 begins for a convent almost halfway around the world from America. Situated on the equator in eastern Africa, Kenya supports one of the largest wild animal habitats in existence today. It's also a country of buried climate and topography. The sun's effects are more dynamic at the equator than any other place in the world. Local fishermen fly the waters of the Indian Ocean in small sailing dowels and use the sun as a clock that tells them when to go to sea. In the same area north of the town of Malindi on Kenya's coast is Italy's San Marco launch site where satellites are put into orbit around the equator. Early this year, engineers and scientists from the University of Rome and NASA teamed together to place an orbit to fit the mysteries of atmospheric satellites. This San Marco base camp is on land, but the command and launch sites are three miles out to sea on what look like two offshore world platforms. Engineers and scientists make really trips to the platforms by boat. The San Marco platform, named for the patron saint of navigators, houses a NASA scout block. But this year the engineers make final adjustments on the Italian-made satellite. You know, five instruments, including one from Italy, one from our Federal Republic of Germany, two from the state-spread satellite, and one from the University of Texas, are packed into the smell of fire on the consulate. Even the outside covering for the satellite is an experiment. The Italian researcher is designed to measure forces of the atmosphere, much the way the bathroom scale measures work. The center meter platform serves as a launch control center. Roger. ACO-81. Roger. Mic one degree, copy one degree. 124A, it's your system go. Air launch systems are checked and checked. 124A, 125. It will absorb some of the most important data as it gets closer to Earth. Mission San Marco, an international effort to better understand the dynamics of our atmosphere from a round equator.