A really important day for the us Space Program, lay it all out for us, whats going to happen today in florida. We are counting down to the launch of two astronauts, Doug Hurley Bob Behnken at 4 43 eastern time today. This will be the first time american astronauts or any astronaut has launched from us soil into orbit since the retirement of the Space Shuttle nine years ago, july 8th, 2011, was the last time this happened here and the weather permitting it will happen again this afternoon. Tell us more about the mission itself, walk us through the next period of time with this launch. The astronauts should be waking up about now. They will have breakfast, get a weather briefing, then they will be suited up in their spacesuits around midday and head out to the launchpad a little after 1 00 pm eastern and board the spacecraft, go through the final leak checks and voice checks in Mission Control and then, all things being go they will on 4 43 eastern, get into space or get into orbit about 9 minutes after that and then they begin a rendezvous with the International Space station, takes about 19 hours to chase down the space station in orbit and they are going to do an autonomous approach with the space station, talking around 11 40 eastern tomorrow, this is the test site of this new spacecraft, developed by space x in partnership with nasa and if successful, if it gets to the space station safely tomorrow the two astronauts will spend one to four months there and then come back to work. We will put the phone numbers on the bottom of, our live coverage begins at 12 15 p. M. Eastern time today on cspan2, the space x crew dragon lunch process will begin, the launch itself is just after 4 30 p. M. Eastern time so watch that on cspan2. What else sets this manned mission apart from others, one of the points im getting to is the commercialization aspect to this, it is something new and quite unique. This will be the first privately developed commercial spaceship carrying a crew into orbit ever and this mission is managed by space x, operated by space x, owned by space x, the nasa contribution came in the form of funding and expertise and guidance in the two astronauts that are going to be flying the spacecraft are both nasa veterans who flew on the Space Shuttle over a decade ago. They are heading back into space but the way they are doing it is very different in a commercial spacecraft and this is the way nasa is looking to proceed in the future of Space Exploration is partnering with private industry, hoping to get more bang for the taxpayer bucks that way Going Forward and future missions to the space station and eventually even the moon. Usa today writes the new age of entrepreneurial spaceflight, private enterprises changing the economics and technology of robotic space, might bring the cost of human space down to the level where you can go beyond token efforts, but see what it can do rather than going back to big rockets and big government. Before we get to calls about this launch, what did it take after nearly a decade for nasa to get back to this point and to get there with space x, a private company. What kind of security and safety concerns did they have to get past . Tell us about that part of the process . The spacecraft had to go through numerous safety and hazard review with nasa over the last few years. Nasas partnership with space x on this project began in 2011 under the previous administration, around the time the Space Shuttle retired and at that time space x and nasa looked to fly this test flight around 20152017 timeframe depending who you ask, it has taken a few extra years to get to this point for a couple reasons, first of all congress did not fund the commercial crew program at the level nasa and the Obama Administration requested in the early 20 teens and the crew capsule has had several setbacks with safety issues, one involving parachutes was another involving the abort rockets to push the capsule away from the rocket of the rocket sales in flight so those took extra scrutiny from nasa and space x engineers to get to this point but nasa says they are comfortable with the risks at this point. Host the phone number is 2027488000, mountain and pacific 2027488001, talking about the nasa space x command launch set for today, coverage starts at 12 30 eastern time. The launch itself just after 4 30, we will watch all of that life. Before we get to callers talk about the relationship between this private comedy, space x, run by elon musk, the relationship of this company with nasa. How has it developed over the years . It has been interesting to watch from my perspective. Space x and elon musk have a different Corporate Cultures and nasa has been accustomed to over the last three decades of human spaceflight. Space x had this approach in iterations, they like to build things and break them and then improve them with the next version. Nasa uses a lot of analytical paperwork and computer modeling of things like that. It has been a marriage to engineering culture and human culture to get to a finished product. Host if this mission is a success what happens next and talk to us about the anticipation at nasa, the excitement in florida over all of this. He is, the anticipation is very high. I was here for the last Space Shuttle launch in 2011 and covered that mission as well, it has been a long wait for me as well but yes. Im looking out my window at the press site and i see photographers and news crews doing live shots and we expect a pretty big crowd along the coast and the beaches here although there have been warnings from nasa and other officials not, for people