When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008): Season 1, Episode 5 - The Shuttle - full transcript

[ Crowd cheering ]

NARRATOR: In 1969, a group
of astronauts change the world.

They ride the biggest rocket
ever built to the moon.

It's the culmination

of more than 10 years
of space pioneering

and a foundation
for more than four decades

of exploring worlds
beyond our own.

This is the story
of our greatest adventure.

CRIPPEN:
The very first time

I saw the shuttle sitting
on the back of that 747,

I thought,
"We have screwed up bad.



This is never going to work."

NARRATOR: NASA prepares to test
a radical new kind of spaceship.

The first with wings.

Rockets will launch it
into orbit,

but it lands like a plane.

First, they have to find out
if it can fly.

CRIPPEN:
We did something we called

an approach-and-landing test.

We modified a 747

so that it could carry
the shuttle on top of it.

NARRATOR: Gemini and Apollo
veteran John Young

follows the new orbiter,

studying its every move.

YOUNG:
I was a test pilot out there,



and I was flying the formation
on the 747.

I'm the chase pilot.

MAN: Go ahead.

Okay, 30 seconds
to the SRT minus-one call.

Go.

-Network.
-Go.

-Echo.
-Go.

-FAO.
-Go.

Arm.

Houston is go for SEP.
Have a great flight.

Stand by.

Sideways lurch,
just like they said.

CRIPPEN: They actually
jettisoned the orbiter from it.

MAN:
Okay, she's flying good.

250.
Starting to flare.

It's an awesome sight.

MAN:
Okay, 11-alpha pushing over.

NARRATOR: The world's biggest
spaceship glides through the sky

over the california desert.

KRANZ: Engines cause problems,
more complexity,

right on down the line.

Why don't we design it
from the very beginning

to be an unpowered glider?

NARRATOR: The shuttle falls
through the atmosphere

at 1,000 feet every 6 seconds.

-. . . 195 and 20,000.
-You got it, Gordo.

NARRATOR:
It has only one chance to land.

MAN:
Straight.

It has no go-around capability.

MAN:
Standing by the gear.

CRIPPEN: It's been related
to flying like a brick

because it comes down so fast
and the wings don't generate

all that much lift.

MAN:
200 feet. . .

NARRATOR:
The shuttle lands

only 50 miles per hour faster
than a 747.

MAN:
Touch down here.

Down.
Gear is down.

Speed brakes are tracking.

NARRATOR: Touchdown
at Edwards Air Force Base

launches a new era in America's
exploration of space.

NASA is reinventing itself.

A new spaceship is designed
for more practical missions --

launching satellites,
repairs, deliveries,

and it has to fly
over and over again.

CRIPPEN: The space shuttle
is a unique vehicle.

It was designed to be reusable.

We need a space plane that can
take off from a space board

and come and land on any runway.

Great idea.

So let's build
this space plane.

KRANZ: The mission of a shuttle
was we had to retrieve items,

we had to bring packages in that
we could accomplish repair on.

It was basically
a multipurpose spacecraft,

suited to a large number
of tasks,

that we would fly repeatedly.

MUSGRAVE: It was designed
to make space flight routine.

Safe, reliable, on time.

And wow.

NARRATOR: But the shuttle
will have to stand up

to the hostile environment
of space,

especially extremes
of hot and cold.

BARBREE: You don't know
if you're gonna burn up

when you come back
through the atmosphere.

NARRATOR:
Like all spacecraft,

it will have to withstand
temperatures

of more than 3,000 degrees
during reentry.

The engineers came up with a
system of tiles, thermal tiles,

that blanket the whole
entire orbiter.

The tiles are what
our thermal-protection system

primarily consists of
on board the shuttle,

are about the consistency of
Styrofoam, and they're glued on.

MUSGRAVE: So you'll have
this massive surface area.

The tiles not only
got to reject all the heat,

but they also got to be
very light.

CRIPPEN:
They're very fragile.

It's easy to ding one.

And, depending on the size
of the ding and where it is,

it could be critical to
the survival of the spaceship.

You're on the glide scope.
We see you on the glide scope.

250 knots.

NARRATOR: 31,000 tiles cover
the orbiter's aluminum shell.

They're glued
to a blanket of fireproofing,

allowing them to flex
with the shuttle's frame.

Early tests don't go well.

Many tiles just fall off.

