1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:02,680 MAN: (OVER RADIO) We've got you loud and clear 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:04,560 on the International Space station. Welcome aboard. 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,760 NARRATOR: Hurtling around Earth at 17,000mph... 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,600 ..in the most hostile place humanity has ever attempted to live... 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,320 ..the International Space Station. 6 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,400 In a space mission, the bad guy is the environment. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,840 The environment is trying to kill you. 8 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,360 Now, 25 years since the first crew arrived on the ISS, 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,280 we reveal the times astronauts' lives were in the balance. 10 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,520 We're always asking ourselves, "What's the next worst failure? 11 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:47,760 "What could go wrong next?" 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,960 From toxic leaks... 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,960 Do you copy? We're having a hard time with a leak. 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,040 Sooner or later, he's got to expose the outside of his suit 15 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,920 to his crewmates, who are not interested in dying horrible deaths. 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,880 ..to equipment malfunctions... 17 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,400 I don't understand where it's coming from. 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,680 There was a risk that if the water increased dramatically, 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,440 I would drown in space. 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,040 ..lethal showers of space junk... 21 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:16,600 You've got orbital debris 22 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,520 that can hit your module and put a hole in it. 23 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,160 Station to Houston on two. This is an actual. 24 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,240 ..to docking disasters. 25 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,760 We are out of attitude by at least 45 degrees and increasing. 26 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,600 ..250 miles above Earth. 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,840 The smallest mistake could spell disaster. 28 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,000 How do we respond to that unknown? 29 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,480 Understanding situations may have the ultimate consequences. 30 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,000 Split-second decisions mean 31 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,600 the difference between life and death. 32 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,160 From firsthand accounts from ISS astronauts 33 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,040 and Mission Control, who keep them safe... 34 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,200 ..this is the untold story of courage, 35 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,960 science, 36 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,760 and survival aboard the ISS. 37 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,640 And we need to be able to handle those things when they happen, 38 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,560 because, in space, it will happen. 39 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:45,160 Low Earth orbit. 40 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,880 Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano prepare 41 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:55,000 the International Space Station for the arrival of a new module. 42 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:00,000 They have spent years of training, 43 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,920 planning for every possible outcome and every possible failure. 44 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,960 But nothing prepared Luca for this. 45 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,440 250 miles above Earth, 46 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,960 Luca's spacesuit has malfunctioned 47 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,920 and is leaking water into his helmet. 48 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,760 There should never be any water inside your spacesuit, 49 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,080 especially not in the helmet area. 50 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,680 In the microgravity of space, 51 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,280 liquids behave in unexpected ways. 52 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,760 It's surface tension that drives the behaviour of water... 53 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:59,760 ..and the water just wants to stick to whatever it's stuck to. 54 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,440 Chris, you can continue to help troubleshoot... 55 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:02,600 In Luca's helmet, 56 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,760 the growing ball of water is creeping around his head. 57 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,400 It could smother his nose and mouth. 58 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,800 That's the moment, I think, where it solidified in everybody's mind, 59 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:19,000 "OK, we're done for today." 60 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,680 In the military, we say that problems happen at the fold 61 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,640 of a map, at the junction of grid squares and at night. 62 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,080 And that's exactly how this was shaping up. 63 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,320 As soon as he started to move, the sun set. 64 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,720 Everything turns gold, bright gold, for one split second. 65 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,760 Incredibly beautiful, and then it's lights out. 66 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:24,640 Yep. 67 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,560 More water fills Luca's helmet, 68 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,280 causing his communications to malfunction. 69 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,440 I call Chris, telling him, "Hey, Chris, I think I'm a bit lost." 70 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:42,360 But nothing came out, 71 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:43,880 and I didn't have any return in my earphones, 72 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:45,920 so I knew that he couldn't hear me. 73 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:50,640 Pretty soon, he's not going to have air 74 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,400 in his helmet to breathe. 75 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,600 If the water increased dramatically, I would drown in space. 76 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:04,040 A routine spacewalk has turned into a life-or-death race 77 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:05,440 back to the airlock. 78 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,480 The next few moments will not only decide Luca's fate, 79 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,360 but also the future of the space program. 80 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,080 The ISS is the largest and most complex structure 81 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,520 ever built in orbit, a triumph of international cooperation. 82 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,520 But for those who live and work here, 83 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,640 every moment of every day is a calculated risk. 84 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,720 Space is a very hostile, unforgiving environment. 85 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,200 It's an environment that we are not designed to live in. 86 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,920 In space, there's no margin for error. 