Theyre going to be pulling some gs as they come through the atmosphere as the Heat Shield heats up to about 3,000 Degrees Fahrenheit. It will create a friction. That plasma is whats described as Blackout Zone where you dont have Radio Communication because the Radio SignalsCant Travel through that plasma. But theyre inside pulling some gs, but its not uncomfortable. Its a little bit when the gs pile up a bit, it takes a little more effort to breathe, but its not too big of a deal. Coming down, when i came down in a capsule in the soyuz capsule, theres a parachute. Its either going to come out or its not. That was the big event for me. Doctor, talk to us about the process when getting out of the spacecraft after a splash landing. How long does it take to get used to being back on land . Oh, well, the process takes just a little while while they get the folks inside. But once they exit the vehicle, theyll probably have a little bit of Sea Legs once they get onto solid surface, a flat surface. It may be feel a little like theyre still in the ocean, like theyre still walking a little bit funny. It takes a little time for the Inner Ear to get used to having gravity keep that fluid level so you feel a little bit dizzy for a while, but it doesnt last very long. I like how blase you both are about the whole thing given that you actually have the experience. Billionaire Tech EntrepreneurJared Isaacman used this as an opportunity to raise money for st. Judes hospital. 13 Million in auction. What does this mean for private Space Travel moving forward and then toying ken because i want to know what he saw that was so cool. Thats great. Part of what this mission did, Jared Isaacson held a fundraiser for st. Jude, so thats wonderful. And im glad they actually had some science goals on this mission. You know, so this is the first milestone. It was all amateurs On Board, no professional astronauts, no manual flying capability. And so far it looks like its going wonderfully. Kendis, that yelp there, i imagine that was reentry . Reporter it sounded like reentry. It might have been them breaking the speed of sound. Im not a nasa scientist, but ill tell you it was pretty cool. You just heard this huge thud that took place all around here. Everybody looked up to see if they could see. You can see right now from that shot that were finally seeing it, and the parachutes of dragon are in sight. Talk us through what were watching at this moment. Well, i cant see the screen right now, but im assuming that you have all the parachutes deployed. Thats exactly right, yes. Its Coming Down, its probably swinging slowly as it comes down under the parachute. The parachutes slow the vehicle down enough so when it hits the water its not a terrible g force, so hard that it would damage the crew or the vehicle. I have a perhaps silly question. Can the people inside hear that cheering that is coming from the ground . At what point do they know how excited everyone else is for them . They probably cant hear the cheering. You know, all the airtoground signals are pretty the Control Room is going to be isolated from the crowd behind the glass cheering. Or, you know, watching from the cape. But i can see from your video that looks like all four mains are out, so thats great news. That means all the parachutes deployed properly. Theyre going to have a soft landing in the ocean. Its great. Doctor, there are going to be people who watch this and say no, thank you, and there are going to be people who watch this and say, how do i hop On Board . Doctor, what is your advice to anyone not an astronaut maybe weve eaten space ice cream, but hoping to go space one day. What does it take physically to endure this . I mean, its getting a lot easier. Whenever, like, myself and leeroy, when we applied to be astronauts, there was quite the Selection Process and the medical evaluation of people to make sure you were physically able. But these days, as were getting more automated, the ships can fly themselves pretty well. And so you dont have to go through all the rigors of the medical evaluations that perhaps we had to do when we were first joining nasa as professional astronauts. Youre not going to stay up very long, you can tolerate more and more imperfections physically if youre going to stay up for a month at a time and you want to do a job in space, its much more important to make sure your body is ready to accept the weightlessness and the rigorsful being in space. I understand we are watching the splashdown now imminent. What is the mood on the ground . What were you seeing there, kendis . Reporter totally. People are just constantly looking up. We dont think well be able to see anything and we havent been able to see any of the parachutes from where we are right now, but everybody is looking aroundment they have their cameras out. Theyre trying to see this pivotal moment happen right now. Once they are recovered, the ship that is out there that is going to recover them will pull right through here at Port Canaveral. Its great to see that Dragon Space Capsule pull through a port like this. But were just now seconds, if not less than a minute away from this historic touchdown. But you can just feel that people are excited about what is happening right now. It is very exciting to watch. As we watch this all happening, what is the moment that people in Mission Control say, okay, our work here is done . Well, the big event was the parachute deployed of four mains. From that cheering maybe theyve splashed down. We have less than 10 . There we are. Stand by. So the vehicle is upright. Lets listen. The Shock Absorbing Mechanism [ inaudible ] and the crew is just back into gravity. Inspiration 4, on behalf of spacex, welcome home to planet earth. Your mission has shown the world that space is for all of us and everyday people can make extraordinary impacts in the world around them. Thank you for sharing your leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity, and congratulations on your incredible journey. [ cheers and applause ] thank you so much, spacex. It was a heck of a ride for us. Just getting started. Copy, just getting started. There you heard it, the splashdown for