"All personnel not directly involved with the convoy operation please stand behind the barriers." "All personnel not directly involved with the convoy operation please stand clear, and stay behind the barriers." "It's a beautiful show." "People would give thousands of dollars to see what we've seen." "Just to see it roll out all completely done." "First time we've ever seen it away from the scaffolding." "It's a big difference." "It looked like a newborn bird." "It's beautiful now." "I want to see it fly." "At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Columbia the world's first true spaceship moves to the launch pad." "Its powerful new engines have been tried out one at a time on a test bed." "Now in a last critical test, they will be fired all together on the ship." "We have pad shutdown of all three engines." "Columbia's engines will hurl it up into orbit." "Its wings will let it glide back down to Earth." "And then, unlike any craft before it will be able to rocket again into space." "Launch is in forty-nine days." "John Young is commander of Columbia's test flight." "Robert Crippen is the pilot." "They're both graduate engineers, fighter pilots, test pilots and have come through the tough weeding out that qualifies astronauts." "They were chosen as first crew for Columbia three years ago and since then they have been studying and practicing for the first flight." "Bob Crippen hasn't been in space yet." "John Young is a veteran." "He's been up there four times, logging more than five hundred hours seventy-one of them on the moon." "Not so long ago, mankind was stuck on Earth." "Now, flying is easy for us." "The purpose of Columbia is to make space as available to us as planes have made the air." "It was on the moon that John Young heard that the shuttle program was approved." "John, this is perfect with the LEM, the rover and you and Stone Mountain." "And the old flag." "Come out here and give me a salute, a big Navy salute." "Okay, here we go, a big one." "Off the ground." "One more." "This looks like a good time for some good news." "The House passed its space budget yesterday which includes a vote for the shuttle." "Wonderful." "The country needs that shuttle mighty bad." "You'll see." "Nine years later, Columbia, the first shuttle, is ready to go." "But there are worries." "Some of its most vital components are new and untried." "Like the blanket of tiles that will protect it from the fierce heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere." "The press has been watching anxiously." "Were there times when Mr. Young had to, I don't know how to say it delicately reassure you as to the safety of the endeavor?" "Actually he reassures me." "I know you don't have the capability of repairing the tiles but if something happens to the tile, is there anything you can do?" "Oh, the tiles?" "The tiles are in good shape." "We are not going to have to repair tiles." "They're fixed." "Let's wait for the mike." "It's still not completely clear to me whether or not you can abort with the ejection seats during the burn of the solids." "You just pull the little handle." "John, I think you talked around the question of what happens if you have a serious tile problem." "What happens if you have a serious tile problem?" "How serious is the tile problem?" "I think you're a better judge of what would be a serious tile problem than anyone here." "If you don't have any tiles on the bottom, the vehicle will burn up." "If you have a lot of tiles on the bottom, it won't burn up." "You could lose a single tile in a certain area and I don't think it'll do anything to you, my personal opinion is." "I've heard people say there's going to be a zipper effect." "There isn't a zipper effect." "Each one of those tiles is put on individually." "And they're designed four to five times the strength that they need for the dynamic pressure they will see." "Okay, let's take two more questions, and then close it." "ls it fun to be an astronaut?" "ls it fun to be an astronaut?" "That is a very good question." "And the answer is yes, yes, yes." "You betcha." "It really is." "I don't think you could do it unless it was fun." "This is the egress training down at the Cape." "This is how they were showing us how to take the slide wire down into the bunker area down there." "They explained to me how to do it." "Of course, I'm very nervous about that, I thought they were going to turn us loose." "The slide wire is a quick escape route in case there's trouble just before the launch." "There's a couple of sandbags in there, shows you what kind of trip it will be." "Once you get down, you can either go into a bunker or you can climb into the M-13 tank and drive out through the side gate." "Imagine being on a space crew and learning how to drive a tank." "You drive this thing up the road." "You see that fence over there?" "You just go right through the fence." "Columbia's flight will be the first time a crew will be aboard an untested rocket." "Every foreseeable emergency, such as an abort into a Florida lake is plotted and rehearsed again and again." "At about METplus thirty minutes the checklist has:" ""Take anti-motion sickness medication."" "ls that a crew option or a request based on an assumption that an ounce of prevention is better than a bag of upchuck?" "Commander Young, as