87 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,120 Radiation, 88 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:00,640 fire, 89 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:02,480 contamination, 90 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:03,800 collision... 91 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:11,760 ..and even drowning are just some of the dangers astronauts face. 92 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,640 So the International Space Station is the place that keeps you alive. 93 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,120 The ISS is the culmination of years of planning, 94 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,440 beginning shortly before the turn of the 21st century... 95 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,680 ..a collective effort of more than 50 nations 96 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,120 with unprecedented ambition 97 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,880 to build a state-of-the-art science laboratory in space. 98 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:04,280 The bold venture kicks off on November 20 1998 99 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,520 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. 100 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:13,760 A Proton-K rocket carries the Russian component Zarya, 101 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,000 meaning 'sunrise', into orbit. 102 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,360 And lift-off of the space shuttle endeavour. 103 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,960 16 days later, the US Unity module joins Zarya. 104 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:30,320 (MAN SPEAKS RUSSIAN OVER RADIO) 105 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,120 But it's not until 20 months later, with the arrival of Zvezda, 106 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:37,400 which means 'star', 107 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,960 that life-support systems and living quarters 108 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:41,680 are finally added. 109 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,720 On November 2 2000, 110 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,080 the ISS welcomes its first residents. 111 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,480 REPORTER: The first crew of the International Space Station 112 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,000 has reached their home. 113 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,560 NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts 114 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,920 Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev 115 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,000 marking the beginning of continuous habitation 116 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,040 on board the orbiting outpost. 117 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,440 Three spacewalks the following month configure power systems 118 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,680 and add a framework of trusses to support 119 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,760 the station's solar arrays and radiators. 120 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,600 But things are only just getting started. 121 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:28,360 Great news, Mario, go for docking! 122 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:33,720 The space station's early success is followed by a sobering truth. 123 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,080 Building a home in orbit is as dangerous as it is ambitious. 124 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,840 And with every new addition, the risks grow. 125 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:53,320 Its next module, Destiny, an American-built laboratory, 126 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,720 will lay the foundation for US scientific research 127 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,560 aboard the station. 128 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:07,360 Its installation falls to two first-time spacewalkers - 129 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,840 Top Gun pilot Robert Beamer Curbeam and Tom Jones. 130 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,880 When you're first starting, and you're going out the hatch, 131 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,560 your first thought is, "I want to make sure 132 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,560 "that I get this right, that I do everything right." 133 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,400 While their crewmate Marsha Ivins 134 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,840 uses the shuttle's robotic arm to manoeuvre 135 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,040 the 16-tonne Destiny module into position... 136 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,680 ..the spacewalking pair will assist with its attachment to Unity 137 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:55,080 and integration with the rest of the station. 138 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:57,320 This is when the game starts, 139 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,720 and you've got to be serious about it. 140 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,640 It's time to go to work. 141 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,160 One of their primary tasks is to connect Destiny's 142 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,640 coolant lines to the space station's cooling system 143 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:25,680 to regulate the onboard temperature. 144 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:30,120 Heat doesn't dissipate in space the way it would here. 145 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:31,360 It just stays there. 146 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,160 And if it just stays there, 147 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,840 you're going to probably overheat whatever you have. 148 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:40,560 Every 45 minutes, 149 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:43,640 as the ISS orbits the planet, 150 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,240 its exterior is exposed to direct sunlight, 151 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,120 raising its temperature 152 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,200 to a blistering 250 degrees Fahrenheit. 153 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,680 Then, as the station slips into the Earth's shadow, 154 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,400 the temperature plummets 500 degrees to -250. 155 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,360 To combat these wild temperature extremes, 156 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,800 the space station's cooling system uses loops 157 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,080 of mechanically pumped fluid. 158 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,840 Inside US modules, circulating water transfers heat 159 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:28,000 to an external loop filled with liquid ammonia... 160 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:33,160 ..which then passes through three waffle-shaped panels 161 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,280 on the station's exterior to radiate the heat into space. 162 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,440 It's this pressurised ammonia loop 163 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,440 that Robert Curbeam needs to connect to Destiny. 164 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,840 The pressurised system keeps the ammonia in liquid form. 165 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:01,840 Any crystals forming around pipes 166 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,720 or connections are evidence of leaks. 167 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,160 At Johnson Space Centre in Houston, 168 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,640 Lead Flight Director Bob Castle keeps watch over Tom and Beamer. 169 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:22,960 When he's got the suit on, Bob's completely fine. 170 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,240 But one or two breaths of pure ammonia, 171 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,120 and you will very likely die within minutes. 