LIFELINE: AEROSPACE LOGISTICS TOMORROW

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're in orbit several thousand miles above the earth we seem to be fixed above a motionless sphere the stars and sun drift past in a daily cycle [Music] a roger market confirming lsv 977 ready for time survey this is grapevine we're sending in a package you will lock on one five how's the weather down there roger this is survey rendezvous five three two a little rough on the indian ocean grapevine star watch this is grapevine this is star watch go ahead now we have a package for you on the web sending out at zero five two nine you will acquire on your own at one one five one grapevine this is archimedes station we have a man on the loop for pick up and deliver please bring him in roger archimedes his package is standing by greenvine this is alawar ground control we have a k 300 payload for you now counting down all roger market we have a spider proceeding to rendezvous on nine seven seven dollar [Music] everything that's needed out in space gets there the hard way nothing here is easy or simple [Music] attention in the center this is launch control counting for logistics support vehicle 977 on schedule all command functions clear standby at minus four minutes and holding for a priority one [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah the main expense in supply operations is getting the payload into space special jobs such as personnel transfer are handled by aerospace planes capable of maneuvering in and out of the atmosphere the larger a payload the less it costs per pound to orbit big recoverable boosters are the workhorses for one and two hundred ton cargo shipments food medicine tools replacement parts materials and fuel dehydrated vacuum packed and sterilized weighed and balanced nothing wasted you can turn one of these containers into a solar battery or a shielding patch take out the cathode tube and eat the wrapper a million pounds a month pushed into orbit [Music] everything is part of a vast equation the performance of every component in space is continually monitored with great precision by our facilities here on earth the data system knows how and where each component fits knows how much current a transistor will draw and predicts when it will fail computers tell us just what and how much food a certain man will need next week they designed the ideal payload mix program package construction establish delivery times give us a schedule for maximum economy our job is to meet the schedule if we don't a vital machine might stop working somebody could die [Applause] 977 has completed mid-course correction melbourne reports we are in the pipe and all data working i should get an ir track in about five minutes [Music] there was a time in the air force when a pilot didn't have to be an expert in astrophysics or math now you have to get a phd in everything even yoga to fight the strain and claustrophobia [Music] the sleeper awake you're always falling everywhere you look is down you can watch your hometown from here see whether it's snowing or if spring has come it's a lonely job but other men out here are lonelier than you on the milk run to the moon riding a research probe of venus sometimes you catch them talking to themselves over the monitor sure she's putting out here thank you much there's a bond more than a radio between us though we all grew up together test chambers and indoctrination rooms training for space since we were kids confirming acquisition check you are locked on and closing they parked the shipments in our orbit 50 miles behind the web that's a small safety margin at seven thousand miles an hour final homing and first contact is a tricky maneuver that's where the pilot comes in when you want to move 150 ton mass in space the force must be perfectly placed to control inertia and moment [Music] nothing stays at the transfer station for long it's either coming or going we break the shipments down recombine the packages for their final destination [Music] they put up new activities and stations all the time but we keep the schedule going the cost of space flight is enormous no one can afford the luxury of waste or duplicated efforts yet sometimes it's more economical to replace an item than repair it communication relay satellites are such expendable items but most stations are far too costly to abandon damage and wear and manned operations require continuous repair as needs change modification and revision become necessary servicing techniques must be compatible in all systems there are strategic outposts whose missions are so vital that constant maintenance is more than an economic necessity [Music] materials exposed indefinitely to the hard vacuum deteriorate from thermal stress evaporation and ionization affected by radiation and meteoroids a possible collision with orbiting space junk is an unnecessary hazard but disposal of waste and obsolete hardware presents a problem sometimes we can fire it into the earth's atmosphere to burn up other times it goes into the sun [Music] the engineers of space flight were up against reliability factors of close to one hundred percent every part in every system had to be tested on the ground and in space tools were designed right along with the parts the blueprints and the supervisors had to stay on earth detailed set up by remote control we're out here because a man can take the place of a lot of switches and hardware it was a rough job standardizing the pieces training the men who make them all fit together but it saved time and money in the long run it kept creative minds free for more important jobs they could rely on us to put their projects up and keep them going and to be prepared for things that go wrong [Music] [Applause] 418 your displacement rate is additive 21 feet per second approaching escape velocity [Music] looks like he's going in [Music] station [Music] somewhere out there a man is in trouble a living particle falling into the sun [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right his engines have stopped firing but he's tumbling [Music] margin badly three minutes in three minutes [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can't hurry a docking maneuver too much speed and you'll crack a vacuum seal [Music] a leak in that chamber and you'd pop like a toy balloon [Music] you have a return over to station 10 on the school roger accent station 10 looks good [Applause] [Music] the machines of today will be gone in a few years the breakthrough comes along equipment changes new systems evolve these early years of astronautics will shape the long-range operations of the future [Music] as he travels deeper and deeper into space man must endure voyages lasting many years logistics will precede his journeys will support his missions will be his lifeline in space [Music] you