Intro music.
My name is Mike Stelzer. I'm a mission integration manager for the Launch Services Program here at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,
and as a mission integration manager, I lead a team of engineers and scientists that pull together
all the different systems and analysis for successfully integrating a spacecraft to a launch vehicle.
How did I get that job? I've worked at Kennedy Space Center for close to 20 years and many of those years as an engineer, and when the
Launch Services Program was pulled together here in Florida,
it was something I thought would be exciting. So I came over and joined that back in '98 and have been working in the integration office ever since.
The biggest challenge every day at work is always, is getting with folks to understand what the current issues are out there. What's new, what's changed,
what needs to be considered as we work through the different integration cycles on these missions.
So, bringing that information and getting it to the right people so they can do what they need to do with that information in a timely manner.
We have some new vehicles that are coming online. Just within the past few years, the evolved expendable launch vehicles
have been developed and NASA now has a couple missions manifested on those, so we look forward to
seeing those missions successfully integrated and seeing those missions fly on this new line of vehicles.
Rockets, unfortunately most people only see them from a far distance, so they seem really small, but when you get up close,
they're stories and stories tall, so it's very impressive to stand up next to a rocket and see just how much is actually
moving off the ground. How much fuel they're carrying, the thousands and thousands of pounds of fuel, and not to mention the spacecraft on top.
Stick with the studies. It's great to have a big interest in math and science, and carry that with you through the elementary,
and then to high school, and then on to a degree in college.
With that, then you can explore many of these different opportunities, either working with a spacecraft, or down here, what I do,
working with the launch service.
Launch day is the cream of the crop. Two to three or more years of integration activity,
just bringing that to the fruition, bringing it there to launch day, and culminating in a successful launch is just exciting.
So, the emotions are real high on launch day, the anxiety is real high, as well, because you really, you've poured your heart into this mission for so many
years, you want to see it be successful.