coverage of mission STS 72 here at the
John F Kennedy Space Center in Florida
we're just hours away from the 74th
space shuttle launch and the tenth
flight of the orbiter Endeavour with a
crew of six astronauts liftoff is
planned at 4:18 a.m. Eastern Time the
opening of a 49 minute launch window
this is shuttle launch control t-minus
three hours and holding final inspection
team is on the mobile launcher platform
continuing their inspections of the
vehicle the team has about eight members
representing NASA the contractors and
Greg cat nick of the case of Kennedy
Space Center is leading the team the
team carries a variety of instruments
one is a portable infrared scanner to
measure temperatures on the cryogenic
surfaces of the tank engines and orbiter
they also measure temperatures of the
solid rocket booster cases and segment
joints
and here we have the crew sitting down
at the traditional table the decorated
cake bearing their STS 72 insignia we
have mission specialist kawiti Wakata
flying for the first time aboard the
shuttle co h e is a astronaut from NASA
born in Japan and dr. Daniel berry
flying for the first time aboard the
shuttle this morning very will be one of
the EDA specialists and pilot Brent Jett
also flying aboard the shuttle the first
time you'll be monitoring using the RMS
for the flight crew whether performing
EPA's here we have commander Brian Duffy
flying for the third time aboard the
shuttle today Duffy the most experienced
in the shuttle for the whole crew
mission specialist Leroy Chiao he's
making his second flight today aboard
the shuttle he will be involved in to
the spacewalks and serving a slight
engineer Winston Scott flying for the
first time aboard the shuttle today
again the crew has been awake since
about 7 p.m. and they're getting right
on their schedule that they'll be
following during the nine-day mission
for mission as he has 72
the funnel inspection team is continuing
their assessment and we do have the
astronauts in the crew quarters getting
into the launcher entry suits
I got commander Brian Duffy he's making
his third flight into space today it's
commander he's got the overall
responsibility of the flight he's the
most experienced space flyer on this
mission and of course during the reentry
he will take control just minutes before
touchdown and will be responsible for
relevant systems on board the vehicle
during the rendezvous manoeuvres and
show a rookie Brent Jett is making his
first flight he will be assisting Duffy
at the flight controls including the to
rendezvous operations jet will also
operate the robot arm during the two
spacewalks that are planned and Asda
astronaut mission specialist
Karrueche Wakata going on the space
shuttle for the first time Ricardo will
be using their robot arm during the
mission to retrieve the Japanese space
flower unit satellite and will also use
the arm to deploy and retrieve the most
scientific flyer across the room
flight engineer Winston Scott and
mission specialist Leroy Chiao tower
making his second flight aboard the
shuttle I'm ready to go this morning and
child will be involved in both of the
spacewalks planned for the mission also
he is prime operator for the commercial
protein crystal growth experiment rookie
Shuttle astronaut was to Scott flying
for the first time
he serves as the flight engineer for
this mission in the capacity he will be
responsible for the this space floor
unit systems the oast flyer systems will
be operating several of the secondary
experiments and we have mission
specialists dr. dan Barry he's saying
he's ready to go for lunch today he's
also playing for the first time aboard
the shuttle he will be involved in the
first spacewalk of this mission
crew will be departing for launch pad
39b in about 20-30 minutes and it's
about a 30 minute ride out to the launch
pad again things look good for launch
as far as weather is concerned here at
KSC and no ice concerns with the
external tank or anywhere on the vehicle
at all the ice team reported that things
look very good here we have the
astronauts for mission STS 72 coming out
of their crew quarters at the operations
and check-out building they'll be
getting into an elevator where will they
ride down to the first floor crew 6
again has been training for the better
part of the year there
spent most of their time training for
this particular flight from our
employees wishing them well
we have the team led by commander Brian
Duffy
and the cruel right outs in the
astronaut van to the launch pad
it's about a 30 minute ride to pad 39b
the astrovan is escorted by KFC security
and the Astro van is off
this is shuttle launch control we've got
these STS 72 flight crew now with the
195-foot level at the launch pad
Brian Duffy is commander of the flight
and he is has overall responsibility for
the mission Duffy is a colonel in the
Air Force he's the most experienced
space flier on the mission having flown
twice before as pilot of STS 45 in 1992
and STS 57 in 1993 Duffy is a native of
Boston Massachusetts he was director of
the f-15 test flights at Eglin Air Force
Base in Florida before being selected as
an astronaut candidate in that by NASA
in 1985 and mission specialist dr. dan
Barry now getting ready to take his
assigned seat he will be seated down in
the mid-deck for asset
berry called south hadley message she
sits his hometown and he earned five
degrees after high school including a
doctorate in electrical engineering
computer science from Princeton
University and a doctorate in medicine
from the University of Miami and
commander Duffy has nicknamed him doctor
dr. Dan
mission specialist Karrueche Wakata is
now getting the rest of his gear on
getting ready for his first flight
aboard the space shuttle ricotta is from
the Japanese space agency and will be
operating the remote remote manipulator
system robotic arm
he's responsible for grappling the
satellites and for berthing him in the
pant rotors payload Bay
we'd like to hear five minutes and
lights and so that we'll be able to get
to minus five minutes and Counting a
profile test of the orbiters
aerosurfaces has started the orbiter
flight control surfaces are being moved
through a pre-programmed pattern to
verify they are ready for launch
the main engines are being gimballed and
positioned for launch
all systems are go at this time just a
few minutes away from the tenth voyage
of Endeavour with a crew of six on the
first shuttle flight of the year
2-3 minutes and Counting external tank
is now being pressurized for flight the
gaseous oxygen vent hood at the very top
of the tank will be moved away retracted
back to the launch position
at the team - 31 second point endeavors
onboard computers will have control of
vehicle functions
in the next few seconds thousands of
gallons of water will be dumped onto the
launch platform to help suppress the
sound and shock of the seven million
pounds of thrust produced by the shuttle
t-minus 15 seconds 12 11 10 9 8 we have
a go for engine start
now try one back up
standing by
SRB separation is confirmed time two
minutes and 20 seconds into the flight
downrange from the 45 nautical miles now
traveling 5,000 feet per second or about
3400 miles per hour