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the moon our nearest celestial neighbor

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has intrigued and inspired us since the

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dawn of humanity

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during the apollo program 12 astronauts

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landed on its cold and cratered surface

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but they couldn't stay

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now nasa's constellation program begins

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a new journey to live and work on the

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moon setting the stage for future

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long-duration human exploration

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today two spacecraft scouts are poised

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to lift off together aboard a powerful

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atlas v rocket on the first launch of

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this new era

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they are the lunar reconnaissance

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orbiter

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and the lunar crater observation and

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sensing satellite or lro and cross

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one rocket one destination two critical

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missions

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together they're helping us pave the way

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welcome to the show

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i'm your host george diller

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i'm here at nasa's kennedy space center

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in florida inside the apollo saturn 5

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center

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behind me is an actual massive 360 long

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saturn v rocket just like those that

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boosted the apollo astronauts on

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america's first human missions to the

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moon

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today nasa is preparing to return to the

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moon beginning with the lunar

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reconnaissance orbiter and a lunar

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crater observation and sensing satellite

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this upcoming launch aboard an atlas v

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rocket is the critical first step in the

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new constellation program

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on today's show we're going to take you

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inside both of these exciting missions

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and find out what it takes to launch two

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spacecraft at once

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our first guest is kathy petty deputy

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project manager for the lunar

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reconnaissance orbiter

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she stopped by the nasa direct studio to

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give us the inside story on this moon

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the lunar reconnaissance orbiter project

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or lro's main goal is

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we're really the the first mission the

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first step uh that nasa is taking back

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to exploring our universe and so

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what we really need to do is have a

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reconnaissance mission you know get get

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more data one of the things that we want

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to do is is go back to the moon uh you

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know we've been there before

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we we have

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really awesome data sets from our

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previous missions from the apollo era to

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to the other spacecraft that have gone

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so we want to build upon those data sets

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that we already have

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and and most of those data sets really

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focused on the equatorial region of the

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moon so now we want to go back and say

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hey

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let's map the entire moon so so have

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more of a global perspective or a

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comprehensive atlas of the moon and help

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whoever wants to to join us in exploring

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our universe or or or taking that next

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step back they need to have a more

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comprehensive atlas of the moon so that

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they know where to go what to do what to

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expect that kind of thing help them out

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we're like a scout mission for the for

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well roughly a couple of days after we

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we've launched we will begin

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what we call the lunar orbit insertion

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burn and and that burn will help us

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or help the moon and us get captured by

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the moon and so

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what happens during that burn

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as lro starts to get closer to the moon

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and the moon will capture lrl and once

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once once we have that confirmation that

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the moon has captured us we call that

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lunar acquisition and then after we have

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lunar acquisition for we we're sure that

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we have a stable orbit then we will

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begin a series of burns that are roughly

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a day apart from each other a series of

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four or five burns that begin to lower

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lro into her final orbit which is

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roughly 50 kilometers above the moon or

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31 miles and that's lro's polar orbiting

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orbit where where we lower the

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spacecraft low enough so that so that

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the instruments can focus on the surface

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of the moon and begin the data

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collection that that is what our mission

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is all about to create that

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now an interesting offshoot of our data

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is that our data will also be made

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available to google moon so that anyone

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that has access to the web or google

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will be able to punch in

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i don't know like shackleton crater and

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be able to see all the cool data from

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lro pop up right on their their own

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well at nasa we're all about exploring

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and and

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pushing our knowledge across the

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boundaries and and lro even though

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taking us back to the moon where we've

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been before that there's a lot about our

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moon that we don't know

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and and a lot about our moon that we

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want to use as as we begin to look out

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into the universe and decide you know

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where we want to go next so

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having a reconnaissance or a scout

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mission that that that begins to take us

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out is is a perfect fit into what nasa

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is all about and what what people like

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me who've dreamed about

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working for nasa have always wanted to

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do you know explore

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look out beyond who and what we are

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today and lro is is is the perfect fit

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now that we know what to expect from the

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lunar reconnaissance orbiter we turn our

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attention to its sister payload the

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lunar crater observation and sensing

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satellite

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his goal is to hunt for evidence of