172 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,600 Everyone watches the systems on the station and on the shuttle 173 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,560 to make sure that everything is still working the way it should be. 174 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,080 While the team knows what's expected of them, 175 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,200 in space, any number of things can go wrong. 176 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:00,720 When I actually removed the hose, 177 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:05,920 I saw a lot more crystals growing, all around the two orifices... 178 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:09,800 ..and I knew I had a problem. 179 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,080 An automatic shutoff valve has failed. 180 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,320 I felt like I was working in a blizzard 181 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,160 because there was so much ammonia coming out. 182 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,280 Beamer immediately reported, "Oh, it's spewing all over the place." 183 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,720 And then my counterpart, Andy Algate, said, 184 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:43,520 "We see the accumulator going down." 185 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:55,440 Without its coolant, 186 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,440 the Destiny module would be uninhabitable, 187 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,240 potentially jeopardising the entire mission of the space station. 188 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,920 That heat must be ejected from the spacecraft eventually, 189 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,000 or else you will burn up the spacecraft 190 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,520 and the people inside of it. 191 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,200 We don't know exactly what the leak rate was, 192 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,760 but I knew we didn't have long. 193 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,960 Beamer needs to find the shutoff valve upstream and turn it off. 194 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,440 I did find very quickly that it was 195 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,760 going to be a lot harder than I thought. 196 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:34,680 The valve is stuck. 197 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,720 When I tried to close it, it didn't close. 198 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,040 I tried again, it didn't close. 199 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,320 They said it was going to be about 25lb of force. 200 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,000 I can tell you - I've spent a lot of time in the gym - 201 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,920 it was not 25lb of force. 202 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,280 It was much, much more. 203 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,080 I tried to close it again. 204 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:14,120 And finally, after four or five tries, I got to close it. 205 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:30,920 Mission Control breathes a sigh of relief. 206 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,080 With the leak stopped, 207 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,960 the astronauts can connect Destiny's cooling lines to the station. 208 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,160 The ISS is safe. 209 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:45,120 What's next? 210 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,560 But now Beamer is covered in toxic ammonia. 211 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,000 Sooner or later, he's got to get out of the suit. 212 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,200 And sooner or later, he's got to come back in the cabin 213 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:04,480 and expose the outside of the suit to his crewmates, 214 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,120 who are not interested in dying horrible deaths. 215 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,440 I thought to myself, "What are they going to do with me, 216 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:16,160 "you know, now that I have this toxin on the outside of the suit?" 217 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,040 I knew that the procedure to go back into the spacecraft 218 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:25,360 was going to change. 219 00:17:25,360 --> 00:17:26,640 I just didn't know how. 220 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:34,320 Tom wipes the toxic crystals off his crewmate's spacesuit, 221 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,880 using a brush in their EVA kit. 222 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,160 But before he can re-enter the space station... 223 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,200 ..Beamer must burn the last remaining traces 224 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:01,120 of ammonia off his suit, in the baking heat of the sun. 225 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,240 The amazing thing about the procedure 226 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:15,240 to help me decontaminate the outside of my spacesuit was 227 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,040 that it gave me the opportunity 228 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:23,240 to just sit in the sun and watch the earth go by for 45 minutes... 229 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,040 ..which was awesome. 230 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,600 And it was incredible, I loved it. 231 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,680 And you see the Gobi Desert, 232 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,480 you see all the different parts of Asia. 233 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,400 You see the Himalayas to the south. 234 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,600 You see a little bit of cloud layer there. 235 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:52,400 And you just bask in it. 236 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,640 Over the next four days, undeterred by the experience, 237 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,080 Beamer clocks up 12 more hours of spacewalks 238 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,880 to ensure Destiny is safely attached. 239 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,080 The Destiny module is what we refer to as the US lab. 240 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:26,920 It's really our core lab capability. 241 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,760 So we have freezers, 242 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,840 we have different payload facilities to conduct science. 243 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,760 This is sort of the heart of the US segment. 244 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,880 Destiny is designed for microgravity research 245 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,760 in a variety of fields, 246 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:45,880 from life sciences to material science, and more. 247 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,120 Microgravity is not zero gravity. 248 00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:55,320 The Earth still exerts a pull on the ISS. 249 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,880 This pull is what keeps the station in orbit, 250 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,560 circling the Earth in constant freefall... 251 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,320 ..creating an environment that allows scientists 252 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:12,880 to observe phenomena that cannot be replicated on Earth. 253 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,840 But the instruments on board are also designed 254 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,120 to put our own planet under the microscope. 255 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,080 We have a really unique capability to look down on Earth. 256 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:32,400 Our orbital path takes us around 90% of the Earth's inhabited surfaces. 257 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,880 So this what allows us, over time, to see how the Earth is changing. 