coming to the launch, to practice social distancing given the coronavirus pandemic and there are only about 100 news media representatives approved to view the launch at the space center and hundred 2 applied, had it not been for the pandemic. The president and Vice President are supposed to be on hand for the launch, where will elon musk be . Elon musk will also be here at the lunch. I understand he will be listening with mike pence if not the president himself so it will be numerous vips for the launch although again nasa is limiting the number overall for the launch as well. What makes the space x capsule different . This is a reusable rocket but tell us more about the whole system. The crew dragon spacecraft, imagine the apollo capsule if you are familiar with how that looked, very different look than the Space Shuttle, it doesnt have the wings of the space or anything like that, launches on top of a rocket, the falcon 9 rocket, about 215 feet tall, two stages so the capsule the two astronauts will be in will take off and head northeast to a line with the orbit of the space station, the crew dragon is very different from the Space Shuttle, the Space Shuttle landed on a runway with a landing gear like an airplane, the spacecraft will come back down under parachutes at sea and you mentioned reusability, the first stage of the falcon 9 rocket is reusable, space x, unique among all launch companies, all Space Companies in that they land their rockets after they fly them and then turn them around and reuse them in space x does that. We have michael on our line for Stephen Clark at the Kennedy Space center talking about the big launch today. Go ahead. Caller i pray that everything goes very well and they have a safe take off in their voyage goes very well. Thank you for calling. Anything else about safety issues, concerns and what they have done to ensure a safe and successful launch . One thing i would like to emphasize that i mentioned earlier the abort system, the Space Shuttle had no ability for the crew to escape in case of a catastrophic failure explosion during lunch. This spacecraft, like earlier spacecraft like apollo and the russian soyuz capsule, to push the capsule away, the rocket runs into trouble during lunch they have an escape route. Without image of Additional Technology exist inside the capsule that maybe did not exist in the Space Shuttle when it last flew nine years ago . Great question. If you have seen any images in the crew dragon capsule it has these touchscreens, array of touchscreen controls. The technology has been borrowed from tesla so the astronauts if they have to take Manual Control of the spacecraft and fly it they will be flying almost like a videogame like a gamer would on a console, flying touchscreen to dock with the space station if they have to instead of using the traditional joystick and buttons although there are a few buttons the astronauts did have space x put into the capsule for very important functions like the abort function, there is an abort handle and also if they have to manually employ the parachutes there is a push button to do that just in case the Touchscreen Technology doesnt work. Tell us more about the two astronauts, doug hurley and bob behnken. Doug hurley is a retired marine corps colonel, former f18 Fighter Pilot and test pilot, he joined nasa in 2000, joined the astronaut corps, native of upstate new york and he has flown on two previous Space Shuttle missions, most recently he was the pilot on the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011 it is spacecraft commander on this mission. And bob behnken is the other astronaut on board, veteran of two special missions, a phd from caltech, air force colonel as well, flight test engineer, and this will be his second spaceflight. Riverside, illinois, for Stephen Clark, hello, tony. Of the 15 wonderful, great show as always. I want to have the guest layout plan for space x in particular as well as nasa in partnership with space x looking at the next five years of spacelike, going to the moon, going beyond the moon to mars, what is the timetable, what is the plan, how long is it going to take to execute that plan as laid out currently please . Great question. Nasa is going full speed ahead to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, the ambitious schedule laid out by the Trump Administration to return astronauts to the moon in the next four years or so. Space x is going to be a critical part of that. Nasa has a contract, Just Announced a few weeks ago, to build a crew lunar lander to carry astronauts to the lunar surface. It is based on space xs next generation vehicle space x calls starship, a giant vehicle much larger than the falcon 9 and crew dragon we will see launched today but it is in the early stages of testing and nasa has plans to build Publicprivate Partnerships with other companies as well, they partnered with blue origin, jeff bezos of amazon. Com fame and a partner with other Traditional Companies and other Companies Like lockheed martin. We read that space x out did boeing for the contract. Guest right, right. Nasa has two contract, two similarly structured contract with boeing and space x, two independent crew capsule to carry astronauts to the space station and space x has 3. 