YOUNG: They told me
you could hit the edge

with a baseball bat
and it won't hurt it.

They weren't exactly
telling me the truth.

[ Chuckles ]

NARRATOR:
Two solid rocket boosters

with a combined
44 million horsepower

will blast the shuttle
into space.

KRANZ: During the first stage
of powered flight,

when you're on the solid
rockets, there's no escape.

There was no way to shut them
down, no way to throttle them,

so if you had a problem
with those,

you rode it out until you could
separate from the solids.

BARBREE: A lot of people thought
one solid rocket would ignite

and they'd cartwheel out
this way.

NARRATOR: For the shuttle's
three main engines,

NASA must develop rockets
that are compact, efficient,

and capable of lifting
enormous payloads into orbit.

YOUNG: Every time we'd turn
around and discuss the engines,

one of the engines would blow up
and catch fire.

I didn't realize it was gonna be
so hard to get there

from where we're at,
but it was a pretty tough road.

CRIPPEN: I learned when John
was worried about something,

I ought to be worried about it
as well.

NARRATOR:
NASA upgrades the rockets

and develops a new superglue to
keep the tiles from falling off.

Four years
after the first glide test,

the shuttle is finally ready
to fly into space.

The orbiter is designed
for a crew of seven.

For the first high-risk mission,
NASA is sending only two.

CRIPPEN:
I was with the then-director

of flight-crew operations.

Turns to me and says,

"Cripp, how would you
like to fly the first one?"

Send the gear.

Gear down.

NARRATOR:
It will be Bob Crippen's

first flight into space.

Okay.
That does it.

I was doing handsprings
at that point.

NARRATOR:
When Commander John Young

first learns
NASA will build a shuttle,

it's years earlier,
and he's a long way from home.

I was on the moon.

Yeah.
Yeah, I was on the moon.

CRIPPEN: John Young was the
chief of the Astronaut Office,

walked on the moon on Apollo 16.

He was the obvious choice to be
commander of the first flight.

John was the right guy to fly
this first shuttle mission.

NARRATOR: The shuttle is bolted
to the solid rocket boosters

and external fuel tank
and ready to fly.

CRIPPEN: When it comes out
on the mobile launch platform,

when the crawler takes it out to
the pad, it's an awesome sight.

It's beautiful, but not in
a streamline sort of way.

NARRATOR:
The same crawler

that carried the giant
Saturn V rockets

for the moon missions

takes the shuttle
to the same launch complex.

It looks to me like
it's just all kinds of muscle

'cause it's got all these
engines and solid rockets.

NARRATOR:
Every other NASA project

has flown unmanned test flights
first.

Not this time.

BARBREE: This was everything
up on the first mission.

Never been done before.

And these two idiots
go out on top of it.

YOUNG: We didn't have
any idea about probability,

risk assessment, when
the shuttle was first launched.

Anybody thinks they can
statistically predict

when something with 2 million
moving parts is gonna fail

is sort of smoking something
they shouldn't be, probably.

Yeah.

NARRATOR:
For the first time in six years,

NASA starts a countdown
to launch astronauts into space.

CRIPPEN: Wake up in the morning,
have a nice breakfast.

They wire you up so they can
monitor your heartbeat.

Walk you out to this little bus
that we have,

and there's usually
a little press out there.

You get to wave at them.

Then you climb
on the little bus,

and they take you
out to the launchpad.

KRANZ:
From my standpoint,

this was really a mission
in which I prayed a lot.

I really had some concerns

because there were
so many unknowns.

We had never flown
a spacecraft manned

for the first time before.

MAN:
40, Cap Com.

Columbia, Houston,
you're go at 40.

NARRATOR: Half a million people
come to the Cape

to watch John Young
and Bob Crippen

fly the first shuttle
into space.

MAN: If you see anything
you don't understand

when we're going down here,
we got seven hold points.

You remember where they are.

Seven minutes,
we got one at five minutes,

we got one at four,
and two more. . .

CRIPPEN: It was
a very complicated vehicle.

And I really thought
that we'd do lots of countdowns

before we actually lifted off.

MAN:
15-10 lift-off.

Pick up in about a minute
and a half here.

-DPS.
-We're go, flight.

-Guidance?
-Go.

-FIDO?
-Go.

CRIPPEN: And it was only when
the count got inside of a minute

that I turned to John and I
said, "I think we might do it."

That's when my heart rate
went up to about 130.