258 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,920 How weather patterns are changing and affecting our environment... 259 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,640 ..how the forest canopy is changing, and the carbon cycle of Earth. 260 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:53,880 You have these instruments all 261 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,400 on the same platform, going over the same area. 262 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,000 So you get a global picture 263 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:00,680 of the health of what's happening to our planet. 264 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,000 The new Destiny module not only provides 265 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,120 a platform for scientific research, 266 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,120 it also increases the habitable 267 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,600 volume of the space station by over 40%... 268 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,080 ..a welcome addition 269 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:20,040 for those building and living on the ISS. 270 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,720 After the installation of the Destiny lab module, 271 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,640 it was fast and furious. 272 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:32,080 Over the next 21 months, eight successful missions add 273 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,840 the Canadian Space Agency's Canadarm2, 274 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,040 a 57-foot-long robotic arm, 275 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,320 Quest, which will serve as the primary airlock for spacewalks... 276 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,680 ..the S0 truss, forming the station's backbone, 277 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,280 and radiator trusses to help dissipate heat. 278 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:01,200 All of this made possible by an iconic spacecraft. 279 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,080 The ISS could not have been built without the space shuttle. 280 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,680 Full stop. 281 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,560 But in February 2003, 282 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:21,040 after 16 successful shuttle missions to the space station, 283 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:22,520 disaster strikes. 284 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:40,520 Flight controllers, here in Mission Control, have declared 285 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,440 a contingency, as communications was lost 286 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,800 with the Space Shuttle Columbia during its descent 287 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,920 from orbit, enroute to a landing at the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida. 288 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,400 After more than two weeks conducting experiments in orbit, 289 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:57,080 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry, 290 00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,320 killing all seven crew members. 291 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,800 Those are my friends, you know? I knew them personally. 292 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:08,480 I knew them professionally. 293 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,040 Some of them were in my class. 294 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,640 I miss them every day. 295 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:20,000 It caused us to lose seven very incredible people, 296 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,560 and believe me, they were incredible. 297 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,200 WOMAN: You can just give it to me. 298 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,040 The Columbia disaster, we later found out, 299 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:41,080 was due to foam shedding off of the external tank. 300 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,120 During launch, a falling piece of insulating foam 301 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,880 struck the shuttle's left wing, 302 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,560 damaging the thermal protection tiles designed 303 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,000 to shield it from extreme heat during re-entry. 304 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,600 And what that did was that allowed very hot plasma 305 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,800 to get inside of the wing and basically melt 306 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,600 the inner structure of the spacecraft. 307 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,720 Test simulations back on the ground reveal the devastating impact 308 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,760 of this seemingly small briefcase-sized chunk of foam 309 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,520 travelling at high speed. 310 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,200 All shuttles are grounded, 311 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,160 while a full investigation is carried out, 312 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,360 effectively halting construction of the ISS. 313 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,240 The only way to reach the orbiting outpost 314 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,880 is via Russian Soyuz capsules launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. 315 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,400 To conserve vital supplies, like oxygen and water, on the ISS, 316 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,800 the crew is reduced from three to just two. 317 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,800 Commander Gennady Padalka from Russia 318 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:04,560 and flight engineer Mike Fincke from the United States formed 319 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,600 the two-person crew of Expedition 9. 320 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,920 I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 321 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:14,520 It's not a super wealthy city, 322 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,360 but we have all kinds of resources for education. 323 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,720 So I went to the planetarium, I went to the library, 324 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,880 I learned, and I knew that I wanted to become an astronaut. 325 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,600 I met my wife at Johnson Space Centre, here at NASA. 326 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:33,120 And like men and women do, we fell in love and we started a family. 327 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,120 And I still hadn't flown yet. 328 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,480 And then the opportunity came up. 329 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,840 When I married him, I knew that he wanted to go into space. 330 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,360 And so, I was always going to support his dream, 331 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:52,400 even though it was going to disrupt our planning for life on the ground. 332 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,920 Mike spent eight years training before this mission... 333 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,600 ..a mission scheduled to last six months. 334 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,800 It's been his ultimate ambition, 335 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,880 but one that involves personal sacrifice 336 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,400 for himself and his wife, Renita. 337 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,840 It was about two months into his six-month mission 338 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:31,880 that we had the baby. 339 00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:35,200 For the first time in history, 340 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:39,400 an American astronaut is in space when his child is born. 341 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,240 It will be four months before Mike returns 342 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,480 to Earth to hold his daughter for the first time. 343 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,800 During his absence, she will grow. 344 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,600 But Mike's body will also undergo changes. 