01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

[Jared] It was very important to me that

this was a very fair, independent process.

I wanted no say in anyone

who was selected for this.

I wanted it to be as objective

as it possibly could be.

And that's where we came up

with our mission pillars.

We wanted a crew member

to represent leadership,

a crew member to represent hope.

We wanted a crew member

to represent generosity,

and a crew member to represent prosperity.

You know, for our mission pillar

of generosity, that was all gonna be

a fundraising campaign for St. Jude.

And the way you participate is,

you gotta make a donation

to an incredible cause.

And that donation would be an entry

into a sweepstakes

to have a spot on Inspiration4.

And this also plays right

into the Super Bowl commercial.

I wanted to energize a lot of people

and hopefully

inspire a lot of people as to, you know,

certainly what we can accomplish in space,

but also what we can,

we can do here on Earth.

[announcer] Are you ready yet?

Here we are.

This could be one for the ages.

Super Bowl 55 is underway

just get that pressure

[woman] Hayley, you know I love you

'cause I put on real clothes

for you on a Sunday.

[Hayley] Um loving it!

All right, I'm gonna taste test.

[doorbell rings]

- Hello! How are you?

- Good, how are you?

I love them! Thank you!

I was so excited for Super Bowl Sunday

because I was dying to tell people.

This is the biggest news of my whole life.

- with Michael last night.

- "With Michael" is a loose term, but yes.

[Hayley] I had some of my friends over,

and I'm like, "Watch the commercials!"

And so then they were like, "Oh, well

you're gonna be on The Bachelorette!"

It's not The Bachelor.

Or is it The Bachelor?

Because I know the new season starts soon

or they're starting to film

for the new season, like soon.

[all laughs]

[Hayley] "You'll see, you'll realize."

And, immediately after I said that,

the Inspiration4 commercial came on.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star ♪

[announcer] This fall, Inspiration4

launches as the first all-civilian mission

- to space.

- You goin' to space?

- No, you're not.

- I'm leaving I am!

- Are you really?

- Yeah!

- Oh, you're really you are.

- Excuse me?

Yes!

I'm really confused.

Wait, you really are?

I'm literally going to outer space.

- You're goin' to space?

- Yeah!

Look, I can't cuss on camera,

but what the F?

That's what's up! That's what's up!

- I'm goin' to space!

- [woman] Goin' to space!

[reporter] We're getting some news

from SpaceX,

plans for the world's first

all-civilian mission to space.

[reporter 2] People joining us

late Sunday night might have seen

the commercial that ran

during the Super Bowl.

[reporter 3] Anyone who contributes any

amount to the St. Jude fundraising effort

can be considered

for the third astronaut seat.

My name is Chris Sembroski,

and I am, uh, 41 years old.

I've got two beautiful daughters,

and married,

and living out in western Washington.

I first heard of this mission

from the Super Bowl ad.

It showed up on the TV, it's like,

"Oh, that's kind of an interesting

opportunity, and, oh, it's benefiting

St. Jude, just gonna pull out my phone,

oh, I'll just go to the website

real quick, take a look."

"Oh, okay, I'll donate to St. Jude."

Growing up I was in math competitions and

went to a science and math high school.

So I've always been someone who loves

space and rockets and science,

but I never thought I'd actually

have a chance to go to space.

Putting your name into a lottery,

it's like, okay, yeah,

that's fine, you're helping St. Jude

and you're raising money for them

whatever, Chris, okay,

you're never going to space, but here,

enjoy your dream.

There was a morning where Chris

was downstairs with the girls,

and I think it was one of those mornings

where I was able to sleep in a little bit.

And he had left his phone

on the nightstand and it started ringing.

And I looked at it and I saw Inspiration4,

and I thought it was a telemarketer

so I ignored it.

And then, they called back.

And it was Inspiration4 again

and I thought,

"This telemarketer is really persistent."

"Oh, okay, I remember donating, yeah.

Um, who are you?"

"And what kind of extended warranty

are you trying to sell me?"

You know, I

made up some sh*t about,

"We need to do some

administrative coordination,

we need to get on a Zoom,"

just made some sh*t up

and got him on the Zoom.

Kidd had called up the phone.

He's the mission director for this.

Hey, there we are.

Jared's obviously doing all the talking

and he pretty much just let him know.

"Hey, dude you're the guy."

Jared just kind of does this nod

in his very Jared way, and he's like,

"Oh, we'd like to invite you

to be a part of the crew of Inspiration4."

[Jared] You're now, uh,

gonna represent, uh,

that mission spirit

of generosity on Inspiration4.

For a minute there,

I thought the Zoom froze,

because Chris didn't flinch,

didn't say anything.

That was the extent

of my reaction at the time.

He was just in shock.

It's like, "Wow, this is really exciting!

But wait a minute I have a family."

"How am I gonna make this all work?"

Everybody had a different reaction

when I told them

that their spot was selected

for Inspiration4.

Chris, first thing is, "I'm gonna talk

to my family about this."

"No matter what, I'm a father first."

That was his reaction to it really, is um,

"I'm gonna talk to my family and see

what they think,

but I really appreciate this opportunity."

There you go! You got a skip!

[Chris] I went upstairs after

the phone call, though, and told my wife,

"I think I'm gonna ride a rocket?"

