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In Liverpool, North West England, heavy lift specialist Alister Smith brings in massive machines

to take down and move 1,000 tons of raised dual carriageway.'

It's one of those complicated lifts that we've taken out.

We're under a lot of pressure at the moment.

'In Shoreham, on England's South Coast...

This isn't for the faint-hearted.

..operations boss Robin Merry is in a race against the tide to unload

2,000 tons of timber in two hours.'

We've probably got about 20 minutes left.

We're right down to the wire now. It's really close.

'And in Spain, programme manager Andres Borges' plans fall apart

on the first stage of getting a multi-million pound satellite,

designed to identify planets that could sustain life, into orbit.'

'Around the world... We are going in. Let's go.

..there's a hidden army of workers...

Things can go wrong really, really fast.

..who, in the face of danger...

..and turbulent times,

work in all weathers day and night

to deliver no matter what.'

(OVER RADIO) Stop, stop!

'An industry dedicated to one common goal.'

Keep it going, keep it coming.

'Keeping the planet moving by land, air,

and sea.

Meet the mega shippers.

Liverpool, North West England.

With a population of just under 500,000,

this vibrant and busy city faces a problem.

Whilst in the Sixties local boys The Beatles were hot,

some of the architecture and town planning from the same decade

was definitely not.

Specialist engineers have declared the city centre's

elevated flyover roads unsafe for traffic.'

The bridge has been condemned. It's got a few faults with it.

Some poor craftsmanship in the Sixties when it was constructed.

So now we're here planning on the demolition of the Churchill flyovers

both north and south.

'Despite standing for just 60 years,

the faults found within these concrete carbuncles

are so severe they can't be repaired.

And it will cost the council an estimated £60m to replace them.

With plans in place for a new open-plan traffic scheme,

the council are calling time on these historic high roads.

Demolition specialist and project manager Daniel Mackinley

is part of the team responsible for taking them down.'

So the bridge isn't being demolished in its normal, conventional methods

using mechanical excavators due to the location of the site.

'Besides the cramped city centre working conditions,

this four-month long, £6.75m project

presents other unique challenges for Daniel and his team.'

With the museum being so close,

there's many artefacts in there that are obviously priceless.

Hence why we're not using heavy mechanical demolition techniques

to minimise the vibration and to minimise any damage caused

to either the museum and the artefacts within it.

'This sensitive job demands innovative engineering.

The two sections of road that need dismantling

are supported by concrete pillars up to ten metres high,

and both are over 240 metres long.

The solution? Supporting then cutting these 6,000 ton plus spans in situ

into 28 metre sections, lowering them to the ground, then cutting them

into smaller sections to be transported offsite to be crushed.'

Danny, are you gonna put another one here?

'The city centre roads under the flyovers

have only been closed for 48 hours.

So project manager Alister Smith, from heavy-lift company Sarens,

has brought in specialist equipment

to deal with this time-critical challenge.

Alister's key to making the move go smoothly,

a giant remote-controlled vehicle known as an SPMT.'

So this is an SPMT. Self-propelled modular trailer.

The trailers themselves are built up in 24 axles.

This configuration is good for over a thousand tons.

We're taking down bridge sections of up to 600 tons.

'Besides load capacity,

manoeuvrability is critical for the job, as the location

and nearby important historic buildings

means there's little room for error. SPMT's wheels can turn

130 degrees so they can circle drive around the centre of the trailer

or even propel sideways, executing crab moves,

ideal in these confined conditions.'

One of the reasons we use SPMTs is its precision.

The precision of the SPMT, we can move in

within millimetre tolerances, and that's what we need here.

'With all checks complete, it's time to get the job underway.'

The SPMT is now moving into position.

The 1,200 ton of capacity,

we've got over 100 tons of steel on the top of the trailer to make sure

that when we pick up the load it's not gonna bend, deflect.

We can pick it up with the critical tolerances that we need to work to.

'Accuracy is everything.

And incredibly, this massive machine, moving at just one kilometre an hour,

is operated remotely by this tiny joystick, a remote control unit.'

Moving in position is critical. We need to make sure

we're within tolerance of the exact positions as per the structure.

So we're not gonna overload a certain point.

I just need to take the tubes out, just hang on.