1 billion in the program, approaching 5 billion for the same type of work. Host lets go to connie in north carolina. Caller how are you doing . I grew up in florida with the nasa program and it is exciting to me. I am pretty excited about this. I want to know why the shuttle landed like a plane but this one cant. Can you explain why it is not landing like a plane . The Space Shuttle landed like an airplane for a couple reasons. It was designed with multiple missions in mind, the Space Shuttle was like a giant truck or a bus caring a lot of cargo and people, up to 27 people for one mission and the military also looked at it as a kind of spy platform or Spy Satellite deployment platform in order to fill that function, one of the requirements was the Space Shuttle could launch, deploy its payload into orbit and come back down with a couple hours and do that in return safely to the landing site and be reused. Engineers felt the best way to do that was return it like an airplane and that lauded complexity to the spatial. Was a truly complex and fascinating machine that has a lot of complexity to it and nasa in a commercial partner space x, back to simplicity of the 1960s in 70s in terms of the function of the spacecraft, like modern technology, the touchscreens i mentioned in the safety abort system. It is a lot cheaper than the Space Shuttle, hundreds of millions of estimates approaching 1 billion per flight at space x is hoping to launch these crew capsules for 200 250 million per flight. 00 million to 250 million per flight. Host our guest is Stephen Clark. Now. Com. Spaceflight he has covered more than 100 launches. Between the time of the last shuttle in 2011 and today what have been the most significant u. S. Accomplishments in space and how did they accomplish them . I guest i could take a couple of approaches that. I think the accomplishment in the robotic Space Program of the last nine years have continued to astonish. Nasa led a rover on mars in 2012. Thats still going and its not evidence that mars was once habitable. They are launching another robotic rover this summer to go to mars and store samples that in future mission can go pick up and bring back to earth for analysis. Also what comes to mind is an encounter with pluto by the new horizon probe in 2015. That was a major milestone to put a capstone on humanities and initialre reconnaissance of the solar system. They visit all the other eight large planets before it now theres this new probe out in the deep solar system that flew by pluto and is flying by other dwarf planets beyond pluto and exploited and the. Those missions really come to mind, those missions that happen in the last ten years that seeing results. They have been conducted parallel with this new effort to start a new commercial era in terms of human spaceflight. Host rusty in north carolina. Yuan with Stephen Clark. Good morning. Caller good morning. Very exciting day here in america. Now, mr. Clark, with all this landing thats going on right now, i was host lets get another call. Jamestown north dakota. Go ahead, north dakota. Caller question, is or any possible commercial activity or private company in the United States for summer inn the world to go out to the moon or mars . It seems go to mars, we found water there, big deal. Iwe mean, is there any mining activity that maybe we be better off going to the asteroids . Just for the sake of exploring. I think its just a waste of money unless you get private Companies Involved for some commercial activity. Host he speaking something weve been talking about and thats companies, commercial companies being involved. Guest right. Nasas vision for the future spaceflight has really created an economy in space, an ecosystem of companies and government and academia all working together. He touched on something about mining. There are asteroids that Scientists Say have rare earth metals that dont exist in large quantities on earth and theres also vast resources water on the moon and mars that can be used for number of applications, including even to develop rocket fuel and breathing air and Drinking Water for astronauts for future based on the moon or mars. If the government or coalition of governments wants to build a base on the moon, one of the activities of private industry could contribute is to create technology, the mind and refine and produce usable water from those resources. Thats one thing that comes to mind about that. Host here is a tweet, mr. Clark. Travel and exploration becomes a private industry fueled by public money, how will nasa guarantee public Affordable Access to whatever product is produced . Can you describe a similar Publicprivate Partnership to nasa and elon musk . Guest thats a great question. One example nasa likes to use or has used by nasa officials is the airmail system of the 1920s and 30s with the government really offered some seed money to these companies and entrepreneurs that hold mail to remove remote parts of the west and some of those companies to go into the first airlines. Thats one thing nasa really is hoping they can replicate with this new commercial program, these Publicprivate Partnerships is to foster this new commercial growth and commercial industry in spaceflight. So yes, oversight money and guaranteeing that the funds are used properly and transparently, those issues do come up from my perspective as a journalist finding out exactly where the money goes, you know, a lot of these designs and safety details for these vehicles from this technology is proprietary. In many cases its up to nasa to see this information. Nasa engineers can see this proprietary information, and say whether theyre comfortable with it or not. Its hard for outside analysts and outside experts to get a a good insight as to whats going on. Host rick in wheeling, west virginia, go ahead. Caller what is the present status of russianamerican cooperation on project artemis and lubricate way . I know nasa recently sent a document to the Russian