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water ice using a hard hitting method

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dr kimberly iniko l cross payload

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l cross mission has

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two impact events

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the first

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is

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the upper stage of the launch vehicle

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that we take with us on our four-month

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mission into space

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and we separate from it and

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it's traveling to hit the moon

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at 5600 miles per hour

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it's going to impact one of these lunar

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permanently shadowed basins of a crater

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on the lunar poles

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and

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it's going to hit a particular place

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it's going to hit a place on the moon

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scientists who believe that there is

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water on the moon don't know whether

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it's

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smooth or chunky peanut butter type

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so where you hit is important

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the secondary impact

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is the l cross payload which will impact

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somewhere between three to five

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kilometers away from the first impact so

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we're going to hit another part of that

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crater we've targeted this crater

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because it's got a strong hydrogen

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concentration

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we're going to sample two parts of this

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crater

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and so the two impact events will tell

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us something about the distribution

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of this hydrogen concentration or

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perhaps a distribution of water if the

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the live images of our

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what we're taking with our science

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payload as we're going into the surface

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for the last four minutes of the mission

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which is 600 kilometers down to the

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surface will be streamed live

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elkhorse is important because it

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provides us a way to confirm the

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presence or absence of water ice at a

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particular location on the lunar pole

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there's water ice there or water in some

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form

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it means that for future missions to the

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moon and perhaps beyond there's there an

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in-situ a resource that's there a

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resource that's on the on the surface of

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that planet you don't need to bring it

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with you

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so

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for the human species

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in terms of exploring

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the

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out of low earth orbit

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and we need water with us if we can find

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a resource of water on the moon

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that will be

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an amazing step forward and a great

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resource to take advantage of in a very

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resource limited place

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both lro and lcross need a successful

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launch in order to begin their missions

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our next guest is an integral part in

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getting these spacecraft and many others

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off the ground

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chuck tatro is a mission manager in

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nasa's launch services program at

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kennedy space center he's going to tell

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us about the unique challenges of this

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two-for-one launch

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hello my name is chuck tatro and i'm a

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mission manager for nasa's launch

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service program at kennedy space center

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we're at the vertical integration

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facility on cape canaveral air force

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station this is where we will assemble

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the atlas v rocket that will send the

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lro and lcross spacecraft on their

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as a mission manager my job is to lead

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the effort to bring a new spacecraft and

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launch vehicle together to where they're

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about three months before launch the

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spacecraft and the launch vehicle

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components arrive at the launch site for

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final testing about two months before

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launch this rocket components are

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erected on the mobile launch platform

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and filled with cryogenic fluids for a

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wet dress rehearsal

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about two weeks before launch the

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spacecraft is brought out here to the

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vertical integration facility and

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stacked on the rocket

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about one week before launch we do a

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launch countdown rehearsal so the team

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can practice for countdown

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in a dual payload flow both spacecraft

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have their own

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intricate and intimate requirements that

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are separate and may not play together

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nicely with the other spacecraft for

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example contamination orbital

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requirements because lcross is going to

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impact the moon and lro is going to go

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in orbit around the moon we need to make

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sure that one doesn't adversely impact

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the first challenge on this mission is

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the fact that the centaur second stage

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will remain attached to the l cross

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spacecraft after it does its normal job

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of delivering lro and l-cross on their

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journey to the moon

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l-cross then will command the centaur

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stage for an impact into the lunar

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surface

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the second challenge is that

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the orbit requirements for each

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spacecraft are complex this narrows the

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daily launch window that we have to

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launch this mission

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the third challenge is that this is

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nasa's first step in our return to the

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moon so there's a lot of public

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awareness and increased interest in this

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mission we want to make sure that this

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mission is launched safely and

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that's our show

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to our guests kathy petty dr kimberly

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eneko and chuck tatro thanks for giving

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us an insider's view of these two

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missions

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we also thank all of you for joining us

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for today's webcast be sure to join us

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on launch day for the liftoff of the

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atlas v rocket carrying the lunar

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reconnaissance orbiter and the lunar

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crater observation and sensing satellite

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you can follow the countdown on nasa tv

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and on each mission's website at

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lro

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gov www.nasa.gov l cross