'With a margin for error of less than 40 millimetres,

Alister discovers the SPMT is in the wrong position.'

It can't come in like that.

It is tight, but we need to throw this end

fully round and come in square.

So you need to tell him he can't come in like that.

'Madrid, Spain's most populous city and thriving epicentre

of technological innovation for centuries.

Today it's at the forefront of cutting edge aeronautical invention.

At the Airbus production facility 20 kilometres from the city centre,

there's a project underway that is out of this world.

The European Space Agency has spent five years and millions of pounds

creating a unique satellite, nicknamed CHEOPS,

with a powerful telescope that can study planets

outside our solar system

in the hunt for those that could sustain life.

And it's time to get it out of the factory and into space.'

It's the last time that CHEOPS satellite will be in our facility,

so it's kind of sad.

'CHEOPS is being sent 800 kilometres by road to Toulouse Airport,

then flown 7,000 kilometres to French Guiana

before it's finally launched into space inside a rocket.

The most challenging and risky part of the whole

one hundred million pound project, the journey begins today.

But first, it has to be moved into a specially designed

air freight container, with its own climate control,

air pressure monitors, early warning system if levels change

and internal dampers to minimise vibrations during transportation.

The satellite has been carefully wrapped in sterile sheets

to prevent as much molecular and particle contamination,

like dust, as possible.'

This is the starting of the transfer.

'Vanina Fikaja is quality control manager.'

We see here that it's a little bit unbalanced.

So right now what we're gonna do is balance it the right way

in order to have a perfect transfer to the container, basically.

'The 290kg space telescope has a large ring

that will attach it to the aircraft.

It's the same one used to attach it to the container's mainframe

to minimize any movement.'

What we're doing now is, as the satellite is correctly screwed

and fixed to the interface of the container,

we remove the crane and the lifting device and we're gonna

pack it in order to...to send it to French Guiana.

'As the final sterile cover is put on, they're ready to enclose

the satellite in its container.

An overhead crane moves into position.

Four straps with a 4,000kg carry capacity are attached

and the whole roof section manoeuvred by remote control.

As it's lowered over the top of CHEOPS, centimetre by centimetre,

any miscalculation could put this five-year space mission

back to square one,

damaging not only the satellite

but also the specially built £300,000 container.

Finally, it's down.

The shackles are released and it's moved outside to the loading bay.

CHEOPS' only protection now

is the hermetically sealed and sterile environments inside.

Programme manager Andres Borges has overseen the container's design

and build from the start.

Products Assurance manager Jose Lizondo

is checking the waterproof tarpaulin covers every inch.

Outside, transport has arrived.

Two trucks, one for CHEOPS and another for its launch equipment.

Before CHEOPS can be loaded,

a container full of launch equipment goes on first.

The launch equipment's crate is three metres tall,

two metres wide, with a weight of two tons.

Jose must make sure it's bolted onto the truck in the exact position

calculated as safe for its mass.

If they get it wrong, the truck will be destabilised

and millions of pounds and thousands of hours of work will be at risk.'

It's OK.

'CHEOPS and its launch equipment needs to be on the road

within two hours, but it seems not all the launch equipment is ready,

and plans are afoot to move on to loading the other truck

and CHEOPS instead.

The second 16-metre truck gets into position

just as programme manager Andres Borges realises

a transportation mix-up could mean loading CHEOPS is impossible.

Shoreham Port, 11 kilometres to the west of Brighton,

is one of the largest cargo-handling ports on England's South Coast.

Established by the Norman conquerors towards the end of the 11th century,

its proximity to France made it a logical place for travel and trade.

The 90m-long SWE-Freighter has docked overnight with 2,000 tons

of cargo on board and a very tight schedule.

Head of operations, Robin Merry, is the man in charge of offloading

high grade timber destined for luxury exterior decking.'

This ship's sailed from Sweden. It's been sailing for two days.

She's carrying 576 packs of timber.

It's the high end, high grade of timber. It's the good stuff.

So this stuff has to be given a little bit more protection.

'With only two tidal windows a day

where a ship this size can arrive or leave port,

Robin and his team need to get the timber off the 4,500 ton

carrier ship in time for it to catch the next high tide.

And today, for once, time is on Robin's side.'