John's was a nice, calm 90.

I didn't ever ask him
if he was nervous.

I never thought of that.

Should I have thought of that?

MAN:
T-minus 10. . . 9. . . 8. . . 7. . .

6. . . 5. . . 4. . .

We've gone
for main engine start.

NARRATOR: Once the solid
rocket boosters ignite,

they can't be cut off.

The shuttle
is committed to flight.

The main engines start,
you know it's alive.

And the solids
really tell you that.

You know you're headed
somewhere,

because it's a nice kick
in the pants.

I can see the tower going by.

By the time you've cleared
above the tower,

you're going, already,
over 100 miles an hour.

MAN: Columbia, Houston,
we have 40 seconds to LOS.

Configure LOS. You're looking
good burning over the hill.

We'll see you at Madrid.

Mark "A" off.

And "B" off.

CRIPPEN: I've likened it
to driving my old truck

down a washboard country road.

It's kind of like this.

I don't think comfort
is what you're looking for

when you're going uphill.

You're looking to get there.

CRIPPEN:
The sound went away.

I really thought that
all the engines had quit.

MAN:
Steps one and two of the. . .

YOUNG:
I figured that once we made it

to where there wasn't anything
blowing up and catching fire,

we were home safe.

CRIPPEN:
Checklists start floating.

Trash starts floating.

We get debris
coming out of here.

So it's obviously
we're weightless.

-[ Beep ]
-Go ahead, then.

Looking out the window --
shuttle's got great windows --

there's the Earth.

Roger, Houston.

And we're passing
lots of clouds.

NARRATOR: Crippen and Young fly
the shuttle through space

for more than two days.

They orbit the Earth 36 times.

[ Laughs ]

Houston is with you at Maua.

NARRATOR: Reentry will test
the thermal tiles

when the shuttle
hits the atmosphere

at 14,000 miles an hour.

CRIPPEN:
We were in the dark at the time.

One of the dramatic things
that I did notice

was, all of a sudden,
the outside,

which was supposed to be dark,
started glowing this soft pink.

And it was obvious that those
little molecules out there

were getting very warm.

Velocity Mach 2.

Sink rate, still losing altitude

at the rate
of about 200 feet per second.

This was one of the first times

everybody started getting
a sense of speed.

As we came in lower,
you could really get a sense of,

"Hey, we're going pretty fast."

Cripp said he looked out
the window and said,

"What a way to come
to California."

We knew we were coming
across the West Coast

over Santa Barbara,

and you could see
where you turn in to Runway 23.

CRIPPEN:
Gear down.

Landing went perfect,
and John greased it home.

About the softest landing
you could ever imagine,

and when we finally got wheel
stop, John and I shook hands.

flight control,
report steady braking.

And John was as excited
as I've ever seen that man get.

They said
it was a pretty good mission.

I don't know if it was dangerous
or not.

We weren't smart enough to know
whether it was dangerous or not.

We did it.

We did it.

NARRATOR: Crippen and Young
are the first astronauts

to return from space
in a reusable vehicle.

It was about
as perfect a mission

as we could have ever executed.

NARRATOR:
The shuttle era begins.

The orbiter is scheduled to fly
up to 2-4 times a year.

GIBSON:
For the first time,

you could carry something
up to space,

drop it off and leave it there
for six months or so,

let it be exposed
to the space environment,

the radiation, all of
the different things

that we see in space --
the vacuum --

and then fly
another space shuttle up,

pick it back up,
and bring it back down.

NARRATOR:
To give astronauts more freedom

to work outside
the spacecraft,

NASA designs a new machine

with the chance to fulfill the
dream that man can fly in space.

One of the most
exciting things we did

on my very first space flight

was something
that had never been done before.

And that was to fly
the Buck Rogers jet backpack.

NARRATOR: NASA calls it
the manned maneuvering unit.

Controlled by 2-4 thrusters
firing bursts off nitrogen gas,

the jetpack provides
life support, communications,

and the power
to steer through space.

McCANDLESS: We were approved
to build the maneuvering unit

for the shuttle program,

and I was picked to be
the first to fly it.

NARRATOR: Bruce McCandless
is a NASA veteran.

He worked the moon landings
in Mission Control

but has never been to space.

The preparation
for the space walk

takes a good hour and a half,
two hours.

Put on the liquid-cool garment
in the air lock

and then closed it up.