345 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:03,160 While his new baby is developing muscles quickly, 346 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,360 Mike's muscles will deteriorate because of microgravity. 347 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,280 Renita and fellow biomedical engineers 348 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:17,360 at Johnson Space Centre research ways to overcome this challenge. 349 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,200 As you're up there longer and using your muscles less, 350 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,720 you're going to need to find ways 351 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,520 to counteract all the changes that are happening. 352 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,040 Without exercise, 353 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:33,520 astronauts' muscle mass can fall by up to 50% over a six-month mission. 354 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,000 We provide crew members with aerobic exercise, 355 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,440 as well as resistance exercise, 356 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,360 so we're able to build muscle 357 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:45,440 as we're exercising, 358 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,080 so that we can make sure that everybody is fit 359 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:51,200 for doing what their duties are in space. 360 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,640 In their role as the station's caretakers, 361 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,000 the crew must occasionally carry out physically 362 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,040 exhausting work on the outside of the space station. 363 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,720 For Mike and Gennady, 364 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,880 this poses an additional challenge, 365 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:13,400 since, for safety, 366 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,640 spacewalks require two crew members. 367 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,520 This means leaving the ISS 368 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,720 completely unoccupied during the operation. 369 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,520 One of our planned spacewalks was to travel to the very end 370 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,840 of the space station, which is the very aft end of Zvezda. 371 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,160 The plan is to install equipment in preparation 372 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,440 for the arrival of a cargo vehicle from the European Space Agency. 373 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,360 The two spacewalkers undertake a tightly choreographed procedure, 374 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,800 But no matter how much they plan and practise, in space, 375 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,320 there's always room for the unexpected. 376 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,880 We're always asking ourselves, "What's the next worst failure? 377 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:04,240 "What could go wrong next?" 378 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,520 We need to be able to handle those kind of things 379 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,600 when they happen because, in space, it will happen. 380 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,160 Two hours into the spacewalk, it does. 381 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:22,840 Gennady and I were just working away, 382 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,160 doing what we needed to do. 383 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,240 But as they worked, 384 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:29,760 they were inadvertently causing a problem. 385 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,560 Our spacesuits were providing a very little bit 386 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,720 of momentum towards pushing the space station. 387 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,400 So we were actually pushing it to go out of orientation. 388 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,240 The two astronauts working at one end of the station 389 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,120 have caused the entire structure to tip. 390 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:54,320 How could this happen? 391 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,640 The stability of the ISS and its orientation, 392 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:05,680 or 'attitude', should be maintained through the use of four Gyroscopes. 393 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,960 A gyroscope is a wheel or disc spinning on its axis. 394 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,520 The heavier the disc, and the faster it spins, 395 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,520 the more stable the gyroscope. 396 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,960 That's because a spinning disc creates momentum perpendicular 397 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,880 to the plane of rotation, which makes it resist tipping over. 398 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:37,920 Embedded in the ISS 399 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,480 are four huge gyroscopes, pointed in different directions, 400 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,400 with 220lb wheels spinning at over 100 revolutions a second... 401 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,520 ..usually enough to keep the whole station 402 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,520 from rotating in any direction. 403 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,040 The space station constantly experiences forces 404 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,640 from solar winds or from the Earth's gravity. 405 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:09,280 If left unchecked, they would cause the space station to tilt or tumble. 406 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,400 The gyros counteract those movements. 407 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,600 But they can only compensate so much. 408 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,400 And they're already close to their limit 409 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:29,400 when Mike and Gennady push the station out of alignment. 410 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:37,840 So the space station went into a mode that said, "Look, 411 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:39,480 "I can't control myself anymore. 412 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:40,840 "I'm not out of control, 413 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,400 "but I'm going to go into what we call 'free drift'." 414 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,040 So the space station just started to drift and point up and point up. 415 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:50,360 And there we are. 416 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,600 And we looked up, and we were in a very unusual attitude. 417 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,120 And there was... Planet Earth was zooming below. 418 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:02,960 Holding a desired orientation in space is crucial to help keep 419 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,240 the station's solar arrays locked onto the sun. 420 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,560 This isn't just about efficiency - it's about survival. 421 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:15,920 We're completely off the grid. 422 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,560 And in order to keep it powered, 423 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,120 we're collecting as much solar energy as we can when we're on 424 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:23,360 the light side of the planet. 