Inspiration4 Crew. What is going through your mind as you watch this . This reminds me Coming Down in the soyuz capsule. We didnt splash down. We landed on land, but its kind of a similar impact at that speed. Theres not too much difference. The Tw Difference is once were on land, youre not bobbing around in the sea. So theres no seasickness per se. But anyway, its a great feeling to be back on earth, and at this point theyre waiting for the rescue forces to pick them up and open the hatch and get them outside so they can take that first breath of Earth Air. Tell me, doctor, what is that first breath of Earth Air like . It is an interesting experience because you miss a lot of the smells and the sights and the sounds that you dont get in space. You dont always realize it until you come back. So breathing that air, whatever it smells like outside, whether its the Salt Air there, im sure its what Theyll Smell whenever they open the hatch and theyre out there on the ocean. Theyll smell that fresh Salt Air first thing. And then i heard a lot of people talking about the sounds and birds and things that theyre not used to hearing. Something like that might also sound really interesting. As they wait to be picked up, is there, then, any type of medical evaluation on the other side of this . What does that evaluation then look like . Im sure that these folks will have some medical evaluation as soon as theyre removed from the vehicle. Theyre going to make sure first of all that theyre feeling okay because they might feel a little seasick out there bobbing around and you dont have any Reference Lines to look at to make sure that you dont get seasick. But that shouldnt be too serious and they should be able to come off, hopefully stand up and walk around on their own. Theyll get a general medical check. But they werent up there all that long, so they shouldnt have too many Side Effects of being in space very long. As splashdown happened, you heard the announcer saying this is the first step towards space being accessible to all. Is that what you see in our future, leroy . This is a first step. It demonstrated that an autonomous vehicle can take an Amateur Crew to space and bring them back safely. As far as access for the, quote, unquote, average person, you know, the cost is still way up there. Spacex has done some pretty incredible things like flying back first stage boosters, refurbishing them, so they reduced the price of launch, but were still talking tens of millions of dollars not Rocket And Divide that by four thats still a lot for most of us. Its still out of reach for most of us. Right. It will certainly raise questions and equity about who it is for whom space is accessible. I wonder what you believe what we have watched today, what it means about the future of Space Travel. I am currently working at a competitor for spacex, and we are also driving to ensure that more and more people have access and were also trying to bring that cost down. We are planning to offer a Someplace Plane so that we will be able to come back and land on a runway again, much like the shuttle days, and keep the costs of launch low. Thats the biggest chunk. So well continue to work on bringing those costs down, mass producing these kinds of vehicles in a greater way so that those costs come down as well. It is all automated for all future vehicles, so it does become a lot easier as we progress over time. It wont be in the necks two or three years, probably in the next decade or so. I have to imagine that after a historic flight like this, first of its kind, that theres a massive debrief that looks at the runup to it, everything that was planned, the launch, their time in space, that looks at these splashdown that we have just watched. Talk us through the questions that they are going to be asking and the information they are going to be looking for to make sure that the next time they do not this, because there will be a next time, that it is done even more seamlessly. Yes, after each mission there are a number of debriefs. So the crew spends literally a few months doing all the debriefs and then writing in reports. And so this mission should be no different. Of course all the experts are going to want to hear from the crew and what their impressions were, what went well, what didnt go so well, what surprised them. Theyre going to be talking with specialists from all the different systems and subsystems, and so, yeah, the process will take a while. But this is normal for a someplace flight. After every flight theres a detailed debrief on all the systems and processes and then Everybody Disavow learn lessons from those debriefs and make the next mission even smoother. I want to show this footage right here, what you are watching is the boats that are going to actually to the craft in order to open the hatch to get those civilians out of the spacecraft. Were all watching eagerly as that happens. Doctor, what are the questions that you would be asking . As you watch this happen, what is the information you wish you had at your fingertips to understand how this happened, how this went down, how it might look different in the future . Yeah. This is a very common thing to do after every Space Flight is you want to make sure if there was anything that went wrong or anything that didnt go as perfectly as we had planned, that we really dig into that and that we make sure there wasnt a safety issue, that we didnt come close to having an accident, and that anything that is at all suspicious, we really take a hard look at. There are things that can make it more pleasant in the future. Maybe the food can be improved or the bathroom can be improved, things like that, but you focus on the Safety Concerns and make sure that there wasnt anything that went wrong that shouldnt have gone wrong. And if there was, that theres always a way to fix it so it wont go wrong in the future. Leroy, talk us through the feeling that these civilians must be feeling as that Hatch Door is finally opened. What is it for you as an astronaut that runs through your mind . Well, of course its excitement, its euphoria, its a feeling of mission accomplished. And then you get up. You sit up or