AirSpaceMag.com

Travis Thompson, a closeout technician, is confident about the future. “I’m riding this horse into the ground,” he says. “Been doing closeout for 27 years, worked here for 32, and I’m ready for a break.” He and his colleagues on the closeout crew are the last hands to touch the shuttle before launch. The size of his crew depends on how many astronauts are on board the shuttle; with as many as seven in the flight crew, the closeout crew can swell to 23 people. “I’ve been working with some of the most amazing people on Earth,” Thompson says. “This is the all-time dream job. Hell, I grew up at Vandenberg [Air Force Base, California] watching launches.”

David Burnett/Contact Press Images

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Photos from: "Throttle Down" »