425 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:30,480 When the station slips into darkness for 45 minutes every orbit, 426 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,920 solar-charged batteries become crucial 427 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,680 for powering critical life-support systems. 428 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:41,440 With the solar panels unable 429 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,120 to charge the ISS's batteries, 430 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:49,360 to conserve power, Mission Control turns off nonessential systems. 431 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:54,160 The only way to get the space station back 432 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,240 into the correct attitude 433 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,080 is with the use of thrusters, 434 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,280 located exactly where Mike and Gennady are working. 435 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:10,960 But there's a new problem. 436 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:13,920 Gennady and I were working and talking 437 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:15,840 to our Russian colleagues on the ground, 438 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,880 and all of a sudden, it became very quiet. 439 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:30,880 The power-saving protocols have inadvertently cut off 440 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:35,360 all communication between the astronauts and ground control. 441 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,040 There was no-one else to give us instructions. 442 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,560 And Gennady and I said, "Well, what are we going to do?" 443 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,360 Mission Control has a terrible dilemma. 444 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,000 To restore attitude, they must activate the thrusters. 445 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,840 But with no way to communicate with Gennady and Mike, 446 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:03,840 flight controllers have no idea 447 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,640 whether their astronauts are in the firing line. 448 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:10,600 If a crew member was going to be moving by them, 449 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,720 that crew member would be blasted with hot gas 450 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:15,880 or contaminated because the gas 451 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,960 that the thrusters used was extremely toxic. 452 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,520 Extremely, extremely toxic. Deadly. 453 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,000 We don't want to be anywhere near that action. 454 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,200 If we were there in our spacesuits when the thrusters went off, 455 00:34:29,240 --> 00:34:33,200 we would experience the thrill of being melted. 456 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,560 Suspended hundreds of miles above Earth, 457 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,560 the two spacewalkers cling to an empty, 458 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,920 drifting space station, unsure what to do next. 459 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,560 As the planet turns slowly beneath them, 460 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,360 Mike scans the horizon... 461 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,600 ..and spots something that provides a spark of hope against the void. 462 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:06,320 We saw where we were going. 463 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,360 We were headed over Greece and headed north and east, 464 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,080 so we knew we were going to be over what we call 'Russian ground site'. 465 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,840 After several minutes of silence... 466 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,640 (MAN SPEAKS RUSSIAN OVER RADIO) 467 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,560 ..success. 468 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:29,400 Roscosmos manages to re-establish backup communications. 469 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:30,840 We heard Moscow. They said, 470 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:32,840 "Hey, guys, you know the space station 471 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:34,040 "is not in good control. 472 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:35,920 "We need to re-establish control. 473 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,200 "We highly suggest... In fact, we tell you to move away 474 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:39,680 "from those thrusters. 475 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:41,560 "It's not in your interest to stay there." 476 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,080 So we had to go hand over hand to move away from the thrusters, 477 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,360 to be safe from any plume damage or any heat that was being produced. 478 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,480 With the pair clear, the thrusters are fired. 479 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:09,960 Attitude re-established. 480 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:15,840 It was a good view. 481 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,160 We got to look at planet Earth as we regained orientation 482 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:20,680 from being pitched up all the way, being pitched down. 483 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:23,720 We got the chance to just sit there 484 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,760 and wait as the station regained its orientation. 485 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,760 Then they said, "OK, we're back to normal work. 486 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,400 "Get back out there and finish your job. Stop slacking." 487 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:43,000 On October 23 2004, 488 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,720 after travelling more 489 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,920 than 78 million miles aboard the International Space Station, 490 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:53,600 Expedition 9 hands over command of the outpost to the crew 491 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,080 of Expedition 10 492 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,360 and makes preparations to return to Earth. 493 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,720 By the end of the mission, I was kind of missing things 494 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:04,960 back on planet Earth. 495 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,720 I was missing my family - it got bigger while I was gone. 496 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,800 We had a baby, and I knew I had to go back home. 497 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:23,240 For almost two years, ISS has been in stasis, 498 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:25,800 with no way of getting new modules up, 499 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:30,280 its completion relies on one crucial factor - 500 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,800 NASA's return to flight. 501 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,560 Less than a year after Mike's return to Earth, 502 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,920 following an overhaul of NASA's safety practices, 503 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,840 the space shuttle program is reinstated, 504 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,120 with the first assignment a mission to the ISS. 505 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,000 On July 26 2005, 506 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,280 the crew of Discovery prepares for STS-114. 507 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,560 STS-114 was our return to flight after the Columbia tragedy. 508 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:23,120 We had made mistakes, and we were ready to fly again, 509 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,360 with the solutions to be able to show 510 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,760 that we belonged in space and we could keep going. 