stand up and get out of the vehicle. Boy, are you dizzy. That can be provocative and make you feel nauseous, it can make you feel unsteady. But the excitement, the adrenaline will get you through. Just that wonderful feeling of accomplishment is probably the biggest thing, the emotional you know, we went up there and did it and came back safely. Doctor, that is the thing that even i just sitting here and watching this cant get over, which is the Adrenaline Rush that this must be. Weve talked a lot about sort of the physical manifestations coming off of the craft, sort of feeling where you are. Psychologically, what is likely going through their minds as they experience what they have experienced, knowing they have made history, and now exiting this spacecraft . Yeah. I think it is euphoria. It is a sense of relief because they do realize that what they did is relatively dangerous. They launched on a rocket, they went into space, theres a vacuum of space, they came back through the atmosphere, very high temperatures, parachutes open and they splash down and theyre okay. So that is a huge sense of relief. But i think the next thing theyre talking about is i cant wait to talk about with my friends and family what this experience is like and i hope i can share my experiences in a way that makes a difference to people and hopefully allow more and more people to have that personal experience. Kendis, my friend, i think that we have you back. If we do, would you walk us through the ticktock from what happens now until that crew makes it to dry land . Reporter we believe that first of all, theres a Recovery Vessel out there, a Recovery Ship from spacex. That capsule will be brought into the Recovery Vessel. Now theyre going to be chauffeured to dry land sometime tonight. Weve also been told theres a Grand Celebration that is planned with major celebrities somewhere here in florida. The time frame for that is still not clear. But i just want to point out, as you take a look at that picture and you see them there in the atlantic, thats a big deal. Its been decades since astronauts have landed or splashed down in the atlantic ocean. The previous Dragon Capsules splashed down in the gulf of mexico, and before that, of course, we had the space shuttle. So this is a big deal for nasa. Its the reason theyre over there is because of the Weather Conditions and how it all worked out. But its still kind of cool to see. It is cool to see. Leroy, as i hear kendis describe the welcome reception that the civilians will be getting a celebration with celebrities, im going to imagine when you landed, you wanted to get home and have a Hot Shower, am i right . Well, actually its interesting because it is one of the first things we all want to do is take a nice, Hot Shower. The Hygiene System works well, but using a wet towel to towel yourself off is not nearly at satisfying as a Hot Shower, but absolutely youre looking forward to a Hot Shower and youre looking forward to be reunited with your family and Loved Ones and tell them all about the experience. Doctor, i dont know if you were able to hear kendis talk us through what is going to happen from the time that these civilians deboard the aircraft, get On Board this boat, make it back to land, how does that square with the normal Exit Plan when there are astronauts On Board . Well, when there are astronauts On Board, we have to really make sure that theyre okay first. You want to make sure that theyre not going to feel sick. Youre going to make sure that they come off safely, that they can walk under their own power. Theyll do some general physical evaluations just to make sure everything is working right. Most people, the majority, the adrenaline really takes control and you can power through almost everything. But a few people really dont come back as well as others, so they may want to sit down and just chill for a little bit longer. Yeah. That is definitely my vibe after any highadrenaline situationments kendis youve been there all day. You have watched crowds gather. Im wondering if the crowds are still there, if the energy as as high as it has been today. How are people responding . Reporter i think people are still looking around. They know that something big happened. They dont know exactly what and exactly where. We know that its somewhere off the atlantic ocean. Ill tell you, weve been here for about a day or two covering this in the buildup to this moment, and you really get a sense the people who live here, the people who visit are happy were back in space. Its a fullcircle moment also, alicia. I spoke with two former students. They watched with a lot of angst, with nervousness as this rocket, these four civilians made their way to space on wednesday. They were hoping for the best, but they were glad that it went off, and they were saying Christopher Mcauliffe would have wanted this to happen and would have been proud. He was supposed to be the first civilian in space in 1986 before the challenger blew up. Amazing moment indeed. We talked a lot about the civilians who were On Board, what it is they have just experienced, the way they are going to process it once they are back on dry land. Weve talked about the people who were in Mission Control who are watching this all happen, making sure this all happens goes off without a hitch. We have not talked about the Loved Ones on the civilians On Board. Watching this myself, im excited, nervous. What goes through minds of the friends, of the Family Members, of the coworkers, of people who know those four civilians, both as they launched and now as we are watching the splashdown . You know, if youre the one going into space, i mean, you are very well aware of the risks, but you put that to bed a long time ago, you understand what you can go do and what you cant do and you decide Risk Reward is worth it, sost easy. If youre a Family Member or good friend of the person thats On Board, thats different story. In the Astronaut Office at nasa, we had a few married couples and they will tell you, its really hard to watch their spouse go and fly, whereas its not that Big A deal for you yourself to get into the vehicle. So the families of these four and