We're looking probably eight to ten hours to discharge a ship.

But this has been one of our lucky days, the boat's in between tides.

So we've basically got more or less a full day on it.

Right, we're heading up a ladder now.

This isn't for the faint-hearted.

'Robin must constantly monitor progress on the ship

as well as off.' Hello, guys.

The wood is being lifted using a Sennebogen 80-ton crane

lifting at a rate of two packs and seven tons every minute.

But the safety of the dock team is paramount.

Inside the ship we have a banksman who's on the nearside of this ship.

He's working in conjunction with the crane.

He's our safety man in the hold and is controlling the whole operation.

He uses, basically, hand signals.

He's already pointed to me what next one he wants me to take.

So I'm gonna in, have a little look. He's pointing his hand up.

As you can see, they're just hooking on now.

There, look, he's taking it up now. He's thinking of sending it up

in the air. The crane driver's moving with him now

and out comes the timber.

We've got six forklifts on it today,

and they'll be doing about 100 packs each on this roundabout,

and they'll be doing just like a big circle,

picking up the packs from the ship,

taking it over to the barcode station

where we process the timber and give each pack an individual barcode.

'But just as everything is running smoothly...

Robin receives a call.'

A slight change of plan. We've had the shipping company come on to us.

'The owner has booked this ship for a new last-minute job.

They want it out of the dock 12 hours earlier than planned.

The tide is rising fast, to the ideal depth for the ship to raise anchor,

leaving Robin and his team just two hours to complete the job.'

We were working on the principal that we could do this

right to midnight, basically, to the next tide.

They're gonna try and make the end of this tide, which is two o'clock.

I'm gonna have a quick chat with the guys on the barcoding station

to see how many packs we've done now,

give us some idea of where we are.

Sorry, boys, give us some idea of

how many packs we've done so far. 300.

We've done 300. And we've got, what, 500... 570. 570.

So I would say that it's gonna be outside of our two hour slot

unless we're very lucky.

'Robin's team have picked up the pace.

But there's no guarantee they'll hit their target on time.

1,500 kilometres away at the Airbus Facility in Madrid,

critical launch equipment for CHEOPS, a satellite that will study planets

that could support life, has been loaded onto the wrong truck.

Programme manager Andres Borges is the man who needs to get

the satellite to Toulouse Airport to catch a flight.'

Andres and the loading team must now work out the best solution

to keep on schedule.

With no time to unload and load again,

they've come up with a solution that will hopefully work.

Remove the sidebars and modify this truck to take the satellite instead.

CHEOPS will travel 800 kilometres to Toulouse Airport,

then be flown 7,000 kilometres to French Guiana

before it's sent into orbit in a rocket.

But first, this truck's solid mainframe, designed

to hold and protect smaller loads, has to be partially removed,

along with its cover, as it's adapted at speed, ready to take its cargo.

Four slings and shackles are attached to CHEOPS

so they can bring it slowly into position.

For Jamie, the truck's high sidebars are a problem.

Suspended a metre above ground, the satellite carrier is held steady.

Inside, the multi-million pound CHEOPS telescope is made

of fragile parts, so the team must keep movement to an absolute minimum

or risk the entire project before it even gets into space.

Once loaded and bolted, its inbuilt dampeners will minimise vibration.

It's swung round at 90 degrees in line with the truck bed.

With only 30 centimetres either side,

the truck is then reversed underneath it.

As it hovers 20 centimetres

above the trailer floor, it's lined up ready to lower.

It's close.

But not a perfect fit.'

Da-da-da-da-da-da!

'Rubber dampening pads are used to make the fit secure.'

(SHOUTS IN SPANISH)

'As the four shackles are removed and bracing straps tightened,

two generators are loaded to power the satellite carrier's

air-conditioning unit during transit.

They're vital to prevent humidity and condensation

on CHEOPS' telescope lens.

With everything now on board, CHEOPS becomes the responsibility

of Airbus escort Jose Clemos,

who'll follow in a support vehicle on the eight-hour road trip ahead.'

I check regularly, two or three times by day,

maybe four when it's too hot or it's too cold.

I must look for the temperature on the container.

Always 22 degrees, not more.

'In the heart of Liverpool, heavy lift specialist Alister Smith is

battling against the clock to remove a concrete span

from the city centre's two condemned flyovers.'

