really became a family. and so, yes, anytime you re going into space, it is incredibly risky. but spacex felt very confident that they had a safe vehicle. this is now the fourth crewed mission that spacex has launched into space. and of course, this comes after this nearly decades-long desert of u.s. astronauts being launched from u.s. soil after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. so truly, we re witnessing this new era of space travel and really, you know, i ve been down to a lot of launches. this is the very first launch that i ve been to, first crewed launch where nasa really had no role in it whatsoever, because as you said, no nasa astronauts onboard, pam. so what does this mean for them? they can t really call themselves astronauts, though, even though they went through this mission, right? or can they? well, they are going to call themselves astronauts. spacex will call them
getting a little photo-op. and it looks like up next is dr. sian proctor. this is very exciting for the crew to be exiting the capsule and finishing their inspiration4 mission. a mission that s done so much for folks around the world. yes, absolutely inspiring all the way around. just an incredible mission with an incredible crew. [ applause ] here comes dr. sian proctor. there she is, excited as ever. dr. sian proctor. i love it. love it. just strutting on down. i know, no problem at all.
helmet . [ applause ] and there she is, medical officer hayley arceneaux has now egressed the vehicle, the first of the inspiration4 crew. and so very excited. lots of waves, thumbs up. you can see thumbs up.
able and have the prerogative to share as much or as little about this mission as they want. so we can see in a few minutes now you can see the crew dragon capsule, called resilience, safely on the capsule recovery ship just off the coast of florida in the atlantic ocean. it appears that it is secure in its little bird s nest there. and in a few moments, we should see some of the crew members coming out, checking the capsule, making sure it s okay. and you know, one thing i would point out, look at that capsule. it was beautiful, pristine white when it took off. now look at it. you see those like black streaks and the charring of the capsule this. that is from reentry. that is from the extremely height temperatures that that capsule had to endure, that plasma wall that we were talking about, that caused the communications blackout. but those marks, they might seem ugly, they might seem dirty to you and me, but spacex is incredibly proud of them. they love to keep their falcon
astronauts. it s really just symbolic, but means a lot to the people who fly. it means a lot to these private companies who are now using this as a selling point, as they try to sell tickets to space. and it s really the subject of great debate, as we enter this new era of space tourism in terms of who qualifies to be an astronaut and who does not. pam? elon musk just said congratulations to this crew. there s the tweet. congratulations, inspiration 4. so, mike, first of all, i m sure you would look at them as astronauts, even though there s that technical technicality as kristin would say, because what they did is pretty extraordinary and they traveled in this capsule that is just slightly larger than a minivan. you ve spent more than 260 hours in space, if i have that right. how cramped do you think they