the good friends, its just going to be the same thing. They were the ones stressed out and worried about them, and the people inside were the ones that were excited. Doctor, this is an incredible moment. Talk to me historically, when we look back on this in a few years and say we all watched as the splashdown happened, you had an allcivilian spacex flight, what is it were going to restroom . What is it were going to be asking . I think its just the first of many future civilian flights that will happen. To me, i make the analogy of discovering the new world, the next frontier. And really lower orbit is the next frontier. Were going to be building additional Space Stations over time, were going to send people to work and live in space. Well have some professionals that will help build those vehicles and those platforms in space. But well also have a lot of people that want to go visit as tourists. There may be a hotel in space where we can go live and just watch the earth for a while. You know, if were fortunate to have the money to do that, you can do that sooner. But over time, we really want to bring the cost down so that it is accessible to more and more people. The historic aspect is that this is the first time we had an allcivilian crew. Ten years from now we want to make this a very routine thing. First time happened here today, but in the future it shouldnt be any more special probably than, you know, a commercial airliner taking off. Now, that may not be in a decade or a couple decades, but we want to make it routine and safe so that a lot of people love access. I hear the doctor talking about working and living from space and what that raises for me as well. That is a whole new meaning to remote work. What do you think when we look back at this and say ten years ago, 20 years ago we watched this happen, what is it were going to remember about the launch . Well remember that was the first fully autonomous flight with amateurs On Board with no protoplasms, no manual flying backup. This is the first time it was done and it appears to have gone off flawlessly. As janet mentioned, that kicks off the possibility of future missions where you dont have to have professionals On Board and the spacecraft can be automated and you have a high degree of confidence and reliability. Thats going to open some doors. Of course the price is still going to be a barrier to entry, and its a matter of can we bring the cost of access to space down. Spacex has already done an amazing job of bringing the price down by probably a factor of 3, 4, or 5, but, you know, its got to come down a lot more before we can have the analogy of buying a ticket and getting on an airline. Kendis, as someone whos been watching all day, im sure one of the questions that is to which mind for you, as it is for me as a journalist is what is next . As youve been asking that question of those around you, what is the refrain . Reporter just imagine the view that these folks on that Disney Cruise might see when they get to the atlantic ocean. They think theyre going for a nice tour and then, oh, what are all these boats doing out here. It will be interesting. Heres the thing about whats next. This really does open it up to an exciting era for Space Travel. You have nasa that is planning already another mission to the international Space Station as many of the astronauts have alluded to, international Space Station in spring of next year. That will have civilians On Board. That of course is a lot more tricky than what we had here that was such an automated flight. That includes some docking to the international Space Station, which is really, really a difficult thing. Then you have some casual plans like Elon Musk is hoping to be able to send people around the moon within three years. I should point out Elon Musk just offered his congratulations to inspiration4. Tom cruise is in talks to shoot a movie in space. The russians are ahead of him on that game. They plan to shoot a movie in space come next month using their soyuz rocket. Theyre planning a big Blockbuster Movie in space. A lot of things open up as a result of these inspiring four making it to space safely and back. Absolutely. I wonder, hollywood from space, can you believe it . Well, there have been, actually, some prominent hollywood people in the past that have talked to nasa and the russians about doing exactly that, shooting a movie in space, or at least parts of movies in space. None of those went anywhere, but this makes access a little easier because now we got a commercial provider that can provide a craft that is autonomous. Never not autonomously docking to the station actually, they are, but they always have a manual backup with a professional ready to take control. But this is the first demonstration that we can send people into space in an autonomous vehicle safely. Doctor, we keep throwing around the words autonomous. And for those of us who have not been in a spacecraft, it may not immediately be clear to us what that means that these folks are doing and not doing. Can you talk us through the things that would need to be automated in order for a civilian to get On Board . Well, pretty much everything needs to be automated. The Launch Sequence can be controlled from the ground but it is automated. The trajectory is in the spacecraft. People from the ground can monitor that, but it will follow trajectory that its designed to follow. It corrects for the winds. It corrects for altitude. When you get to space, the ground can control or it can be an automated system that circularizes the orbit. Same thing with the orbit burn. It can be done from The Inside. It can be done from the ground. So pretty much when you have an inexperienced crew, you want to make sure you can take control over all the systems, Control Anything you need to from the ground, or have it automated from On Board so the inexperienced crews dont have to make inputs to the vehicle to cause important things happen. So i believe what we are seeing on the right hand of the screen is the back of the recovery vehicle. My producer will correct me if im wrong. The top of the capsule will lift in about five minutes, so youre all sticking