NARRATOR: No astronaut
has ever walked in space

without being firmly tethered
to the ship.

People have asked me if I was
apprehensive or nervous.

But basically,
it was a feeling of relief

that we had finally gotten
to this point.

MAN:
Okay, Bruce, we see your port.

McCANDLESS:
Upon opening the hatch,

I was just seeing nothing
down below but Earth.

It was unsettling.

We'll check on it for you.

GIBSON: So I'm sitting there
with a camera in my hand,

and never forget,

when Bruce McCandless got
about 15 away,

I look through the viewfinder
the first time

and looked at this image
out there

of him floating away from us.

And I thought to myself, "What
a spectacular image this is.

If I don't mess this picture up,

I'm gonna get some
magazine covers with this."

McCANDLESS:
How are you reading?

MAN: Roger, Bruce.
Loud and clear.

NARRATOR:
In the shadow of the Earth,

the temperature is more than
250 degrees below freezing.

McCANDLESS:
I got so cold

that I was shivering
and my teeth were chattering.

NARRATOR: McCandless spends
more than four hours

flying the jetpack
through space.

GIBSON: It was a tremendously
exciting moment

to look out the window and watch
Bruce McCandless floating away

and drifting out to 300 feet
away from the space shuttle,

the length of a football field
away from us.

MAN: Just passed
over Florida and Cuba.

McCANDLESS:
Well, I guess to break it,

Robert is gonna have to go
10% faster.

Looks like Florida.

It is Florida!
It's the Cape.

MAN: Yeah, you're on
a stateside pass, Bruce.

McCANDLESS:
I think I got enough. . .

NARRATOR: Space flight
is back on the front page.

Images from shuttle missions
rival science fiction.

The shuttle was probably
the finest flying machine

that NASA has ever built.

MAN: There's the final turn
into the HAC.

I believe it's really
the pinnacle

of American
aerospace technology.

It revolutionized
our knowledge of aerodynamics.

MAN:
. . . end of the runway.

Airspeed 256 knots.

NARRATOR:
But the shuttle

becomes a victim
of its own success.

MAN:
Gear down.

NARRATOR: It flies so often,
it's taken for granted.

The public loses interest.

BARBREE: As they continued
to fly, it got more routine.

People got more confident.

all of a sudden,

they had an airliner that people
could ride on safely.

They expected it to work.

They expected no problem
with it.

NASA was arrogant.

Thought they couldn't do
anything wrong.

NARRATOR: NASA needs to capture
the public's imagination again.

Their answer --
a teacher in space

and lessons beamed down
from the shuttle in orbit.

10,000 teachers apply.

BARBREE:
Christa McAuliffe was selected,

and they could not have selected
a better person.

I've made nine wonderful friends
over the last two weeks.

When that shuttle goes,
there might be one body. . .

but there's gonna be 10 souls
that I'm taking with me.

-Thank you.
-That's great.

NARRATOR: Barbara Morgan
is Christa's backup.

MORGAN: Well, you're always
a little disappointed,

and I tried to bump Christa off
with poison cookies,

but she would never eat them.

I was just surprised
and very pleased

to be able to have
the opportunity

to train alongside.

NARRATOR: A social studies
teacher and mother of two

from Concord, New Hampshire,

Christa will fly
on the Challenger,

known as the workhorse
of the shuttle fleet.

Three months before her flight,

Christa and Barbara watch
their first shuttle launch.

MAN:
Main engine start.

3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . 0.

We have solid rocket booster
ignition and lift-off.

MORGAN:
There's joy.

There's also
a sense of surprise.

They are off.

I think the biggest surprise
was how bright it was

and how loud it was.

And then,
when you feel the sound

just coming up through your body

and pounding in your chest
and everything.

Oh, my God !
Look at it!

MORGAN: It was wonderful
to be there together

and to know
that Christa's turn was next.

MAN:
Preparing to throttle down.

75% on main engines.

30 seconds from launch.

BARBREE: The night before,
I'm getting from my sources

that it's too cold tomorrow
to fly.

NARRATOR: Temperatures
drop below freezing.

The shuttle has never launched
in such extreme conditions.

KRANZ:
The temperatures were a concern.

But it was not the kind of thing
that would say,

"No, we've got a very solid
reason for a no-go that day."

BARBREE:
It got down to 27 degrees.

And I called my desk and I want
to do a report on The Today Show

that they shouldn't be
taking off today.