This one here is the heaviest and the longest.

It's 588 ton, 28 metres long, and nine metres in the air.

'Part of a four-month long, £6.75m project,

both of these 50-year-old flyovers are being dismantled in ten sections

each weekend over four months.

Taking the strain of the load are two SPMTs,

self-propelled modular trailers.

And with no margin for error, as even one centimetre could put

the entire operation at risk of collapse,

these massive machines need to be perfectly positioned.'

The tolerance you'll have, mate, is about 40 mil.

It's the yellow line there. Yeah.

'Two SBMTs, working in tandem,

will support the 584 ton, 28-metre long concrete span.

It will then be cut into two 14-metre long sections,

which will then be individually removed.

But just getting these massive machines in place

is a challenge in itself.'

We're moving the SPMTs into position.

The tolerances are critical at this point.

We need to make sure we are watching the underside of the bridge

and the tray's at the correct level. So when we come in,

we have this 40mil tolerance.

'After some careful repositioning,

the first SPMT is finally in place.

And the second moves into position.'

They can't do anything until both trailers are fully in.

You can't make one cut until we've taken 50% on both trailers.

'Once positioned, millimetre by millimetre,

the SBMTs can elevate their specialist steel cradles

to each take half the weight of the concrete section.'

What we have to do now is make sure we've got the exact positioning.

Remember, we have to hit the strong points on the bridge.

'Locked in place,

they will hold the 28-metre long, 584 ton section as it's cut free

and removed from the flyover's main structure.

Over the next eight to ten hours,

specialist cutting teams will try and slice through

the 50-year-old reinforced concrete,

so this section of the flyover can be removed in the morning.'

When we take it out of a bridge like this we need a diamond wire,

which is like a big, thick cheese wire

which goes around the bridge and ties itself round the bridge

and starts to slowly cut through the concrete.

So the cut lines are designed to be angled vertically and horizontally.

So that means as we come up and drive out, the gap gets bigger.

'A diagonal cut at each end of the 40-metre span

means - in theory - it's just like removing a slice of cake.

But as the first section is about to be lifted, Rob spots a problem.'

What's happened is one of the cut lines that's kind of

gone at a bit of an angle.

So we haven't got the extra gap that we were expecting.

'A jagged angle means the bridge section can't be removed cleanly.

But fortunately, Robert's come up with a time trusted solution.

Brute force.'

(DRILLING) As you can hear, behind me now

we've got a jackhammer on it to take away the bit of concrete

that's causing us issues.

All hands on deck to get it finished.

We've still got to remove these two bridges, clear all of this rubble.

Once that's done, clear it all out the way,

wash down the road, sweep it so it's clean for

road vehicles come Monday morning. It's all pressure, isn't it?

'Finally, with the cut line straightened out,

the concrete span can be removed.

Transporting 574 tons of concrete seven metres up in the air

is a challenge. It must be kept level or a shift in balance

will cause it to topple over.'

We've currently got 485 tons on the SPMT,

so it's not full capacity but it's getting there.

'Although one SPMT is on the move, this is only half the job.'

We're under a lot of pressure at the moment.

We're currently about six o'clock on Sunday evening.

So we've got just over 14 hours to get the road back open again.

So it's a lot of pressure now to get the second unit out so commuters

can carry on and travel through the tunnel tomorrow and in to work.

'In the hills of central Spain, Jose Clemos

is overseeing a convoy of millions of pounds' worth

of cutting edge satellite on the 800km journey to Toulouse Airport.

From his support vehicle, he's keeping an eye on the trucks

from behind. On one is the multi-million pound satellite CHEOPS,

and on the other its vital launch equipment.'

Now it's 13 degrees, so 13 degrees before was 15, 16.

It's no problem because it's not warm.

The satellite, with this temperature,

it's staying in good condition.

'Humidity could cause condensation on the lens of the CHEOPS telescope.

It's enough for the planned European space mission to be aborted.'

It's possible we find some storms

in the north of Spain and south of France. It's possible

the weather is maybe a little bit bad.

'As well as keeping an eye on the temperature

and the midnight delivery deadline,

Jose's role is to ensure the load stays secure on the trucks.'

The strap is going.

