WEBVTT

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Intro music.

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My name is Mike Stelzer. I'm a mission integration manager for the Launch Services Program here at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida,

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and as a mission integration manager, I lead a team of engineers and scientists that pull together

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all the different systems and analysis for successfully integrating a spacecraft to a launch vehicle.

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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

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Launch Services Program was pulled together here in Florida,

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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.

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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,

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what needs to be considered as we work through the different integration cycles on these missions.

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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.

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We have some new vehicles that are coming online. Just within the past few years, the evolved expendable launch vehicles

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have been developed and NASA now has a couple missions manifested on those, so we look forward to

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seeing those missions successfully integrated and seeing those missions fly on this new line of vehicles.

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Rockets, unfortunately most people only see them from a far distance, so they seem really small, but when you get up close,

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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

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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.

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Stick with the studies. It's great to have a big interest in math and science, and carry that with you through the elementary,

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and then to high school, and then on to a degree in college.

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With that, then you can explore many of these different opportunities, either working with a spacecraft, or down here, what I do,

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working with the launch service.

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Launch day is the cream of the crop. Two to three or more years of integration activity,

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just bringing that to the fruition, bringing it there to launch day, and culminating in a successful launch is just exciting.

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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

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years, you want to see it be successful.

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