you know, has had a lot of space experience and has never had even stomach awareness." "We feel he is not in need of medication." "Since this is Pilot Crippen's first flight he is going to take it as an ounce of prevention." "Bob and I are about ready to fly this thing." "We get another hop in the simulator to spruce everything up a little." "We're really looking forward to flying." "We hope that everything will allow us to go on Friday." "It sure looks good for that right now." "The crew is in fine shape." "They had a good rest last night." "And we're looking forward to a real good flight." "We're in good shape now." "Right now there is nothing standing in the way of launch." "Liftoff is still scheduled for 6:50." "That's less than one hour from now." "And I don't have to tell you there is an electric excitement here." "The world is watching this historic event." "This is Shuttle Launch Control." "The countdown is at T minus thirty-three minutes, ten seconds and counting." "At present, everything is going smoothly." "We're looking for a launch on time at 7:00 a.m. this morning." "This is Shuttle Launch Control." "We're presently at T minus nine minutes and holding but a decision has been made to recycle the count to the T-minus-twenty-minute point." "At the present time, the ground people are working a problem with the backup computer compare tests." "We're standing by to hear what the resolution of that particular problem might be." "We have a repeat of no communication with streams 1 to 3." "Do you have any proposals at this time?" "Two computers are not interconnecting." "It has never happened in tests." "Haven't had any other input that would lead us towards any other course of action." "This is Shuttle Launch Control." "During the countdown we have not been able to get the computers talking to each other properly." "At the present time we have terminated our launch attempt for today." "We will reschedule for no earlier than Sunday morning at 6:50 a.m. Eastern Standard Time." "This is Shuttle Launch Control." "Tell us how the astronauts were affected by the long wait inside the capsule yesterday and what their spirits are today in preparation for tomorrow's launch." "I think they were as disappointed as all of us were but I don't think they had any physical problem." "I talked to John Young a couple hours after we scrubbed and he was in very good spirits, and he said...." "He's an old veteran." "He said, "George, these things are gonna happen, we know that..." ""...and we're ready to go tomorrow." Their spirits are still good." "Through you today, we all feel as giants once again." "Once again, we feel the surge of pride that comes from knowing we are the first, we are the best and we are so because we are free." "For all Americans, Nancy and I thank you and the thousands of others who have worked to make this day possible." "May God bless you and may God bring you safely home to us again." "A message from President Reagan which began, "You go forward this morning, a daring enterprise..." ""...and take the hopes and prayers of all Americans with you."" "T minus one minute, twenty seconds and counting." "We can see the purges of the main engines as we prepare for ignition." "T minus one minute, ten seconds and counting." "Liquid hydrogen tank is at flight pressure." "T minus one minute mark and counting." "GC, Flight." "Go, Flight." "ls the MlLA problem the entire S-band or just ranging?" "It's just the tracking data, Flight." "But it's everything: angles, ranging." "Everything." "Okay." "T minus forty seconds and counting." "The development flight instrumentation recorders are on." "T minus thirty-five seconds." "We're a few seconds away from switching to the redundant set sequencer." "T minus twenty-seven seconds." "We've gone for redundant set sequencer start." "T minus twenty seconds and counting." "T minus fifteen, fourteen, thirteen." "T minus ten, nine, eight seven, six, five, four." "We have gone for main engine start." "External tank separation." "Fly out, John." "We confirm the separation." "Looks like the EVAP may have shut down." "Look at this stuff floating around here." "Roger." "Super." "That's okay." "The view has changed, and it's really something else." "John's been telling me about it for three years but ain't no way you can describe it." "It's hard to get my head in the cockpit here and do my procedures." "Roger, copy here." "What's your status here, GNC?" "We look good." "Guidance." "Drop booster." "Did your dumping work, Jack?" "Yeah, looks good." "CAPCOM going over the hill." "We see two good ones." "We'll see them at Madrid." "Configure LOS." "Columbia, Houston." "We have forty seconds until LOS." "Configure LOS." "You're looking good burning over the hill." "We'll see you at Madrid." "Early in the flight, the doors of the payload bay are checked." "If the doors get stuck open, it'll be impossible to return to Earth." "They work fine, but what they reveal is worrying." "Okay, what camera are y'all looking at right now?" "Do you know?" "Roger, we're looking out the forward camera." "Okay, we want to show y'all we do have a few tiles missing off the starboard pod." "It's got basically what appears to be three tiles and some smaller pieces." "And off the port pod, it looks like I see one full square and it looks like a few