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an idea born in unsettled times

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we are going forward

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america the united states

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is first in space

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the most complex machine ever built

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to bring humans to

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of space and eventually construct the

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next stop on the road to space

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as 30 years of flight draw to a close

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its legacy is one of unsurpassed

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nasa space shuttle

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space shuttle endeavour is rolling out

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to launch pad 39a at nasa's kennedy

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in 24 missions

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flown over 20 years

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endeavour has logged more than 103

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million miles in space

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the last of nasa's shuttles to be built

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endeavour prepares for her final flight

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endeavour's six astronauts have trained

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for this mission for years well before

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any shuttle reaches the launch pad

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however a staggering amount of work is

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required

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the parts plans and people necessary to

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make each launch

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span the entire nation you've got all

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these people all these folks that are in

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their 20s some of them in their 30s and

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they are no kidding in charge of some

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part of the space shuttle some part of

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the space station or some part of the

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plan and every one of those people

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absolutely believes that they are the

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one that makes the difference on getting

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those astronauts back down to the ground

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at nasa's mission assembly facility in

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new orleans production begins on the

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shuttle's external fuel tank

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the last of 136 produced here since

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1973.

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[Music]

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around the same time

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in clearfield utah

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technicians and atk launch systems start

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work on the shuttle system solid rocket

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unlike the orange external tank that is

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used only once the boosters detach

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themselves and parachute into the

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atlantic ocean

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they are then retrieved refurbished and

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the shuttle missions crew is assigned

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right up until launch

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a shuttle crew will train in a variety

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of critical regimens some basic

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others specific to their mission

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simulators

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safety and contingency

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[Music]

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science experiments

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and underwater in the world's largest

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one month later the et is mated to the

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solid rocket boosters to form the

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backbone of the stack now all that's

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missing

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is the spacecraft itself

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[Music]

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looking now much like it will at liftoff

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the space shuttle is carried to the

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launch pad atop the six million pound

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crawler transporter at a blazing pace of

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less than a mile an hour

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not exactly

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warm speed at our peak carrying full

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load we get a

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right around 38 feet per gallon not too

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bad for an original 1965 hybrid vehicle

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with low miles the 3.4 mile journey

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now on the launch pad the orbiter is

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ready to take on its main payload

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testing assures that the multi-ton cargo

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is secured and safely stowed in the

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payload bay before the technician

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certified the orbiter is ready for

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flying t-38 aircraft from ellington

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field in houston the crew members arrive

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this is the mtd conducting the launch

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status check all stations verify ready

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to resume count and go for launch otc

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seagal

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pvc tbc

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after nearly three years

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hundreds of thousands of hours logged by

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engineers

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technicians

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scientists

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seamstresses

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electricians

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and other program workers across the

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globe

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we have main engines start two

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one

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the shuttle

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makes its way

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at liftoff

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6.6 million pounds of thrust begin

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hurtling the vehicle and crew at speeds

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that will reach 17

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the shuttle is like no other machine

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ever built

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for its launch to succeed more than a

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million parts must move together

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perfectly

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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how this engineering marvel came to be

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is an amazing story that begins in the

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early 1970s

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a new mission is sought for nasa to send

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humans into space but mars

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for many the next logical step on the

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path of exploration is dismissed as too

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costly a destination for a country

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preoccupied with events back on earth

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instead on january 5th 1972

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another destination is selected

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[Music]

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low earth orbit president nixon really

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liked the idea and uh and and told the

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nasa administrator go do it

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and the nasa administrator got a call

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from omb the next morning someone there

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and said hey

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what the president really meant to say

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was you're going to get this much money

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and so do as best you can

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with the space transportation system and

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our choice

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uh

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logically was we have to have a vehicle

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first and so that that was the birth of

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the space shuttle as the first in the

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three-part space transportation system

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many designs were considered often they

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combined the best features of different

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concepts

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one was the use of a lifting body an

