WEBVTT

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.000
MS. STILSON:  As the Space Shuttle launch director, Mike Leinbach leads the launch team and makes the ultimate decision on launch day, go or no-go.

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.000
Mike is going to give us the inside story of what his job is like and how he handles the responsibility.

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.000
Music.

00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:22.000
MR. LEINBACH:  Well, in my role as a launch director, the most visible portion, of course, is on launch day.

00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:28.000
When I'm in the control room with my launch team, I essentially have the go, no-go for launch of the Space Shuttle.

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.000
So that's the most visible part of it.

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:39.000
But leading up to launch day, I'm essentially the Chief of Operations for all of NASA here at Kennedy Space Center, making sure that the orbiters

00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:48.000
and ground support system and the Solid Rocket Boosters and the External Tank are being prepared properly, safely and meeting the major milestones

00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.000
to protect the next launch date.

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.000
Music.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:02.000
The most fun part of it is representing the launch team who work so hard to get to launch day and then actually

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.000
getting down to T minus 0 where the Shuttle lifts off the launch pad. And then I get to represent them.

00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:11.000
It's a privilege to represent them. It's an honor.

00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:19.000
I also represent the technicians and the engineers who work on the vehicles daily. So it's not just the launch team, it's really the whole processing

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:24.000
team that, on occasion, I get to represent. And my role as a launch director in Return to Flight,

00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:31.000
it's really making sure that when we get to launch day for Return to Flight that that vehicle is the best it can possibly be.

00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.000
Music.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:40.000