After all,
they have the teacher on board.

MORGAN: Very excited about
exploration and about space

and about sharing it
with everyone.

The smiles on their faces
and the extreme joy --

They were really happy to be
doing what they were doing.

MAN: And we're at T-minus
9 minutes and counting.

BARBREE:
People thought

that because a teacher
would be on board

that it might
rejuvenate attention.

But it did not.

MAN:
T-minus 7 minutes and counting.

BARBREE: There weren't that many
members here of the press.

MAN:
pilot Mike Smith has given. . .

NARRATOR: The mission
has already been postponed

several times
due to mechanical problems

and bad weather.

Throughout the morning,

engineers express concern about
the unusually low temperatures.

At 11:38 a. m. , Challenger
is cleared for launch.

MAN: Ground launch sequencer
program has been initiated.

WOMAN: Turn on your AP
and voice recorders.

MAN:
will do.

I remember
I looked in their eyes

and I wished them well
on the journey.

MAN: T-minus 2 minutes
and 20 seconds.

GIBSON: Someone stuck their head
into the big conference room

and said, "Hey, guys,

Challenger is about two minutes
from lift-off.

You want to take a break
and watch the launch?"

MAN:
T-minus 1 minute and counting.

NARRATOR: Christa's parents
are at the Cape for the launch.

MAN: Sound suppression system
now armed.

MUSGRAVE:
I've done a lot of launches

on the top of the launch-control
roof out here,

and I've seen families.

They're worried.

They're scared.
They're in tears.

That's not nice.

MAN:
T-minus 10. . . 9. . .

8. . . 7. . . 6. . .

We have main engine start.

4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 .

And lift-off.

KRANZ: We heard "ignition."
We heard "lift-off."

I heard the call
"throttle down."

Everything was looking normal.
I was watching the main engines.

MAN:
Roger roll, Challenger.

GIBSON: You're sitting there
quietly rooting for them.

You're sitting there
quietly saying,

"Go, Challenger.
Go, Challenger."

MAN: Challenger
now heading downrange.

Preparing to rethrottle
the engines back up to 100%.

It seemed to be just kind of
crawling in space.

MAN: This is one for
The Guinness Book of Records

with the size flight crew
aboard.

Challenger,
go with throttle up.

3,305.

flight, FIDO.

-flight, FIDO
-Go ahead.

RSO reports vehicle exploded.

flight controllers here looking
very carefully at the situation.

KRANZ:
Seconds later,

I happened to see sort of
a flicker over on the TV.

MAN: flight GC,
we've had negative contact.

Okay, all operators
watch your data carefully.

KRANZ:
And I looked over,

and I saw this picture
of this expanding fireball

with pieces moving
in all directions.

NARRATOR: The crippled rocket
boosters careen out of control.

Specially declassified footage

shows them being
remotely destroyed.

MAN: We have a report
from the flight dynamics officer

that the vehicle has exploded.

-flight director confirms that.
-Okay.

We are looking at checking
with the recovery forces

to see what can be done
at this point.

I knew instantly that none
of them could possibly survive

because we didn't have
parachutes,

we didn't have
pressure suits,

and at the altitude
that they broke up at,

there was no way they were gonna
maintain consciousness.

It was immediately obvious to me

that we had lost
the entire crew.

MORGAN:
It didn't look normal.

And I knew that from the amount
of training that we had had

and from the launch
that we had seen previous,

that Christa and I
had witnessed.

MAN:
We are now looking at all the. . .

MORGAN:
Very, very sad time.

I felt horribIe.

It was a huge loss,
and it always will be.

KRANZ: I believe every person
in Mission Control

came to grips with his demons
that day.

And I think several of us said
a few prayers for the crew.

And we also prayed for the team
in Mission Control,

the team in launch control,

and those people
who would have to live

with the aftermath
of this accident.

MAN:
Don't reconfigure your console.

Make hard copies
of all your displays.

Make sure you protect
any data source you have.

PRES. BUSH: I was Vice President
of the United States

way back then.

I went down there
when Challenger blew up.

It was a terrible tragedy,
of course.

So Reagan asked me to go down
to comfort the families.

It was a very moving thing
for me

to see these families in grief.

I think the thing
that really moved me

was President Reagan's comments
after that.

We will never forget them,

nor the last time we saw them,
this morning,

as they prepared for their
journey and waved goodbye

and slipped the surly bonds
of Earth

to touch the face of God.