little triangular shapes that are missing." "We're trying to put that on TV right now." "Roger, Crip, we can see that good." "ln the judgment of Mission Control, the damage is not critical." "But nobody can be sure that tiles aren't missing on Columbia's underside." "If the shuttle works as hoped, we'll be able to bring up into orbit better satellites and even take them back down for repairs." "ln zero gravity, we'll be able to make new materials pure medicines, alloys, crystals." "Perhaps tap solar power, build space stations." "And here, outside the veil of Earth's atmosphere we can operate scientific instruments like telescopes that let us look more deeply into the universe." "We're coming up on this photograph time." "You don't want me taking anything unless I see something, do you?" "That's affirmative." "We are 1 70 miles up." "Columbia is on its back." "That's the famous Mount Fuji in Japan." "The 1,000-foot-high Tifernine Dunes of Algeria." "lrrigation canals in the Sacramento Valley." "The Himalayas, the highest mountains on Earth." "Turn right around." "Right around." "Turn around here." "Big historical event, right?" "Enough space out here, anyway." "Now Columbia will try to glide back down from space." "There's no going around for a second try." "The landing site is Edwards Air Force Base where there's lots of room for error." "This is Mission Control." "Box One has lost its signal now." "Columbia is in the proper attitude for deorbit." "After the deorbit maneuver, John Young will pitch Columbia down and bring it to entry attitude." "At an elapsed time of two days, five hours, fifteen minutes this is Mission Control, Houston." "I gotta see it." "Why?" "I went down to Florida twice saw the rockets go up in the daytime and one at night." "So I just had to see it." "Why did the chicken cross the road?" "Why are we sitting in the middle of the desert?" "It's beautiful." "We're enjoying it." "We're waiting for the space shuttle." "I'm here because I'm an American." "I'm so glad John let me have the day off so I could get here early." "I'll ask John Young personally if he saw this." "A bunch of happy people." "Everyone's having a good time, no problems at all." "ln moments, Columbia will dive down into the intense heat of reentry." "Only John Young and Bob Crippen will know if their shield of protective tiles is working." "The burning air around them will block all radio communication." "ln the life-and-death minutes that follow, there will be only silence." "Columbia, everything looks perfect going over the hill." "Nice and easy does it, John." "We're all riding with you." "Bye-bye." "Mission Control, chase planes are taking off now at Edwards." "ln the control center, the backup crew for this mission astronauts Joe Engle and Dick Truly behind the CAPCOMs." "The convoy crew is all ready to go out there." "They're the crew that will safe the orbiter and help with the power-down." "Stand by for mark on 9,700 feet per second." "Hello there, Houston?" "Columbia's here." "Hello, Columbia, Houston's here." "How do you read?" "We're doing Mach 10.3 at 180 A.S." "And we couldn't agree more." "Your state vector's good." "We've got good data in house." "Okay." "Flight, FlDO, I look exactly nominal." "Columbia's reentry is expected to produce a mild sonic boom centered a few miles west of Edwards Air Force Base." "What a way to come to California." "Flight, FlDO, I still look perfect, right on the nominal." "It looks real good underneath." ""Fido" says it couldn't be any better." "9,000." "280 knots." "Everything looks real good." "5,290." "2,500 feet." "Clear." "They're coming." "They're down." "Fifty feet." "Forty, thirty, twenty, ten." "Five, four, three two, one, touchdown!" "We are here." "Testing." "Five, four, three, touchdown." "Heck of a job, Skipper!" "Welcome home." "Beautiful." "Do you want us to take it up to the hangar, Joe?" "We're going to dust it off first." "It's the world's greatest flying machine, I'll tell you that." "It was super." "This is Mission Control, Houston." "The unofficial touchdown time:" "Two days, six hours, twenty minutes, fifty-two seconds." "As Columbia's main gear touched the lakebed the flight director's instructions were:" ""Prepare for exhilaration."" "Welcome back." "Hail, Columbia." "This is Susan the best thing that ever happened to me." "It was a really tremendous mission from start to finish." "Crippen is one of the hardest workers I know and he carried me through that whole thing." "I think we've got a fantastic and remarkable capability here." "The human race is really not too far from going to the stars." "You know, when you ride a launch vehicle the future of the standard launch vehicle of the United States of America if it doesn't work right, if all those engines don't work right you don't get very far downrange." "The space shuttle worked perfectly." "It was a beautiful thing." "We really have something here." "I saw a newspaper headline that expressed it far better than I could." "It showed a space shuttle orbiter and it said:" ""The dream is alive again." Let's keep it that way." "There is still one more hurdle." "The most important one of all." "Columbia returns to the Kennedy Space Center to prove that it can do what it was designed to do:" "To go up again into space." "Subtitles conformed by SOFTITLER"