So we must stop to put it... Or the driver goes quickly.

Very dangerous for the traffic. So we stop, a quick stop,

two minutes, and we go again.

'With all the bindings tightened, driver Christian is safe to carry on.

But a gradual change in the weather has unnerved Jose.'

Now we are going to make a break, half hour,

and now we're going to check the container,

that the temperature is OK.

Because now it's only ten degrees

and normally it must stay in 21, 22.

So we must take a look if the generator is working.

(BURSTS OVER RADIO) The temperature in the satellite.

'Two generators on the back of the truck power the satellite carrier's

vital air-conditioning system.'

I'm taking a look, the pressure is OK.

Normal is three, five, six. This right. And also,

very important is the temperature.

There is 22 degrees, so 22 degrees is perfect.

'Jose and the convoy forge onwards into the night

towards the French border.

The plan was to stop en route whenever needed

so Jose could do his checks,

but still 600 kilometres from their destination

he's having to change strategy.'

The weather is very, very bad. It's raining very hard.

'It's now 10pm. It's been raining non-stop for the last three hours

and he's been checking every 60 minutes.'

We drive five kilometres more and we're stopping in one station

to take a look for the container and everything.

Going a little bit down.

Just a little bit.

Just five, it's OK.

Fifty-two.

'The two generators also now need to be checked. In these conditions,

they're working overtime.'

And diesel, we have more than a half.

So it's OK. Everything is going very, very good.

'The CEOPS satellite has to be in Toulouse by midnight,

ready for a new team to take over.

They'll deliver it at Toulouse Blagnac Airport,

from where it will fly out to French Guiana the next morning.

But the weather is out of Jose's control.'

Now the weather is very, very, very bad.

It's raining very, very hard. It's dark.

The satellite is very, very important and expensive.

'At midnight, against the odds,

eight hours and the full 800km later,

he finally rolls into Toulouse bang on time.

Shoreham Port, England.

And head of operations Robin Merry is racing against time.'

I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it or not.

'Together with his team of ten men, they have 60 minutes to finish

unloading 2,000 tons of timber. The ship's owner has scheduled in

a last-minute job and they need to catch the next high tide at two pm

to hit the deadline.'

The ship's just now firing up its engines. You can see the smoke.

The engine's just started to spin out the water at the back.

So we're still right on the borderline.

But she's trying to get away, as you can see. She's preparing herself.

We've just gotta try and get the last bit off in time.

'Robin is also concerned about unloading too quickly.'

You've got to be careful when discharging a ship.

You can't just pour a big lump here and a big lump there.

It's got to be done in a nice, organised process.

So if you're gonna take the cargo out of one side

more than the other side, the ship would lean.

It would lean, so you're going backwards and forwards.

So the ship's got marks on the side of it.

We need to keep them as level as we can as you go up the boat.

'Also feeling the pressure,

nine metres above the dockside is crane operator Jake Hollands.'

You got to keep your wits about you at all times.

A lot of things that could go wrong with it.

You could have a sling go on the pack.

You could have a forklift going in when he's not supposed to.

Eyes everywhere you've gotta have. Eyes everywhere.

'While Jake unloads another seven tons of timber,

Robin receives news from the bridge.

The ship's harbour pilot has been monitoring the tide times

and depth of water.'

Right, the heat's on now. Things have gone a bit more in our favour.

The pilot's just come back to us.

We've got another half an hour. So where at two o'clock we thought

was on the real impossible side,

that extra half hour might make a big difference to us.

Hello, guys. Just a quick idea about how many we've got left on the boat?

About 50 packs. About 50 packs.

So about 25 minutes to go. 25 lifts.

You might just get this. We might have it yet. We're not sure.

Cheers, guys.

'Dockside, Robin steps up the machinery.

Usually we'd have six forklifts working, but we've gone up to eight.

Because we've got a bit of a deadline we're trying to push,

trying to keep one of our regular customers happy,

we put an extra two trucks on it, we're gonna try and push it through.

We've probably got about 20 minutes left.

We're right down to the wire now. It's really close.

'The ship's crew need all hands on deck

to raise the anchor and hit their departure window.'

Ten to Jake. How's it going up there? Good?

'An anxious Robin can only look on as the wood is still being unloaded.'

