WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Five, four, three, two, one, main engine start and liftoff! 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:20.000 Music 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.000 Why do we send anything into space? 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:30.000 Well, it turns out sending spacecraft into space has a major impact on your life, 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 and in ways you may not have realized. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 You're starting on a fascinating tour behind the scenes of NASA's Launch 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.000 Services Program. Have you ever wondered how we're able to monitor the 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.000 weather and other forces at work on Earth? And how much effort did it really take 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:51.000 to get the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity safely to the red planet? 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.000 These science and earth exploring missions all begin the same way--as a 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:00.000 carefully designed and built spacecraft attached to a rocket and launched into 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:07.000 space from one of NASA's two launch sites. None of this happens overnight. Every mission is a product of years of 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:13.000 challenging work. Every spacecraft must be designed, developed, built, tested 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:20.000 and prepared for launch. This work takes place at Universities and NASA centers all over the country. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 So, how do these engineering marvels get to the launch site? 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:30.000 And once they get there, who puts on the finishing touches to prepare the spacecraft for flight? 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.000 Well, spacecraft are shipped either fully put together, or in sections. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.000 They arrive by truck, or by airplane to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida or 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:42.000 Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:48.000 Once there, the spacecraft heads to a processing facility where engineers get them ready for launch. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.000 The processing facility is a cleanroom environment, and in the space business, 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.000 the cleanroom goes a lot further than sweeping the floor! 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000 In fact, everyone working on the spacecraft in the cleanroom has to put on a 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.000 special suit, affectionately known as a "bunny suit," over their own clothing. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 They have to tape their jewelry to their skin to keep it from getting loose in the 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:16.000 work area, cover their facial hair and tie a string around their glasses so they don’t accidentally come off. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:22.000 It sounds extreme, but there's a good reason: The spacecraft and its delicate parts 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.000 must stay as clean and bacteria-free as possible. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:30.000 When the spacecraft is finally ready for launch, it starts the last leg of its journey on Earth. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:36.000 The spacecraft is tucked inside a protective fairing and then taken to the launch pad, where it is added to the launch vehicle. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 NASA's Launch Services Program, operating from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.000 uses many types of space vehicles. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:49.000 The LSP engineers help choose the type of rocket that is best suited to the weight and the destination of the 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.000 spacecraft and the mission's goals. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:58.000 Most rockets lift off vertically; many of us have seen rockets that sit on a launch pad. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:03.000 When the countdown clock gets to zero, the engines ignite and send the rocket on its way. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.000 But there's also another more unusual type of rocket. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:11.000 It's small enough to attach to the underside of a commercial airplane. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:16.000 The airplane flies to just the right place and the right altitude, then drops the rocket, 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.000 which lights its own engine and sends the spacecraft into space. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 As you can see, launching a space mission is no small job. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:31.000 It takes a lot of time and care to make sure that each and every spacecraft and launch vehicle is ready for the flight. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:38.000 But these missions help us live safer and healthier lives, and that makes everything worth it. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000