1
00:00:00,150 --> 00:00:04,280
My name is Tom Williams; I'm a systems engineer working on the TDRS program 

2
00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:08,450
since 1975. I was working at Goddard here doing, 

3
00:00:08,450 --> 00:00:12,610
ah, research in electric propulsion back in the, in the 

4
00:00:12,610 --> 00:00:16,820
late 60s and in 1975 they called me, 

5
00:00:16,820 --> 00:00:21,000
the TDRS project did ask if I would take on the engineering 

6
00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,060
job as a propulsion engineer for that program that was just getting started. 

7
00:00:25,060 --> 00:00:29,100
Well the launch of the first TDRS, We had an anomaly with the launch vehicle 

8
00:00:29,100 --> 00:00:33,150
and normally they're supposed to drop us off and we immediately 

9
00:00:33,150 --> 00:00:37,220
go into configuring the spacecraft and deploying all 

10
00:00:37,220 --> 00:00:41,350
the appendages and instead we were spinning end over end at 30 

11
00:00:41,350 --> 00:00:45,540
rpm and we weren't in the right orbit. So, what happened then we tried 

12
00:00:45,540 --> 00:00:49,600
to figure out what we could do about it and eventually figured out a way we could 

13
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,680
actually get in the correct orbit with the small thrusters that we had 

14
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,820
on board. We did a burn every, every day and it took us 30 days and we eventually 

15
00:00:57,820 --> 00:01:02,010
got there and that spacecraft lasted 27 years. I think the biggest thing 

16
00:01:02,010 --> 00:01:06,190
about TDRS and I don't know why this is true and it's probably true to other programs too. 

17
00:01:06,190 --> 00:01:10,370
But it really did turn into like a family. We had a lot of 

18
00:01:10,370 --> 00:01:14,550
picnics for the families, parties. Our working relationship in those 

19
00:01:14,550 --> 00:01:18,680
days you could argue face to face with people and then go have lunch. It was, 

20
00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,830
I think kind of unique for a big program like that it was a very close

21
00:01:22,830 --> 00:01:25,030
relationship with all those employees. 

22
00:01:25,030 --> 00:01:29,230
Beep, Beep, Beep..

23
00:01:29,230 --> 00:01:30,400