Thank you.

It was so beautiful.
I could never have done that.

I would have choked up
too badly.

NARRATOR:
For the first time,

NASA loses astronauts
during a mission.

They shut down
the shuttle program

and launch
a complete investigation,

reconstructing
the 73-second mission

in split-second intervals.

The report is scathing.

MUSGRAVE: Turns very rapidly
from grief to anger

because you discovered

there was gross negligence
to launch on that day --

just plain negligence.

We had all the data.

We knew how bad everything was.

We knew the relationships
of "O" rings and temperature.

You know,
it turns to sheer anger.

NARRATOR:
The investigation concludes

that cold weather caused
the failure of an "O" ring,

a rubber gasket
in the right rocket booster.

It leaked flames that ignited
the external fuel tank.

The report also chronicles

the final moments
in the astronauts' lives.

GIBSON: We know that the crew
of Challenger

survived the breakup.

We know that three
of the crew members

turned on their air packs
after the vehicle broke up.

Now, Challenger
was at 49,000 feet

going uphill at a tremendous
rate when it broke up.

And it coasted uphill
to 67,000 feet.

Very, very high altitude.

There's no way in the world

that the crew was going to
maintain consciousness

in that kind of an environment.

So we believe they were alive.

But we also believe

they were unconscious
when they hit the water.

MAN: Contingency procedures
are in effect.

They were alive
until they hit the water.

NARRATOR: No shuttle flies
for 2 1/2 years.

A lot of second-guessing
in the Congress

about the whole program

and whether we were taking
proper care

of these people
going out into space

and whether the program
was worth it.

But NASA determined
to go forward

with the support of the Congress
and of the American people,

and forward it went.

GIBSON:
After the loss of Challenger,

it took us almost three years
to redesign and rebuild

and get ready to feel confident
about going to space again.

After the Challenger accident,

the press took a whole different
outlook towards NASA.

The outlook towards NASA was,
"We're not sure we believe you

when you say
you're gonna do this."

NARRATOR: shuttle flights resume
in September 1988.

After five missions,

the fleet of three orbiters is
flying a regular schedule again.

We have to continue
to move forward.

To stop in space
is to surrender.

NARRATOR:
The orbiter Discovery rolls out

for the most ambitious mission
of the shuttle era.

It promises to unlock
age-old mysteries

about the origins
of the universe,

to look deep into space
for clues to the distant past.

MUSGRAVE: The promise of Hubble
to the public was the power.

It was gonna show them
their universe

in a way they'd never seen it
before.

We said Hubble would probably
answer the question

"What is the age
of the universe?"

Hubble was going to see galaxies
and stars being born.

HOFFMAN:
Here was a new telescope,

which was going to be launched
by the shuttle,

and, you know,
somehow it was gonna make

these incredible things
possible.

NARRATOR: Hubble is a pioneering
scientific mission,

launching the most powerful
telescope ever built.

At 24,000 pounds,
it's the size of a city bus.

MAN:
This is shuttle launch control

at T-minus 3 hours and holding.

-OTC, LVCC.
-Go ahead.

NARRATOR:
The telescope has to be

high above the Earth's
radiant light,

which could distort its view
into deep space.

The desire was to get it
as high as we possibly could.

HAWLEY:
Normally, the shuttle would fly

between 150, 170 nautical miles.

And for Hubble, we wanted to do
almost twice that.

And that really pushed us

to the limit of what
the shuttle could achieve.

NARRATOR: Discovery
will launch Hubble higher

than any spacecraft has flown
since men went to the moon.

NASA selects a veteran crew

to deliver the world's
most expensive telescope,

with a price tag
topping $1.5 billion.

McCANDLESS: SDS 31
was a high-profile mission.

Because we had all flown before,

we had a bit of a leg up
on training.

We didn't have to start at zero.

MAN: pilot Charlie Bolden,
Bruce McCandless.

NARRATOR:
Kathy Sullivan

is the first American woman
to walk in space.

This is her second
shuttle mission.

SULLIVAN: There's thousands
and thousands of things

that have to be
right on the money

and checked hundreds of times
a second

to be sure
everything's ready to go.

And it has to all mesh,
you know,

with an astonishing
kind of precision

in the last minute or so
of a countdown.

The odds ought to be that
you never get off the planet.

Let's go do this.

