Countdown to T-Zero, Episode 1: Launch Fever 2:51 00:00 Launch controller: ROC, report range status. 00:01 Launch controller: Range green. 00:02 Launch commentator: T-minus five, four, three, two, one. 00:09 Go for main engine start. 00:11 Zero and liftoff. 00:18 This is no ordinary aircraft. 00:20 And on board is no ordinary spacecraft. 00:24 This C-5 Super Galaxy is hauling something special. 00:28 "It can carry what no other plane can carry in the Air Force. 00:32 Width, length, weight – you name it, it can get on that thing. This jet can do it like no other jet." 00:38 After two years of construction at Lockheed Martin in Denver, and a few hours in the air, 00:43 NOAA’s GOES-S has finally made it to Kennedy Space Center, where the countdown to T-zero 00:48 begins. 00:49 "It’s always exciting to bring a satellite down to Kennedy Space Center and participate 00:55 in the whole activity of getting a satellite ready for launch." 00:58 "Getting it out here, rolling it into the launch processing facility, that is a very 01:02 big deal for us. 01:03 That’s probably the hugest milestones in any spacecraft program, to ship. 01:07 It’s not easy to transport something like this across the country." 01:10 "This is where the rubber meets the road. 01:13 This is where all the people that have worked on this program for a couple years culminates 01:18 in the excitement of getting ready for what we call “launch fever.” 01:22 "So now, we get to do some of the fun stuff, like put it on a giant airplane and take it 01:28 to Kennedy Space Center, where we get to prepare it to go onto an Atlas V launch vehicle, and 01:35 launch." 01:36 It’s the job of NASA’s Launch Services Program to get GOES-S into orbit and they 01:41 have just a few months to do the final launch preps and inspections before a T-zero arrives. 01:48 This is no easy task with a spacecraft of this size and complexity. 01:53 In spaceflight, there are no second chances. 01:56 A successful launch is resting on their shoulders. 01:59 It has to be perfect the first time. 02:03 "It’s very exciting. 02:04 I love being a part of this and I love being able to contribute to the spacecraft and to 02:11 its success." 02:12 GOES-S is the second part of a weather satellite upgrade project NOAA is undertaking, 02:18 destined to save lives by modernizing our weather forecasting ability. 02:22 "We have a very young team and, some of them, this will be their first campaign. 02:27 So we’re trying to put the excitement into that, let them feel what it’s like to touch 02:33 the spacecraft for the last time. 02:35 Launch operations is a time we all get together for one goal, which is launch." 02:39 But achieving that goal will not be easy. 02:42 The road to T-zero has just begun.