with me and talking through this with me. Weve talked a lot about the fact that these are civilians and that there doesnt need to be a high level of skill. But i imagine that there had to be some level of prep involved. Can you talk us through what would when a that would have to look like of that they spent several Months Training with spacex about how to take care of yourself, how to take care of your pressure suit, how you look at the displays, what can you monitor. They didnt have a lot of control because they werent trained to manually fly vehicle and there was no capability to really manually fly vehicle. So a big part of the Training Wasnt there. As janet pointed out, of course, the Mission Control center can command the spacecraft. And so even the spacecraft is capable. It wasnt a simple matter of stepping On Board. This mission was a fundraiser for st. Judes childrens hospital. They say they have raised 157 Million to date. I wonder what you make of that, doctor, this sort of interest in what it is were watching and the possibility of using it as a fundraising mechanism. Thats always a possibility. We want to make the world a better place through Space Flight. We want to ensure that what we learn up there we bring back to the earth. Its a really worth cause, but theres medical research we have done and will do in space. Just think about the possibility of 3d Printing organs in space that you cant really print on the ground because gravitational forces. You may be able to bring down a Kidney Or Heart or something that right now unfortunately you have to wait for someone to have an accident and you have to have a donor. What if we could do that in the future without having the Neglect Thing happen . What if we could do those things in orbit, brings those things down and really help people on the ground . Anything like that where we can make the world a better place, where we can increase the health and the safety and the longterm benefits of our Planet And Help make our planet a berkts healthier place to live because of what we see while in orbit, thats what we want to do. For those of you who are with us who are watching, the Rigging Setup is complete. Theyll be lifting the vehicle in a few minutes, so stay with us because youre not going to want to miss that. Kendis, can you talk us through who the civilians are On Board this spacecraft . Reporter weve been talking about how this is a Historymaking Trip because its all four civilians. These arent your ordinary civilians. They have been doing some amazing work. They have been interested in space for quite some time, except for Hayley Arceneaux that when she first found out she was going to space, she was like, does that mean im going to the moon . We havent been to the moon in 50 years. Its a cute moment. But Jared Isaacman, a 38yearold Billionaire who made his money during some online payment system, hes the money guy. Hes the guy that wrote the check and said im going to pay for this entire mission. He approached spacex years ago and said whenever youre ready to be able to take civilians to space, i want to be one of the first. Spacex approached him last year and said i think were ready, and so that started the entire process. Theres Hayley Arceneaux who at 29 is actually the youngest american to make it into space. She suffered from bone cancer. Shes a survivor of bone cancer. She works at st. Judes hospital as a Physician Assistant where she was a patient for so many years and because of haley, shes the first person with a prosthetic Body Part to make it into space. Youngest and first with a prosthetic Body Part to make it into space. And sian proctor, if you saw any of the civilians with smiles from ear to ear, it was most likely sian. If somebody is going with the thumbs up, it was sian proctor. He has wanted to be in space for so long. She has tried several times before. Shes 51 years old. Shes a geoscientist. She won this through a contest on social media. A couple things about her as well. Shes only the third black woman to be able to make it into space, pretty remarkable considering our 60plus Year History in all of this. And also shes the first black woman to pilot a space vessel. Props to her. Her dad was involved in the Apollo Program in guam. She took note that Neil Armstrong was in the capsule with her. Chris sembroski is from the Seattle Area and works for lockheed martin. He is a father. His wife was worried about him going into space, but he was a Camp Counselor at alabamas famed space camp, so a lot of these people were very psyched to get into space and they know the dangers that they were facing. We are watching the Capsule Inch closer and closer. It is my understanding that the crew is still strapped in. A big part of the buzz, and you heard it, the possibility of Space Opening up to all. That, of course, is very much contingent upon costs. This is, of course, right now not accessible to most people. What would it take to make it so . Its going to take a Breakthrough Propulsion System. You have Rocket Engines with a lot of moving parts. You got turbo pumps close to 100,000 rpm, all that has to work perfectly every time, and thats why its so expensive. So its going to take a Breakthrough Propulsion System where we can reliably put the energy into a vehicle to get it into Orbital Velocity and then you see the price Coming Down. Spacex has done a great job using conventional Rocket Engines and using innovative ideas like recovering and reusing the the first stage. Thats brought the price down dramatically but its got to come down further. To get to the next quantum level, youll need a big propulsion breakthrough. Cost is one part of the obstacle. What are the other obstacles to truly getting to a place where all where space accessible to all . It really comes down to cost. Elon musk is actually working on that. Spacex, of course, has not been sitting still. Theyve been developing the Star Ship and falcon super heavy, a fully reusable system. Elon musk says the economics can allow it to do Pointtopoint Travel on earth, having this System Launch from one point and then i want to ask you because im not sure if you can see, but we see the spacecraft and