MAN:
Roger roll, Discovery.

Discovery,
go with throttle up.

It wasn't that long
since Challenger.

Hubble was the biggest
and largest thing

we had ever tried to deploy.

I don't think any of us
wanted Hubble

to have any sort of a major
problem after Challenger.

WOMAN: Discovery's velocity
now 2,300 feet per second

and is downrange
eight nautical miles.

NARRATOR:
On schedule,

Discovery jettisons
the solid rocket boosters.

Discovery burns through
2,000 tons of fuel

to reach 370 miles
above the Earth,

more than twice as high
as the shuttle's normal orbit.

SHRIVER: I was able to look out
pretty much right away

after main engine cutoff.

And I distinctly remember
the feeling,

"Wow. This is a lot higher
than I was last time."

SULLIVAN: We were all struck
by how fabulously different

the doubling of the altitude
made the Earth look.

McCANDLESS:
That was and is the highest

that any of us had been and
that the shuttle has ever been,

even to date.

NARRATOR:
The higher they are,

the more fuel they'll need
to get home.

If disaster strikes
and it runs out,

they'll be stuck in space,

unable to return
before their oxygen is gone.

You looked up at the key
onboard-shuttle fuel gauges.

You know, the moment you got
there, they were reading 49%.

SHRIVER: Hmm. You wonder, "Well,
is that really gonna be enough

to get us back down?"

SULLIVAN: You've still got
five or six days to go,

and you're already through
half your propellent.

Any indication of a leak,
any indication of a leak,

I'm getting out of there fast,

or we don't get to come home
and talk with you about it.

NARRATOR: The crew plans
to launch Hubble the next day.

MUSGRAVE:
Discovery, Houston.

MAN:
Morning, Story.

MUSGRAVE:
Got to go for HST deploy arms.

NARRATOR: Bill Reeves directs
the flight from Mission Control.

REEVES:
It was time-critical

that you get on orbit
as fast as you can,

get everything checked out
as fast as you can,

and get this telescope deployed.

NARRATOR:
Discovery's robotic arm

lifts Hubble from the cargo bay.

Timing is now critical.

Discovery, Houston.

NARRATOR: Hubble's
ultrasensitive instruments

need a continuous source
of energy.

Its two solar panels
must be fully extended

before the telescope
can be deployed,

or the extreme temperatures
in space

could cause catastrophic damage.

Hubble's on a battery, so you
only last so long on batteries.

You've got to get
the solar panels out, you know,

to get your electricity.

MUSGRAVE:
I'd like you to go three drift.

HAWLEY: So before
the solar arrays come out,

the telescope
is using battery power,

which is fine so long
as the arrays come out.

Discovery, go plus SDM deploy.

HAWLEY: They commanded the first
set of solar arrays to deploy,

and that all worked properly.

So we're feeling pretty good
about things.

And then they go to do
the second set.

MUSGRAVE: Discovery,
we'd like three drift

from minus SDM deploy.

MAN: Okay, we copy.
Three drift.

HAWLEY: You could see a little
bit of the stored energy

in the canister
as the latches were released,

and the array would come out
a little bit

and then it would stop.

And we thought, "Well, that's
not what it's supposed to do."

MAN: Houston -- Discovery.
Looks like motion stopped.

REEVES: My payload officer
told me the array had stopped.

Immediately,
we knew we had a problem.

NARRATOR: One good solar panel
is keeping Hubble alive,

but just barely.

The telescope is useless
until it's under full power.

REEVES: So the payload team
were trying to figure out

why it wouldn't deploy.

So there was a sense of urgency
to get things going.

NARRATOR: Mission Control
scrambles for a solution.

The crew in space prepares
for an EVA.

They may have to crank
the solar panel open by hand.

Let's have the EVA crew
press on with EVA prep.

Yeah, we had Bruce McCandless

and Kathy Sullivan
get suited up.

Just as insurance.

SULLIVAN: We instantly jumped
into that get-outside mode.

Dropped the cameras
and started suiting up.

And Bill, at this point,

is having to listen
to the telescope guys,

ask them, "Do they think
they've got this fixed?"

-flight payload.
-Go ahead.

They haven't gotten it yet, and
they're scratching their heads.

They're working a plan
right now.

I'll get back to you

as soon as we get a good plan
pulled together.

Another thing
I need an answer to

is if I can go ahead
and commit the EVA

with the thought of going out
and cranking it out

if whatever
they're about to do fails.

