WEBVTT

00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.000
BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: This is shuttle Launch Control at T-9 minutes and holding,

00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:11.000
with about 28 minutes remaining in our scheduled built-in hold. And I'm pleased to have with me Jim Kennedy,

00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:15.000
who is the center director at the Kennedy Space Center. Jim, thanks for joining us tonight.

00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:16.000
JIM KENNEDY: You're welcome, Bruce. Pleasure to be here.

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000
BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. We've got a lot of operations that have been going on here at Kennedy for preparation

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.000
for a launch tonight, tonight at 9:35, and over the past several months,

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.000
how have things gone with preparing Discovery for launch?

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.000
KENNEDY: Let me start with tonight. Things are looking real good, actually, for a launch.

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:36.000
I know we all worried about the weather. There've been virtually no hardware problems. The weather is trending in

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.000
the direction, so I think all of the labor over the last many months are going

00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.000
to come to fruition tonight with the launch of Discovery.

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:50.000
But you mentioned how have they gone for the last several months. I must say that the entire shuttle team,

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.000
government and contractor alike were challenged by Wayne Hale, the program manager, to see if we can't

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.000
pull this date back, get away from the end of the year, get into a time

00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.000
where our people can take some much-deserved vacation.

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.000
And he challenged them to pull it all the way back to December 7, and here we sit on the seventh of December,

00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000
after many months of hard work and I, I think it's going to be a big reward tonight.

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.000
BUCKINGHAM: Well, we're certainly hoping so. Now, you've been center director here for the past several years at

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.000
Kennedy, and this is your last launch. This is your last shuttle launch. You've,

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.000
you've announced your retirement plans at the end of the year. Any thoughts or feeling

00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.000
KENNEDY: Well, yeah, I feel good about it. It's been a tremendously rewarding four years for me at the Kennedy Space Center.

00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:35.000
Bill Parsons is poised and ready to take over as director and will lead this center beautifully into the future.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:41.000
And I will go into retirement knowing that it was a privilege and an honor to serve with these fine men and women

00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:46.000
at the Kennedy Space Center and across all of NASA. It's a tremendous organization

00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.000
and one that I take great pride in having been a part.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000
BUCKINGHAM: Great. And of course, you, you're a resident here in Central Florida at Cocoa Beach.

00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000
What are your plans for the future? Are you going to be hanging around?

00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.000
KENNEDY: Yeah. We definitely won't leave. The way I put it, Bruce, we found our piece of paradise and we

00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.000
plan on staying here in our Cocoa Beach condo, and I'll be watching these launches

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.000
maybe from a balcony next, next March when we launch STS-117.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.000
BUCKINGHAM: Right. Exactly. We've got five launches next, next year.

00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.000
So, we wish the best to you, sir, and hopefully, we have a good launch tonight.

00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:23.000
KENNEDY: Thank you, Bruce. It's been a pleasure.

00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:28.000