511 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,040 OK, here we go. 512 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,560 The fact is, we had to have the space shuttle 513 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,360 to finish building the International Space Station. 514 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:40,120 For mission specialist Wendy Lawrence, 515 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,880 STS-114 will be her first visit to the ISS 516 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,600 and fourth and final venture into space. 517 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,560 The flight will carry supplies to the station and prove 518 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,840 that the shuttle program is safe enough to continue. 519 00:38:57,880 --> 00:38:59,880 MAN: (OVER RADIO) I've got you loud and clear as well. Ready to go. 520 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,600 Seven. Six. Five. 521 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,000 Three engines up and burning. Three. 522 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,640 Main engines lit off. Solid rocket boosters lit off. 523 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,600 You literally feel like you're in your slingshot. 524 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,600 You know when you're leaving the launch pad. 525 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,960 In the wake of the Columbia disaster, 526 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,920 NASA implements a series of new safety protocols - 527 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,080 a redesign of the shuttle's external tank to reduce 528 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,080 the potential for foam shedding... 529 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,360 ..installation of multiple cameras 530 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,520 to cover the launch and check for any anomalies... 531 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,520 ..and an enhanced in-orbit inspection 532 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,680 of the shuttle, using new cameras and sensors. 533 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,920 Discovery reaches orbit, apparently without issue. 534 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:11,560 Flight day two for us was the initial on-orbit inspection. 535 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:17,000 We used the shuttle robotic arm and the new sensor package 536 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,200 to examine the structural integrity of the thermal protection system, 537 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:24,280 to see if there was any damage that may have occurred. 538 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:30,640 Meanwhile, on the ground, analysts scour footage of the launch... 539 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:34,320 ..and discover several troubling incidents. 540 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,280 A large bird hitting the shuttle's fuel tank. 541 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,120 A small piece of thermal tile detaching. 542 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:55,520 And a large section of foam falling from the external tank. 543 00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,720 Could history be repeating itself? 544 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:03,480 We looked at the side of the vehicle. 545 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,680 We looked around our nose cap area, as well. 546 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,120 Didn't see any damage, so we were like, 547 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:17,120 "OK, not great to hear that foam came off. 548 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,400 "Doesn't look like it hit a critical area." 549 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,320 The inspection isn't conclusive, though. 550 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:28,720 They need a closer look. 551 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:31,280 And to do that, 552 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,920 they'll need the help of the ISS crew 553 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,120 and a shuttle manoeuvre never before attempted. 554 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:42,880 We came to 600ft below the station. 555 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,000 We basically did a backflip. 556 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,840 Inside Discovery, Commander Eileen Collins initiates 557 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,880 the manoeuvre to pitch the shuttle 360 degrees. 558 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:00,760 The shuttle was performing what we called 559 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:02,400 the 'rendezvous pitch manoeuvre', 560 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:07,560 to allow the ISS crew to take scores of high-resolution photographs. 561 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:14,280 The crew on board the ISS have a window of just 93 seconds 562 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:16,480 when the underside is in the sun, 563 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,840 to take high-resolution images of the shuttle's heat shield. 564 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:23,560 Those were then downlinked to engineers 565 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:27,760 to be able to look for any damage or misconfiguration of those tiles. 566 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:34,840 As we came out of our backflip, we got to watch Space Station 567 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,600 come up over the tail of our orbiter, Discovery. 568 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,520 And I called that our Star Wars moment. 569 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,040 This was just so cool. It was like, "Here's this big spacecraft, 570 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,000 "right next to mine, rising up over the tail." 571 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:55,600 While the shuttle crew unload supplies onto the station, 572 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,920 engineers on the ground pore over the images of the shuttle, 573 00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:02,520 searching for anything out of the ordinary. 574 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,000 Engineers identified that there was a small piece of gap-filler. 575 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:12,680 What this is is a piece of fabric 576 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:17,280 that is meant to fill spaces in between the tiles on the orbiter. 577 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:22,440 This gap filler had actually stuck up into the surrounding area 578 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:25,280 above the outer mould line of the orbiter. 579 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:27,840 So there were two of these gap-fillers sticking out 580 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:31,840 from in between the tiles, on the underside of Discovery, 581 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:33,560 something I'd never seen before. 582 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:36,960 The problem with this is, 583 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:38,800 as this re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, 584 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,560 this could actually cause the smooth flow to hit 585 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:43,280 that gap-filler and then become turbulent, 586 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:44,680 which creates downstream heating 587 00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:48,240 and puts extra heat stress on the orbiter tiles. 588 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,160 The flow might come back together in a way, 589 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,200 where it now becomes almost like a blowtorch, 590 00:43:53,240 --> 00:43:57,200 and it might burn through one of the thermal-protection-system tiles. 591 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,960 This could turn the shuttle into a fireball. 592 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,240 The gap-fillers protect the tiles 593 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,440 from vibrations on launch, but are not needed for re-entry. 