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I'm Bradley Tyree,

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and I'm a NASA test
operations engineer

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here at the A-1,
Fred Hayes Test Stand.

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From a really young age,
I was interested in Space,

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and I can remember being
in elementary school

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and doing like
the Solar System,

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science projects
and things like that.

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Also, my great grandfather
worked out here for

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Rocketdyne and Rockwell
and Boeing as they changed

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names throughout the
years from the sixties,

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seventies and even into
the early eighties.

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So he had a direct part, a
direct part that he played

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with the Space Shuttle
Main Engine program.

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I have pictures of him
working on the engine,

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working at B-2, you
know, back when it was

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more just
like a skeleton.

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And so that's
really interesting.

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And that was really fun,
you know, growing up,

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hearing all these stories,
and seeing the pictures

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of him working on
the old rocket engines

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and things like that.

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So I never
thought I would

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see myself at
Stennis Space Center.

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But as I came up and I was
started going to college

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and studying aerospace
engineering, I realized,

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wow, I could really do,
I could follow in his

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footsteps, you know, and
do the same kind of work.

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I never pictured
myself doing that,

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but so I've always
been interested in it.

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And that's how I guess
I found myself here.

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As a NASA test
operations engineer,

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one of the roles
that we have to perform

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is the role of
the test conductor,

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and the test
conductor is the vessel

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at which all
of the operations

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on the stand has to
be coordinated through

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for testing
the rocket engine.

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So as a test conductor,
this was never something

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that I saw myself doing
whenever I first started

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at Stennis Space Center.

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I kind of remember sitting
in the back of the room

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and thinking, wow,

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that person up
there is important.

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So as the test conductor,
you're responsible

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for dozens and dozens
of different technicians

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and engineers, operations.

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They are all counting
on you to know what's

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happening on the
stand at all times.

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You're responsible
for knowing the valve

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positions from level one
to level ten and what

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systems are pressurized
and what systems aren't.

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And people are looking
to you to tell them when

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and where they can
perform their job.

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And so there's a lot of
responsibility and there's

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a lot of pressure on
the test conductor.

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You know, sometimes
you're having

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five or six
conversations at one time

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with five or six different people simultaneously.

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So it can be stressful,

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but it's also
very exciting.

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On a typical test day,
the test team arrives

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at the control
center around 5 a.m.,

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so we start preparing the
facility for calibration.

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Right?

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We have to make
sure everything

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is reading accurately
and precisely

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because we're
going to be reading

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all of this data
back and conveying it

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and sending it out
and processing it.

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We have a lot of
analysis that happens.

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So the team
arrives, and everybody

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starts getting on station.

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We have transfer engineers
for the different

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propellants that goes
to the rocket engine.

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We have data engineers,
video engineers, you know,

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technicians start
getting on station

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on the test stand, and
we start, everybody gets,

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starts falling into place.

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That's all day
long, 12 plus hours.

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Right?

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You're on,
you're in the chair,

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and you're
coordinating all these

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different activities,
and you have all these

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different conversations happening.

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You have all these systems
you have to monitor

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and data you
have to watch.

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All these things
are happening,

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and test day is just a
giant adrenaline rush.

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Right?

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So you're building
up and you've got

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all these operations
and then, you know,

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1-O'clock, 2-O'clock
happens and here it comes.

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You're getting ready
to hit that button

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to start that engine.

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That's, it's like
being at the top

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of the roller coaster.
Right?

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You're right
there at the peak.

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And you're ready
to hit the button.

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You hit the button

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and that rocket
engine starts firing.

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Now you're on the
roller coaster and

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you're just holding on.
Right?

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You're watching all these
different data systems.

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You're watching
temperatures and pressures

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and all of the
things are happening,

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you know, in
that 500 seconds.

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One of the more
important things

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about being a test
conductor is how the team

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is integrated
into that role.

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Right?

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So the test conductors
job can be much easier

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if we've got a
really knowledgeable,

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trained test team.
Right?

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And so everybody can
take their specific

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individual systems and
relay that information

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to the test conductor and
the test goes smoothly

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when you're getting
lots of thumbs up

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from the test team.
Right?

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It helps to have a team

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that's on their
game all the time.

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Today, we'll be
testing the RS-25 engine,

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which is used to power
the Space Launch System

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on the Artemis missions.

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These RS-25 engines are
space shuttle main engines

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that have gotten
new, upgraded parts.

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We've used things
like 3D printing,

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we've got different manufacturing techniques,

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and so we're testing
these engines as

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part of a certification
series right now.

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And this series
will prove and

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provide data useful for
future Artemis missions

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and future rocket engines.

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Here at NASA,
we talk about

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testing like you fly,
and a typical RS-25 test

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runs for about
500 seconds because

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500 seconds is about
how long it takes

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for the
Space Launch System

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from the ground
to reach orbit.

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So you might
think, you know,

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why is this test
going so long sometimes?

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And that's because we're
testing like we fly.

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You know, we want to
make sure that we hit

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all of the same parameters
that we would need to hit

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in a launch day situation.

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During today's engine
test, you'll notice

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the rocket engine gimbal
or in other words,

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it'll pivot around
the central point.

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Right?

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This gimballing is
used during flight

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to control and to
stabilize the rocket

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as it reaches orbit.

