WEBVTT

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Intro music.

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5,4,3,2,1...engine start and lift off...

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Why do we send anything into space? Well, it turns out, sending spacecraft into space has a major impact on your life

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-- in ways you might not even realize. Hi, I'm George Diller, a NASA launch commentator.

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And right now, you're starting on a fascinating tour behind the scenes of NASA's Launch Services Program.

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Do you ever wonder how you can receive television shows through a household satellite dish,

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or how are we able to monitor the weather and other forces of nature at work on Earth?

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And how much effort did it really take to get the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity,

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safely to the red planet? None of this happens overnight. Every mission is a product of months,

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often even years, of challenging work. Every spacecraft must be designed, developed, built, tested,

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prepared for launch, and finally shipped to the launch site -- either Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida or

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Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. How do these engineering marvels get to the launch site?

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And once they get there, who puts on the finishing touches to prepare the spacecraft for flight?

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Spacecraft are shipped either fully put together or in sections. They arrive on trains, planes, trucks -- even boats!

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Then, they're taken into a processing facility, where engineers and technicians get them ready for launch.

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The processing facility is a cleanroom environment. But in the space business, a clean room goes a lot further than just putting things away

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and making the bed. Anyone working on a spacecraft has to put on a special suit, affectionately known as a "bunny suit,"

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over their own clothing. They have to tape their jewelry to their skin to keep it from getting loose in the work area, cover their beards,

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and tie a string around their glasses so they don't accidentally come off.

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It sounds extreme, but there's a good reason: they want to keep the spacecraft and its delicate parts as clean

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and bacteria-free as possible! When the spacecraft is finally ready for launch, it starts the last leg of its journey on Earth.

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It is taken to the launch pad, where it is added to the launch vehicle. NASA's Launch Services Program, operated from the

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Kennedy Space Center in Florida, uses many types of rockets for launch vehicles. They choose the rocket that

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is best-suited to the weight and destination of the spacecraft, and the mission's goals. Most rockets lift off vertically.

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Most of us have seen rockets that sit on a launch pad, and then when the countdown clock gets to zero,

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the engines ignite and send the rocket on its way. But there's also another, more unusual type of rocket.

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It's small enough to attach to the underside of a modified commercial airplane. The airplane flies to just the right place

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and the right altitude, then drops the rocket -- which lights its own engine and sends its spacecraft into space.

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As you can see launching a space mission is no small job.

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It takes a lot of time, researsh, effort, and care to make sure each and every spacecraft and launch vehicle is ready for the flight,

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but these missions help us live safer, healther lives and that makes every thing worth it.

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