you can see some of the marks that were left by reentry. What do the marks indicate . And what can they tell us about the process of reentry . Sure. Youre traveling at 17,500 miles an hour or so when youre in orbit. And thats because you put all that energy, the Rocket Engines put all that energy into the vehicle to allow it to travel that fast. When you come down, you got to take that energy out. So you got a Heat Shield and Air Friction to take the energy out. It heats up to 3,000 Degrees Fahrenheit and the hot plasma flowing around the spacecraft burns the heat theres other thermal Protection Material around the rest of the capsule and it scars it and scorches it a bit. Thats what youre seeing, the markings of the plasma, the hot plasma actually kind of burning a little bit, the Heat Shielding on the rest of the spacecraft. You are watching dragon now officially on its Recovery Vessel. Doctor, can you talk to us about what happens now . O theyll make sure that everything is secure inside the vehicle. Theyll make sure that the pressure is equalized between The Inside and the outside of the vehicle so that the door doesnt pop or damage or injure anyone. And then they will open the door and they will start helping the people inside to unbuckle and to bring them out one at a time. Its a pretty crowded space and they may be disoriented a little bit, so they will help them come out of the spaceship one at a time. If people are feeling good, they may have already unbuckled. If theyre not feeling so great, they may still be in their seats. I have to admit that kendis earlier was walking us through the ticktock of what would happen from the moment of that splashdown until what is happening now. Its easy to imagine that it would happen in the blink of the eye. Of course theyre being very careful, very deliberate. Leroy, is this generally how long this process takes . Yes, of course you have to save the vehicle and make sure its safe for the Rescue Crew to approach. They have, of course, and they brought the vehicle On Board the ship. Now he got the make sure the crew is ready for hatch opening, very important that the pressure is equalized. It should be by now and everyone is ready to go. And then theyll open the hatch and its a fairly simple procedure. Theyll go in one by one and evaluate the crew On Board and take them out one by one. Should be pretty soon now. Im told that we are going to be seeing the crew. You see them there. Well see them exiting the craft in about ten minutes. If you want to see that, definitely stick with us. Kendis, when you were out in the field, as you are watching a live event, a historic event, there is always a plan. There is always a ticktock. We study it deeply, and then we watch and we wait to see what has happened. Over the course of today, how much has expectation met reality in that regard, kendis . Reporter 1000 , i would say. It has been the sort of precision that take place when it comes to Space Travel. The reentry, the Orbiting Process started exactly at 6 16 p. M. The splashdown, right at 7 06 p. M. As well. All the process you see here now is just what was expected to take place. Well lose a small there from what i can see from the feed shortly. But theyre expected to have a Press Conference less than an hour from now. What we call the phoner, the Press Conference with Mission Control folks. Its expected to be roughly about a half hour after the astronauts are safe and sound on the ship and on their way in here. But everything has worked out just as everyone expected. I do want to talk about the st. Judes Charity Aspect of it because it really is a big deal. I spoke with some of the Kids Yesterday from st. Jude who actually spoke with the civilians who were there in space from the Space Station. You cannot imagine how much it just made them glow up knowing that they were able to speak with folks from space. And i asked one of them, connor ballard, from louisiana, who is 11 years old. He has kidney cancer. Hes in recovery right now. I if it made him want to go to space, and said thats scary. While theyre inspiring some people to want to go to space, they are definitely inspiring others to just do good, including connor and many others. Its such a great feelgood moment for this country and we need it. Doctor, i want to ask you. Pull up the other images of the spacecraft because i believe theyre pressurizing the cabin. Can you talk us through what that entails and what that will feel like for the folks inside . You know, when you come back from an aircraft and youre flying and youre Coming Down, you feel the pressure in your ears as the airplane maintains pressure because the outside pressure decreases the higher you go. When you come back down, its the opposite effect. You want to make sure that your pressure inside that part of your ear that has eardrum and inside and outside, thats the same thing theyre doing with the hatch on the vehicle. They make sure that the pressure inside the vehicle is the same as the Air Pressure outside the vehicle so that when they open the hatch, it doesnt pop out and possibly injure somebody. Its just that slow leak. They open the valve and let the air out. And then when they open the door, its like opening the door on the aircraft. For those of you who are watching with us on the right side, that is the civilian crew inside the cabin waiting for it to be pressurized. You can see them right there on the right side of your screen. Leroy, i got to imagine they are antsy and ready to get off. Or are they going to want to stay on that spaceship for a while . Sure, theyre excited to be back and theyre eager to get out and say hello to everyone. I can only imagine. As kendis said, theres going to be a Press Conference following this. What is the information that will be shared at a Press Conference like that . What are the details that they will want to make sure everybody has . Well, really, the crew On Board will be there to say thank you to everyone and talk about what a great mission it was and how successful it was. And then theyll probably take questions. Thats kind of the natural flow of these kinds of things. And so it really depends on the journalists and