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We want to use the
gimballing to control the

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trajectory of the rocket
as it reaches orbit.

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During the test we'll
take this gimballing,

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and we'll take it
as far as it can go.

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Right?

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To simulate any
kind of conditions

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it might experience
during a flight.

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One of the cool things
about the rocket engine

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test that most people
don't know about

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is that we actually
take the rocket engine

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past its limits,
past any parameters

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that it might see
during a flight.

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Right?

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We take it to a
higher power level,

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to higher pressures, and

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we gimbal this engine to
higher angles of attack

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than it would probably
see during a launch,

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during a
flight situation.

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And that's because,
you know,

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if I was an astronaut on
board this rocket ship,

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I would want to know that
this thing's been tested

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to its absolute limits.
Right?

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It needs to be
able to perform

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more than
it's designed for.

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And so that's the
whole point of us

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doing these
rocket engine tests.

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The RS-25 engine
uses liquid oxygen

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and liquid hydrogen

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as the propellants
for the engine.

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We use liquid hydrogen
because liquid hydrogen

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has the highest
specific impulse

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or efficiency of
any other substance.

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It's extremely hazardous,

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and it's extremely
hard to control.

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Liquid hydrogen has
to be at temperatures

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more than -420 Fahrenheit.

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So it's a hard to
handle propellant,

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but you get the
most bang for your buck

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out of liquid hydrogen.

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And I think that's what
we'll continue to use

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on all of these heavy
lift space systems.

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As you're
watching today's test,

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you'll probably notice
this great white plume

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exiting from the
rocket engine exhaust.

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Right?

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And there's a myth that,
that this plume is smoke.

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It's actually water vapor.

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So the two propellants
that we use

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in the rocket engine are
made up of liquid oxygen

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and liquid hydrogen,
which forms H2O.

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So you've got this
extremely hot exhaust gas

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coming from the
rocket engine.

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Right?

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Thousands of degrees.

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Meanwhile, we're pumping
thousands and thousands of

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gallons of water at the
rocket engine exhaust to

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help cool the structure
as the exhaust is being

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directed through the
deflector and then out.

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The atmosphere in the test
control center on test day

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is very relaxed at first.
Right?

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Everybody's coming in.

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They got their
cups of coffee,

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everybody's
getting on station,

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and we're starting
to monitor data.

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Well, as we
bring up systems,

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you can kind of feel the
tension build in the room.

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Right?

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It slowly gets quieter and
quieter as you approach

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that test, that launch or
that engine start button.

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So as we're going, you
know, we're building up

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the tensions, getting
thicker almost.

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You can feel
it in the room.

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And then I would say that
30 minutes before you

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start the engine, it's
very quiet in here.

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Right?

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And a lot of things
are happening.

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We have a lot
of operations

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that have to happen
in those final 30-,

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15-, 6-, 1-minute
call outs

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that we have in
our test countdown.

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Test day, there's
nothing like test day.

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Right?

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00:11:18,944 --> 00:11:20,212
And of course,
there's all the time

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and work that
goes into test day.

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But there's nothing
like test day.

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It doesn't feel
like work at all.

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00:11:24,583 --> 00:11:26,285
It feels, it's very fun.

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It's exciting.
It's challenging.

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It, it's dynamic.
Right?

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A lot of things are
happening all at once.

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And that's, I would say
that's true for anyone in

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the control room, anyone
involved with tests.

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00:11:38,831 --> 00:11:40,666
I don't think it's
just test conductor, your

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00:11:40,733 --> 00:11:43,736
transfer engineers, your
instrumentation engineers.

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00:11:43,803 --> 00:11:45,905
I'd like to think that
they're also feeling that,

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00:11:45,971 --> 00:11:47,239
that feeling.
Right?

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It's like it doesn't
feel like work.

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I'd say we have probably
the coolest job.

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00:11:53,279 --> 00:11:55,414
Some advice I have
to maybe, you know,

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some of the
younger generation

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00:11:57,083 --> 00:11:59,385
that's getting interested
in some of this work

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00:11:59,452 --> 00:12:02,088
and thinks, man, I'd
like to do that someday.

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00:12:02,154 --> 00:12:05,491
My advice would be to
don't sell yourself short.

255
00:12:05,558 --> 00:12:07,760
Don't think
that you can't.

256
00:12:07,827 --> 00:12:09,829
If I was to meet
myself ten years ago,

257
00:12:09,895 --> 00:12:12,398
there's no chance
that ten years ago me

258
00:12:12,465 --> 00:12:14,467
would have thought
I'd be where I am today.

259
00:12:14,533 --> 00:12:16,435
So I'd say my biggest
piece of advice,

260
00:12:16,502 --> 00:12:17,636
just don't, don't stop.

261
00:12:17,703 --> 00:12:19,205
Don't give up.
Right?

262
00:12:19,271 --> 00:12:20,539
Keep learning.
Keep trying.

263
00:12:20,606 --> 00:12:21,607
You can do it.

264
00:12:21,674 --> 00:12:23,943
And if I can do it,
anyone can do it.

265
00:12:24,009 --> 00:12:25,344
That's my advice.

266
00:12:53,405 --> 00:24:59,297
(engine rumbling)