594 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,600 The decision was made that these two gap-fillers 595 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,720 really need to be removed before we'd come back for landing. 596 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,440 MAN: (OVER RADIO) One hour and ten minutes. The IMU aligned. 597 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:22,920 The underside of the Space Shuttle orbiter was not designed 598 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,080 to have astronauts there - there were no handholds whatsoever. 599 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:27,920 Really, the only way for us to have done 600 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:29,720 the gap-filler removal was to have 601 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:32,720 a crew member on the end of a robotic arm. 602 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,920 (MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO) 603 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,520 I got to fly the station robotic arm for that EVA. 604 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,720 Steve Robinson was on the end of the arm, 605 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,920 and I flew him to where no astronaut had ever been before, 606 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:52,160 on the underside of the Space Shuttle orbiter, beneath the belly. 607 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:59,000 Once Steve locates the gap-fillers, he must remove them. 608 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:38,160 After a two-week, 5.8 million-mile journey in space, 609 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:43,280 on August 9 2005, Discovery sets off for home. 610 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:45,120 WOMAN: (OVER RADIO) See circuit breakers coming back in? 611 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:46,560 MAN: (OVER RADIO) OK, we did see that. 612 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:51,600 Only now will the team find out if the fix worked. 613 00:45:51,640 --> 00:45:56,400 Discovery's altitude now, 72 miles. Speed, 17,000mph. 614 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,720 And now, all of a sudden, you're coming back to gravity, 615 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,440 something you've spent virtually your entire life in. 616 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:06,720 And it's not pleasant. 617 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:11,720 The shuttle's immense speed, as it re-enters Earth's 618 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,680 atmosphere, superheats the air, 619 00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:18,560 tearing molecules apart, creating a plasma. 620 00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:21,760 Temperatures outside soar 621 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,800 to a blistering 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 622 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,400 As Discovery descends into the atmosphere, 623 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:33,840 it will perform a series of four banks to dissipate speed. 624 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:39,920 Well past the point of no return, 625 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,680 all the seven crew members can do now is trust 626 00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:48,240 that their inspection was thorough and the repair is sufficient. 627 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:24,760 Main gear. Touch down. 628 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:28,360 Nose gear. Touch down. 629 00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:31,240 And Discovery is home. 630 00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:35,720 Let me tell you, when Discovery touched down on the runway, 631 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:39,200 we knew that it had been a flawless re-entry profile. 632 00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:42,280 There was a sense of both relief and accomplishment of all the teams 633 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,760 that had shown that we could again fly the space shuttle safely. 634 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,800 With the shuttle program reinstated, 635 00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:56,120 construction of the ISS can now resume. 636 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:01,360 Over the next six years, 637 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:05,080 19 shuttle missions and 94 spacewalks. 638 00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,760 Numerous parts and modules are bolted on 639 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:09,600 to the International Space Station. 640 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:14,560 Among them, Columbus, 641 00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:17,160 a cutting-edge science laboratory from Europe... 642 00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:22,000 ..the Japanese Kibo laboratory... 643 00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:26,720 ..with an exterior facility to conduct Earth observation, 644 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:30,040 communication, and material science research... 645 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:34,880 ..the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2, 646 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:39,160 Russia's first major addition since 2001, 647 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:41,280 and the Tranquillity module, 648 00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:44,600 with its now world-famous observation cupola. 649 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:54,880 In May 2011, the ISS is finally complete - 650 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:59,480 a $150 billion space laboratory. 651 00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:03,920 When we humans really want to... 652 00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:07,440 ..we can take that proverbial sword 653 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:10,600 and we can truly beat it into a ploughshare. 654 00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:13,520 We can do some pretty remarkable things together, 655 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,960 peacefully, for the benefit of all humankind. 656 00:49:19,720 --> 00:49:22,400 We've opened some of the secrets of the universe, 657 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:27,120 all the way from science and physics to how to work together as humans, 658 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:31,640 how to...how to plan and overcome difficulties together. 659 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:36,120 It was a milestone many, many, 660 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:41,120 many people had been working to to achieve its original goal, 661 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:44,880 which to be a place where you could do scientific research 662 00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:47,880 in a very unique environment, that of microgravity. 663 00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:54,120 But what makes it unique also makes it perilous. 664 00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:02,680 In space, you are constantly at risk of dying for a multitude of reasons. 665 00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:07,320 Survival in space is on a knife's edge. 666 00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,120 Very quickly, you can have an out-of-control situation 667 00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:12,760 from a very innocuous start. 668 00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:15,680 I have a lot of water. 669 00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:17,400 Over the next 15 years, 670 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:21,840 events on the ISS will test the powers of human ingenuity 671 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:23,480 to its limits, 672 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:28,480 to keep astronauts alive and prevent the space station from breaking up. 673 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:31,440 This was like riding a bucking bronco, 674 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,440 and we've got to make it the full eight seconds, 675 00:50:33,440 --> 00:50:36,120 except this time it was in orbit around the entire Earth.