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aircraft with no conventional wings only

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its fuselage would keep the aircraft

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airborne and guide it safely back to

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earth

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at that time they were looking at having

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jet engines on the shuttle for landing

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and for transporting it across the

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country

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they were known as the flying bathtubs

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for the first test the m2f1 was towed

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behind a car a souped-up pontiac

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whitey whitesides drove that pontiac

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across like that at about 120 miles per

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hour dragging this flying bathtub behind

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it as well as groundbreaking their tests

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could also prove

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september 1976 more than four and a half

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years after president nixon signed off

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on its development

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america's new spacecraft constitution

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gets its first close-up before the

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cameras the arbiter itself was well

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received by the public but impassioned

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fans of a particular long cancelled

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television series called star trek

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wanted it called something else they

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staged a successful write-in campaign

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and the orbiter was renamed for the

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starship featured on the show thus

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nasa's new shuttle would be the

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enterprise

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boldly going

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whatever its name

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this bird still needed to prove he could

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fly

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[Music]

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in an age before computer simulations

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balsa wood models and wind tunnel

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testing was the only means to test the

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airliner sized glider

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we put together a very aggressive uh

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flight test profile that consisted of

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data points continuously all the way

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down they were just not there was not a

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matter of 10 seconds went by without

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another either pitch doublet or a rudder

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kick or an angle of attack sweep

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the things that really turn on a test

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pilot to fly them as accurately as

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possible august 12 1977

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on a crystal clear california morning

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high above the mojave desert

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two nasa test pilots ready for

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enterprises first flight

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the plan

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was for fred hayes jr and gordon

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fullerton to lift the orbiter off a

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modified 747

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then land on a dry lake bed 15 000 feet

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[Music]

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colombia nasa's first orbiter is

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fittingly named after the first american

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vessel to circumnavigate the globe

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while the new class of nasa astronauts

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trained for subsequent shuttle flights

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columbia was undergoing preparations for

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the program's maiden voyage

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sts-1

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veteran astronaut john young one of the

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12 men to set foot on the moon

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is in command his pilot is first-time

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together they would travel over a

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million miles and circle the earth 36

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times

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john used to says hey they're

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getting ready to light off seven million

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pounds of thrust under you and you're a

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little bit

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excited you don't know what's going on

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they both john and i knew what was going

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on launched like a rocket two days

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earlier columbia lands as a glider on

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the dry lake bed of edwards air force

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base in california we do a big turn

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around to land on the lake bed after

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that first flight i remember when john

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went into a bank on the big left bank i

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looked down to lake bed and there's

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thousands of people out there

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look at all those folks

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anyone who was associated with the

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program or there just to see the shuttle

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return i think felt a lot of pride in

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our country and our space program and so

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that

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those emotions were you know finally

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released and you said wow you know the

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flight was done safely they're back home

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uh the shuttle really does work it's a

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great program it's got a great future

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ahead of

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liftoff has been challenging

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columbia

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recovery and the shuttle has cleared us

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for more than 30 years the fleet and

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thousands of americans dedicated to its

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safety and success have toiled in

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exhilarating triumph

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heartbreaking tragedy and most often

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quiet obscurity

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their contributions have extended beyond

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the bounds of space

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among others

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shuttle derived technologies have been

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used in developing an artificial heart

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and limbs three-dimensional

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biotechnology

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a light for treating tumors in children

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and improving crime prevention and

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from crawler driver

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to payload specialists

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from scuba dive to pilot

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from scientists to engineer

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they and many like throughout the nation

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share a commitment to sending humankind

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safely into space

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that dedication as much as any other

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acclaim

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will be the legacy

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of america's

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space shuttle i think

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we'll be remembered in

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thousands of years you know as perhaps

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the most incredible technological uh

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feat of humans of our time as is the

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order of life

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an ending for the space shuttle becomes

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a beginning for a space-bound successor

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soon

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america will again send astronauts into

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orbit