It looks like two lifts to go.

'The captain gives the order to raise the ladder,

doing everything they can to leave on time.'

OK, bye-bye.

Right, let's have a quick look where we are.

Whoa! All right, we're 25 past the hour now.

We're virtually on the last of the lifts.

The ship's engines are running, the pilot's on board,

the ladder's up.

We're right on the wire but I think we're gonna do it.

I think we've made a great success of this.

'The ship can't leave unless the cargo is fully offloaded.

Robin's team keep going, desperate to hit the deadline.

And it's the job of the ship's pilot to break the news to Robin

that all the effort's been for nothing.'

No good? Sorry. You've got about ten packs by the looks of it to go.

14.30 was the latest, so...

That's fair enough. We tried. You can't do more than that.

I've informed the captain, 22.30 this evening.

'The ship has missed the high tide

and will now be staying in the dock for another eight hours.

With the last of the wood offloaded and the ladder still raised,

the remaining team are winched off board.'

Let's have a look. Whoa! 38 minutes past.

We're eight minutes beyond what we would've been

to get this boat on the tide.

Great driving of the old crane there, spot on, mate.

You win some, you lose some. It doesn't matter. It is what it is.

'For Robin, working dockside is all about the challenge,

and this job has certainly been that.'

The team actually made a fantastic effort, you know?

That was maximum speed they were going,

as safely as you can get, fantastic work.

'It's Sunday evening in Liverpool.

And Alister Smith is about to lift 584 tons of concrete.

They still need to remove the second 28 metre-long concrete span

from the condemned 1960s' city centre flyover

before the roads can be reopened for rush hour in the morning.'

It's a big push to get the road open. The challenge is against us,

definitely.

'With the first 14m cut section of the bridge successfully removed,

the second self-propelled modular trailer can slowly begin extraction.'

So the SPMTs are now moving the second of the two bridges.

This is the heaviest and the tallest bridge that we have.

It's 588 tons. So it's one of the most critical moves we've had to do

in the whole project.

'But finally, Alister's team have done it.

Over the last 36 hours, they've successfully removed

over 1,000 tons of bridge and concrete.'

So that's everything done now, which is good.

We've completed all the work, which is great.

The road will carry on open.

Now we can go home and get some good sleep and come back

on Monday morning nice and refreshed.

It's been a few stressful days and a few stressful nights,

but we've got there in the end.

'For now, Alister can relax.

With the concrete spans safely removed to a holding site

out of harm's way and the roads reopened,

the next stage of the operation can begin in the morning.

Taking over on the next stage of the operation,

lift Supervisor Lawrence Knight.'

That bridge will come down probably about seven o'clock tonight,

if we're lucky. It'll be nice and dark.

Never good lowering things in the dark, but it's wintertime.

So that's all you can do.

'One of the daunting tasks Lawrence faces is lifting last night's

287 ton, 14-metre long concrete bridge span

off the SPMT and onto the ground

so it can be broken up and easily removed from sight.'

All right. It looks as though we're good.

We'll set the computer up,

and assuming it'll work we'll start lowering.

The transport's coming in, the guys are driving it in.

But before it comes in, you've gotta mark where it's gotta go.

'Lawrence needs to precisely position the 17-metre long, five-metre wide

SPMT under the lifting cradle.'

Take it over that way a bit.

The line was good, it's just in the wrong place.

(LAUGHS)

'Made up of four 12.5 metre high individual towers,

this lifting cradle has been configured as a pair of two towers.'

It's looking good.

This is OK. This one's nice. What's the other one look like?

'Taking the strain will be two hemp slings,

each capable of holding 200 tons.'

Yeah, set yourself down, yeah.

'Connected to the lifting beam, they will support and raise

the concrete section, allowing the SPMT to be removed

before the concrete bridge section is lowered to the ground.'

All right. Well, everything's connected now. The slings are on.

It's lifting off.

It's off.

The deck section is now floating about 50 mil, let's say,

off of the actual trailer.

We're holding it for ten minutes just to make sure it's all settled

and everything's actually happy before we remove the trailer.

Just make sure nothing weird happens.

And hopefully it doesn't get any more exciting than this.

Boring is good. And this is now very boring, which is what we want.

Exciting means run away, basically.

