>> NASA employees:
Three, two, one, zero.
We have ignition.
[rocket engine roars]
>> Rocket launches.
It's thrusting out flames
and you's watching and you
have all those emotions
and the rocket goes
along on this journey
and it deploys Spitzer.
>> The Spitzer Space
Telescope is a member
of NASA's family of
great observatories.
Spitzer is the infrared
member of this family.
>> Spitzer has unveiled
the infrared universe.
It has enabled humans to see
what our eyes could not see.
>> Robert: We see a whole
new side to the universe
that's hidden from us normally.
>> Farisa: You can peer
inside of clouds of dust
to see the baby stars, called
protostars, being born.
>> Yet, let us see into
more distant galaxies
and see how the
patterns of dust tell us
about the motions of gas
and the dynamics of gravity
that operate in these objects.
All of a sudden, we could
create these vast panoramas
at incredibly sharp resolutions
that we'd never been
able to do before
and as a result, everything
that was familiar in the sky,
every nebula, that
we're used to seeing
in visible light images from
the ground, things from Hubble,
they became completely different
when seen through the
infrared eyes with Spitzer.
It was this combination
of a scientific insight
that itself, was just
stunningly beautiful
at the same time.
>> The biggest surprise,
in terms of what was
revealed with Spitzer,
is its ability to
characterize exoplanets,
the planets around other stars.
>> Most notably, we identified
a system called TRAPPIST-1,
which has seven
Earth-sized planets,
sort of snuggling up to
what's a very cool star.
And of those planets,
three of them at least,
are in the habitable zone.
>> When Spitzer launched,
exoplanet science was
absolutely not part
of the science portfolio,
we were offering for Spitzer
because it wasn't considered
to be sensitive enough
to do that kind of observations.
But, while in flight,
astronomers became clever
about how they could use it.
Engineers became very clever
about how we could
repurpose Spitzer
and exoplanet science
has actually become one
of the core science projects
of Spitzer since then.
>> The Google Doodle that
day, which was TRAPPIST-1,
is what kind of finished
me off on a glorious day.
When your adult children
point out that, you know,
"My mom works on
that telescope."
You know, that's very rewarding.
[Farisa] Spitzer Space Telescope
is a technological marvel.
>> I never had any conception
that we'd be going for 16 years.
>> The little machine that could
go beyond its primary design.
[Joseph] The longevity
of the mission,
is a direct result of the
engineers and scientists
and people that have
supported the mission.
[Lisa] In a place that
dares mighty things,
you can do it...together
and so, when you have
that kind of union,
I think what happens is magic.
[Sean Carey] I'm hoping
Spitzer will be remembered
as a really amazing
scientific gift
and that it allowed us
to kind of transform
our understanding
of some very important
aspects of astronomy
and I think Spitzer's
been integral to all that.
>> We have a huge archive
that is waiting to be mined
and its revelations already
have been tremendous
and revolutionary, that
only time will tell,
what is Spitzer's
greatest legacy.
[contemplative music]