Space agency discussing possible areas of cooperation such as an airlock and the russians sent a letter to nasa basically saying they were interested but i havent heard any information about that. What is the present status of those discussions . Guest specifically regarding the gateway which is a new space station, nasa and International Partners want to build around the moon, or part of the return to the moon program, the call is about right. Hes pretty uptodate on whats been happening to that in terms of russias constitution. Theres a limited discussions with russia and nasa for a russian airlock on the gateway station but everything ive heard is very preliminary and there that are more detailed and more concrete contributions that have been mapped out with the europeans, canadians and japanese. From a broader perspective, the russian contribution to the International Space station has been pivotable pivotal and vital to the space station survival for the last i knew since space station retired. All the crews going up to the space station have only been able to play on russian soldiers spacecraft for the last nine years. Sort of the russian contribution space station after the shuttle retirement there wouldve been away for astronauts come u. S. Astronauts or any other crews to get to the space station to the russian contribution has proven very important. Host can you remind us of the Overall Mission and the work at the International Space station . Whats been happening up there in recent years . Guest the space station typically has a crew of about six people on board. They spend their time doing research doing basic research in many cases doing biological research, finding out how the human body respond to extended spaceflight. Couple of years ago there was a nasa astronaut and a russian cosmonaut who spent nearly a year on space station, which was a record for u. S. Astronauts. So those a treasure trove of data from that children about how the human body respond to extended long durations in spaceflight. There are private companies who have been investing in research instrumental in space station from things as varied as in space manufacturing for some companies who have sent up to the space station and they say them microgravity environment allows them to produce things like Optical Fiber Center much more high quality than camp be produced under gravity conditions on the earth. There are numerous other plant research, Animal Research experience going on on the space station almost 24 7. Host here is a text, space x is positioned itself to be a big player in the military space sector. Will the military x37 b space plane which is what up a reply on the space x rocket . Is a military going to space x starling satellite broadband system . Exciting times. A couple different questions. Guest first the x37 which is the really fascinating vehicle that the air force has come like a miniature Space Shuttle, reusable space shutte doesnt carry a crew. Purely robotic but it carries an array of experiments many of which are classified. In fact, it has launched once on a space x rocket and could again in the future. That partnership has only been initiated between the military in the air force. Regarding the starlike network which is spacexs plan to being Broadband Internet around the world using houses satellite and lowearth orbit, the our military contracts already in place for the army and other breaches and air force are looking at the utility of the star link service to see how and where and when it can be used for military applications ranging from troops in the field to navy ships to even beaming data into pockets of air force planes. Host last thought. What an exciting day for our country and humidity. I hope this event ignites a recovery propels our spirit to further and further destinations. So excited to watch this event with my children. Finally, put this in a Broad Perspective just in terms of the feelings down at nasa. Here in washington and around the country, what does this day mean . Guest i think this is a most significant space news event and at least a decade, if not longer. This is only the fifth time in American History that a new spacecraft has launched caring people. Dating back to the dawn of the space age. This is a major event. Flying a test flight with astronauts carry some additional risks and also nasa space x, their futures are both intertwine in the success of this flight and future flights like this. So theres a lot of interest in this mission, and i think thats represented by the president and Vice President , gander to view the lunch this afternoon, and we will see how it goes. Again, the weather could be an issue for the launch. We will see how it goes with the weather this afternoon. Thats one thing engineers cant control. Host Stephen Clark is editor of spaceflightnow. Com thanks for your time and your insight on the logic appreciate it tragic thank you for having me. Host , government coverage of nasa of the space x crew dragon spacecraft which will launch to the couch mathematician space center in florida. This logic is a First Manned Space Mission to launch and use soil since 2011. Todays launch scheduled for 4 30 p. M. Eastern. Live coverage gets underway shortly. While we wait heres a portion of yesterdays nasa briefing. Hello. Im with nasas Office Communications and thank you joining us today as we have one day to launch this tort nasa spacex mission. We move into this press conference indoors originally planned for the countdown clock to do with but good news. The weather has improved and right now with 60 chance of favorable weather f