the audience and what they want to know. Stand by for opening. There it is. Here we go. The endangered for the opening. Plan. Going to be coming up in about ten seconds. Great comms. [ applause ] there you can see the Side Hatch is now officially open. So exciting, waves from the crew. As i mentioned the person you always see smiling, sian proctor. So we have members of the Recovery Team inside the capsule with the crew members. Theyre doing some checkouts to make sure everything is good before the crew can exit the capsule. But this is certainly very, very exciting. Again, that hatch has been closed and sealed for three days. This is the first time its opened since we lifted off wednesday, september 15th. We have some Fist Pumps from jared. The entire crew is super excited. You can see them waving. Lots of excitement. From the crew. As theyre getting ready to egress the dragon spacecraft. Kendis, tell us what it is looking like from where you stand right now. Reporter things have died down a little bit here at Port Canaveral. Again, that Recovery Ship, once its done with its business there and the crew is choppered from that ship to the mainland here, that Recovery Ship is going to return here to Port Canaveral and well do this all over again at some point in the near future. Most of the people who were hanging out around here have pretty much gone home for the evening as the sun as set in this area. But theres still a palpable excitement that you can feel with anybody that you kind of see. You see strangers smiling at you and you know that theres looks like they are reporter not too far from where we are. As we look at the folks in the hatch, i cant wait to see the spiel on sian proctors face because i mentioned, shes been excited about this. I was talking to Victory Glover who is a Nasa Astronaut who has returned in the dragon. He just returned from space in the dragon this past spring, late april, after a sixmonth stay at the international Space Station. He was saying a couple of things that were pretty trippy for him about the Reentry Process and getting back here. You go from zero gravity to about five times your Body Weight in less than an hour, which is pretty trippi. It was worse for him because he had been in zero gravity for six months. These folks have been in it for three days, but they are civilians. They havent done the Vomit Comet that often. They havent felt zoo zero gravity that often in their nine months of training. So it will be interesting to see if theyre able to walk out of that capsule when they are given the opportunity. For victor, he wasnt necessarily able to fully walk out of the capsule when he did. His Mission Commander did walk out and gave a big thumbs up. I think they were just happy to be pack on terra firma. Im sure that they were, the thumbs up, always a good sign. Leroy, we are waiting, we are watching for this civilian crew to exit the capsule. When we do, when we see those images there you see them there all smiles, lots of thumbs up, making some heart signs, trying to tell us that they are happy and well. Well hear from them soon enough. But as we wait for them to exit the capsule, what is that moment . What is that visual going to signify for the future of Space Travel . I think the crew emerging happy and healthy, as we just saw, theyre all smiles and thumbs up, which is a great sign, which means they are readapting well to gravity. After three days, its not as bad as after six months. And so theyll be coming out and showing everyone, hey, this is doable. Even for an Amateur Crew that hasnt had the experience, the professional training of a professional astronaut, you can do this and you can come back and be okay. Doctor, they have been in zero gravity for the last three days. I have asked you to sort of explain what that feels like. Since we are about to watch them exit the the capsule, i want to ask you, again, to talk us through what their bodies currently feel like and what is going to feel like when they are finally able to stand up and exit that capsule. Talk us through it. Yeah. So when you go to space, your your body adapts to micro microgravity pretty quickly. Um, what happens is the fluids in the lower half of your torso and your legs equilibriate. Your eyeballs may feel like they are bulging a little bit. But over a couple days, you lose that extra water. And and so, you feel really comfortable in space. Then when you come back down, the reverse happens, right . When you come back down and you feel gravity again, all that that fluid that was in your head and your up torso goes back down into your legs and your lower torso. And so, if you are up there for longer periods of time, your Blood Pressure doesnt really the vascular system doesnt really push the the fluids back up into your brain so that your brain, you know, gets everything it needs, all the blood that it needs. So some people have the when they stand up too quickly, the blood drains down and they might faint. So when the doctors going to watch them and the people around them. They will watch to make sure that when they stand up or maybe when they turn their head quickly, that it doesnt cause them to be dizzy. It doesnt cause them to be lightheaded and that they can actually walk on their own. I i remember when i came off the shuttle um the numerous times i did, there was always somebody behind me just in case i would lose my balance, and they would catch anybody who was a little bit off and i believe that we were watching that right now. If you are watching the left side of your screen in ten seconds, the first person is out. We are told from Mission Control, she was the first to exit the craft. Now, seems there is someone else exiting. But part of what i am noticing oh, now. There you can see it from the other angle. Medical officer Hayley Arceneaux has now egressed the vehicle. The first of the Inspiration4 Crew and so, very excited. Lots of waves. Thumbs up. And, leroy, it strikes me that as the doctor said, you can see multiple people standing there waiting to spot her. Absolutely. Yep. Next is dr. Sian proctor. This is very exciting for the crew to be exiting the capsule, and finishing their Inspiration 4 