'With Lawrence confident the slings can hold

the 294-ton concrete section,

the SPMT lowers its suspension...

and is carefully manoeuvred out.

With the SPMT safely out of the way,

the final stage is to check the computer data and lower

the cut bridge span to the ground.'

We're starting to come down now,

so half an hour, 40 minutes, it should be on the dirt,

which is what we want. And then we can all go off.

Tomorrow morning, we'll pick it up, put the actual temporary works

underneath, lower it down, release the slings and then start stripping.

'Alister, Daniel, Robert and Lawrence have cut and removed

over 10,000 tons of concrete, but there's still work to do.

The spans they've cut need breaking up and removing from site,

where it will be used as filler and base for a new road

that's being built.'

Basically it's down. This is the last operation

for the Sarens lift and the last operation for the SPMTs,

So as of tomorrow, SPMTs to go, Sarens lift to go,

ready for that next job - wherever that's gonna be.

'1,500 kilometres away in France, the CHEOPS satellite

is about to go airside at Toulouse Blagnac Airport.

One of the biggest planes in the world,

the Antonov-124-100 is on standby and ready for loading.

The flight manager is Oleksii Ziatdinov.

(LAUGHS)

'It's now 2am, and Oleksii's crew have been preparing the plane

for the last four hours.

Jose's plan has gone perfectly and the truck arrives bang on schedule

for loading.

The Antonov-124-100 has a maximum take-off weight of 405 tons.

Powered by four jet engines,

maximum cruising speed is 900km per hour.

It's 69 metres long, 21 metres high, with a wingspan of 73 metres.

But its most impressive feature is the seven metre tail end ramp.

Robin Mactaggart, project coordinator,

will oversee loading into the rear of the plane.'

So we're gonna take the truck back up

until we get to the...to the plane,

and then we'll use the crane inside the plane to lift it.

and to load it into the plane.

'Robin has a two-hour window to complete the job.'

We need to be done with the loading at 4am.

And in order to be sure we can we off at 6.30.

'The launch equipment is being taken onboard first.

The two-ton crate is hooked up to the Antonov's overhead crane

and lifted into the hold.

But the pressure of getting the final and most fragile part on board,

the CHEOPS satellite, is starting to show.

While the satellite is moved to the tail of the plane by forklift,

engineer Roberto Palagios ensures

the two generators powering the satellite carrier's

air-conditioning system don't stop mid-flight.'

We are filling the generator for the last time before the flight.

We are not going to really fill it up to the end,

but just enough in order to be sure that if we have to make

that technical stop, there is enough.

'The team now have just 45 minutes to load the most important piece

of cargo. The onboard bridge crane, capable of lifting up to 30 tons,

is moved into position.

And four hooking points, originally used to load helicopters

and military tanks on board, are attached to the carrier

with four high tensile steel cables,

each one capable of carrying up to four tons.'

Almost done. Looks good.

First time... First time we load that way,

so it's very interesting too. But really, really happy

that it's almost done. Really impressive, actually.

'Impressive, but by now, at 3.25am, it's freezing cold.

Yes. But there's always the thing. You have to prepare yourself.

Some nice big coat and big socks and just patience.

Be patient, that's the key.

'The crane is controlled by two operators on the loading platform.

It's raised centimetre by centimetre and kept absolutely level.

On the ground, some of the team responsible for building CHEOPS

watch anxiously as the product of five years' work is suspended

15 metres above the tarmac.

As long as there's no lateral movement

as it's pulled into the cargo hold,

the satellite has around a metre spare on either side.

The final move is done by hand with a team of ten men.

So the Antonov has even spread of weight in the hold.

For Roberto and the rest of the team,

their part of this space mission is done.'

Everything has worked perfect. So they loading in Madrid.

Their road transportation up to Toulouse,

and now they're loading into the aircraft.

So everything has worked perfectly.

And now we are ready to start the flight up to French Guiana...

and up to space.

At 6.30am, and on schedule, the Antonov closes its doors

back and front and is ready for takeoff.

CHEOPS will have been in transit for a total of 12 hours and 50 minutes

by the time it touches down 7,000km away in French Guiana.

From there, it will be sent by rocket into outer space,

where it will orbit 700km above Earth,

studying planets for possible signs of life.

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