MUSGRAVE: We really expect
to have to go out the door

and actually crank it out
by hand.

They want us to just press on
to back them up.

We need to get on with it.

SHRIVER: Something had to happen
to get that array out,

or we'd lose the telescope.

WOMAN: Okay, flight.
I'll come back with the answer.

I need answers now.

SHRIVER: By this time, Bruce and
Kathy are in their space suits.

They're in the air lock.

-flight FAO
-Come in.

Yeah, I don't feel comfortable
waiting until --

I don't either. That's why
I want the answers now.

HAWLEY:
Time is very critical.

They certainly were measuring

how long it would take
before the telescope would die.

The question I need
is the status

of the state of charge
of the batteries at release.

Are we gonna have
adequate charge?

We can only get
minus-X translation.

It's firm.

That was a very difficult day.

We really earned our pay
that day.

NARRATOR:
If the second solar panel

isn't generating power soon. . .

NASA could face
a difficult decision.

-Payloads.
-Yes.

NARRATOR:
Leave Hubble in orbit

until another mission can return
and attempt to repair it.

At Mission Control, engineers
search for computer commands

that will deploy
the second array.

Yes, what we need to do
is command both of the motors.

-They ready to go right now?
-Yes.

-That's what they want to do?
-Yes, sir.

SULLIVAN: The guys on the ground
figured out

an alternate command.

It had taken them
those couple of hours

to find their way
to that conclusion.

REEVES: We gave the command,
and, sure enough,

it started to open
and it kept going.

NARRATOR: The solar panels
unfold and get right to work. . .

MAN:
Okay, EECOM .

NARRATOR:
. . . soaking up sunlight

and converting it
into electricity.

Hubble is ready for launch.

-Eagle?
-Go.

-FAO?
-Go.

-MAX?
-Go.

-ARS?
-Go, flight.

Bruce and I didn't get to see.

I was about this far away
from the wall of the air lock,

staring at a nice, bright,
blank white wall

and listening to all that
happening on the com loops.

Payloads, waiting on you.

flight, payloads, we are go.

Cap Com,
we have a go for release.

Discovery,
go for Hubble release.

REEVES: We were very satisfied
with our mission.

We had gotten
the telescope deployed.

We'd done
what we had set out to do.

McCANDLESS:
There was a feeling of pride

and also a feeling
of a new beginning.

We're gonna be able to observe
things and answer questions

that we thought
were unanswerable before.

WOMAN:
We're touched down.

[ Cheering ]

NARRATOR: The Hubble launch
revives America's space program.

It's the high-profile mission
NASA needs

to put the Challenger disaster
behind them.

And 370 miles above the Earth,

the Hubble telescope
prepares to peer back

through space and time

to capture images of the origins
of all things.

WEILER: About two or three weeks
after launch,

we started to take
the first images.

And a few of us gather
around a screen

to see the images
that would come back that night.

And the focus
didn't seem to be right.

MAN:
They didn't look nearly as sharp

as the experts in the room
expected them to.

Sort of looked at each other

and said, "That's the way
it's supposed to be, isn't it?"

And, of course,
people knew that it wasn't.

NARRATOR:
Hubble's main mirror,

8 feet wide
and weighing nearly a ton,

is the wrong shape -- ground to
the wrong specifications.

Many images are blurred.

Hubble is nearsighted.

WEILER: It was only off by about
a millionth of an inch,

which is about 1/50 the diameter
of a human hair.

It was absolutely shocking

when a couple of people
who are optics experts

came forward and said,
"You can't correct it.

There's nothing you can do
about it."

There's a significant
spherical aberration

appears to be present
in the optics --

in the optical telescope.

MUSGRAVE:
You grieve for the fact that,

you know, the possibilities
and they're gone.

But very soon, then, the grief
turns to flat-out anger.

How could this have happened?

I mean, don't you guys
know how to make telescopes?

WEILER: Personally, I felt like
it was the end of the world.

You spend 15 years of your
career working on something,

and the world is watching,
and it's a total disaster.

As far as you know,

it had to have happened on
the ground before it went up?

We were a joke.
A national joke.

NARRATOR:
The most expensive,

most powerful telescope
in the world is a dud.

It's really hard now,
in retrospect,

to create the sense of outrage
and despair

that people were feeling.

This was a, you know,
multibillion-dollar disaster.