mission. A mission thats done so much for folks around the world. Yes, absolutely inspiring all the way around. Just an incredible mission with an incredible crew. Here comes dr. Sian proctor. Look at dr. Sian proctor. There she is. Excited as ever. Dr. Sian proctor. Oh, i love it. Love it. There, you have dr. Sian proctor not just walking but really grooving her way off that vessel. Looks like Mission SpecialistChris Sembroski is up next to egress the vehicle. Looks like some dancing there. Again, there is crew there to help them egress, to make sure that they do not damage um their suits or themselves on their way out. [ cheers and applause ] and that is Chris Sembroski, again, the Mission Specialist. Again, with a smile all over his face. Superexcited. Ready to go. Yeah. There we go. Last, but not least, we have commander Jared Isaacman getting ready to egress the vehicle, as well. The finalfourth Inspiration4 Crew member of the first allcivilian Crew Mission to orbit. And what a way to close it out. He was really the um the the person with the vision. There he is. Commander Jared Isaacman of the Inspiration4 Crew. So excited. Its amazing. Amazing. Handshakes and hugs all around. Now, they will be doing standard procedure. Going into the medical room on the Recovery Vessel. And doing some medical checks to make sure that the crew is safe and healthy. Um, and then they will hop on a Helicopter And Head back to florida. Yeah. Well now that jared, hayley, sian, and chris are safely back home on earth, and getting checked out by our medical team, we are going to wrap up our live coverage of their historic return. We started this day about two hours ago. We had um successful trunk separation. We completed a deorbit burn, closed the nose cone. We got through that Blackout Period of communications. Both sets of chutes deployed um awesome. And the crew splashed down. We hoisted them up and they have just exited the vehicle. Next up, they will catch a Helicopter Ride back to shore where they will be rejoined by their families. So, welcome back to the Inspiration4 Crew. It has been an honor and a privilege to share their journey with all of you as we continue this new era in human Space Flight. Yes, for updates, check out our social media. Um, also be sure to donate to st. Jude. There is a Donation Button if you are watching on youtube, on the righthand side of your screen. The Netflix Documentary is coming out so, we have now watched the allcivilian Crew Exit the spacex capsule. I want to hear from each of you. Kendis, sort of your reflections on this day what it is that we have witnessed . Oh, my god. Ive got chills. Maybe, its because i am a Space Geek or maybe im just human and loving that moment. Watching each of them come off of that come out of that capsule. I looked at sian proctor. As i mentioned, she is the one that is the most pumped about all of this. And you saw her doing a dance, doing a jig. She is so excited for what she experienced. And you understand why. Space has been in her blood for so many decades. And then, you saw hayley, who was the first to come out, looking just as excited. And chris. I want to point out something about Chris Sembroski right there because when he got out of the capsule, he did a little fist bump. And thats a lot of emotion for Chris Sembroski, actually, because when Jared Isaacman called him and said, hey, youre going to space. Uh, jared actually thought that the zoom had frozen because he didnt even react. There was there was no movement. There was no reaction whatsoever. So, that Fist Pump that you saw from Chris Sembroski, its a big deal as well. Its just a wonderful moment to see all of that. Leroy, there are going to be a lot of people who watch all of this and wonder what it will take for them to get to space. Um, your final thoughts . I have got about 15, 20 seconds. Sure. No, i mean, this was looked like a flawless mission, from start to finish. The crew emerged looking happy and healthy and excited. And so, i dont think the first allamateur Crew Mission could have gone any better. And this sets sets the tone for the future of commercial Space Flight. So ill be eagerly watching, and hopefully being part of that as well. Doctor, very quickly, your final thoughts . Oh, just wonderful to see american ingenuity at work. And getting us back into space in a commercial way. And thanks for helping me relive some of my memories, again, too. Yes, i imagine that this is a very nostalgic day. Kendis, leroy, doctor, thank you all for spending some time with us. And as we wrap up live coverage of this historic splashdown in florida, another bit of history to celebrate because there is a new Broadcast Debuting on msnbc hosted by my friend and colleague, ayman, he launched ayman right now which i really love. I love it. Shakira, beyonce, oprah, and now we have ayman. Wow, i appreciate that. Thats quite a level to live up to, alicia. I really appreciate it. You can do it, aman. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you so much to everyone there tuning in. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our premiere show. I will be but you here every weekend and luckily for us, there is a lot to talk about on our first night. Of course, Donald Trump supporters showing up in washington, d. C. Demanding the criminals who stormed the capitol back on january 6th, they actually should be freed because they believe they are actually innocent. Now, congressional republicans. Theyre reluctant to condemn them and formerlead impeachment manager, Congressman Jamie Raskin is going to be here live to talk about it in just a few minutes. Plus, voting rights, infrastructure, and president bidens build back better agenda face a huge hurdle in the senate. And its actually coming, though, from his own party. Senator joe manchin, it is time for him to give up on the filibuster. That is the question many are asking Congressman Ro Khanna is here to discuss that and a whole lot more. Plus, you ever heard the medical argument getting the vaccine. Everybody knows about it but what about the Math Argument for getting the shots . We are going to explain that to you, as well. Here we go. Im ayman mohyeldin