I think that's about how I phrased it.

And she just, "What?"

I could see it in his face,

and he was almost buzzing.

And he was just excited,

and kind of holding it back a little bit.

And we all kind of looked up at him,

and our oldest said, "What?"

"You're going into outer space?"

And Chris started smiling.

My eyes started watering.

And he looked at me and he said,

"I see you."

And we talked.

There's a lot of risk. What

what happens if something goes wrong?

What is that gonna do to her,

what is it gonna do to our daughters?

Did I know that my husband

signed up for a contest

to win a trip into outer space?

No.

Am I surprised that my husband entered

a contest to win a trip into outer space?

No, I'm not. [laughs]

No.

Chris and I were both living

in Great Falls, Montana,

fresh out of college.

I was working

at my first teaching position.

Chris was stationed with the Air Force.

We were at a friend's barbecue

and I'd walked out to the back deck,

and he was wearing this Space Camp

T-shirt tucked into his jeans.

And he walked up to me and the first thing

that he said to me was,

"Did you watch

the space shuttle launch today?"

And, um, I think

my first reaction was "Nerd alert!"

Not only is he funny, but he has

that ability to laugh at himself

which is really endearing.

And he's thoughtful, he's caring,

and he's my favorite person

to spend time with.

With this mission, there are times

when you feel so proud and excited,

and there are times when you feel anxious

and nervous.

All I really am thinking

about and wanting is, you know,

come back to Earth safe and sound

and then I'll party.

Hello.

[Jared] Right from the start

of Inspiration4,

knowing that this was going to be

the first civilian mission to space

Thank you so much.

it was just very apparent to me

that any time you have a a first,

like this, that it comes with

significance and responsibility,

and that's why we established

our our mission pillars.

The last was going to be

our mission pillar of prosperity.

Um, and I wanted that to be

an entrepreneur selection

process from the start.

We wanted a crew member

to share a business idea with the world.

And I know

how difficult it is to take a business

from a concept to a reality.

And if we can incorporate that into this

and find our next great,

inspiring entrepreneur,

then we should do that too.

[Sian] My name is Sian Proctor.

I am 51 years old,

and I am from Phoenix, Arizona.

I don't have a TV,

and I did not watch the Super Bowl.

But then halfway through the contest,

I saw a friend post their video

for the prosperity seat.

And I went, "There's another seat?"

So, you had to show

your entrepreneurial spirit

and do a two minute

and 20 second Twitter video.

I'm Gretchen Green.

My name is Brian K. Smith.

I'm Andrew Rader.

Like many people,

I've always wanted to be an astronaut.

I build my own rockets,

I watch every launch I can.

I've always dreamt of taking

an entire orchestra to space,

and now I might actually have the chance.

An opportunity

to create imagery from orbit

would quite literally

take my photography to new heights.

I want to bring the mystery

and wonder of space

to the everyday person

while simultaneously

supporting an amazing cause.

And I'm ready to be

an inspiration for all.

Live long and prosper.

And so, I think it was 50 takes,

and finally, I got one that I was like,

"Okay, I'm done, I'm gonna post this."

And, I just told my story.

I was born in March of 1970,

and I was born on Guam.

And the reason why we were

on Guam is because

my dad was working at the NASA tracking

station during the Apollo missions.

And I was born eight and a half months

after Neil Armstrong

stepped foot on the moon.

So, I literally am a Apollo 11

moon celebration baby.

Dad was responsible

for helping to track the spacecraft

as it moved around the Earth.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin,

went on a tour of the tracking stations

to thank everybody that worked there.

And so, Neil Armstrong wrote

this really nice note that said,

"To Ed, thanks for all the help.

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11."

I was a feisty, independent kid early on.

My passions were anything outdoors,

and airplanes.

[school bell rings]

In high school, you know

how you put up pictures in your locker?

I had a photo of an F-16 pilot,

inverted, in my locker.

I can't sh**t this son of a b*tch,

let's see if we can have

a little fun with him.

When I saw Top g*n for the first time,

it blew my mind.

I was like,

"Oh, this is exactly what I want to do."

But it was all about men,

I just thought that I couldn't be

a part of that world.

I had zero female fighter pilots

as role models,

and I had always seen being an astronaut

through the military fighter pilot lens.

And so, I thought that I couldn't

ever be an astronaut.

But then, years later,

somebody emailed me and said

"NASA is looking for astronauts,

you should apply," with the link.

I was 38 years old

when that announcement came out

that they were looking for astronauts.

There was about 3,500

that applied for that selection round,

and out of that, they chose nine.

And I I'm like,

"Why would they choose me?"

And then I realized when I looked

at the requirements that I'd met

most of the minimum requirements

for being an astronaut.

And I ended up being a finalist,

which meant that I got down to,

literally, a yes/no phone call.

The yes/no phone call comes in,

they just said, "Sorry, we didn't

select you, please try again."

And of course, you're like, "Oh,"

you know, 'cause you're that close

to this childhood dream, and

and it just slipped away.

When she got the news

that she wasn't selected as a NASA

uh, astronaut,

you kinda see the lights go down, right?

Because you don't think this opportunity

is gonna ever happen again.

You know, it was a devastating blow.

They put out a call for astronauts

not too long ago, just before COVID.

And people asked me,

"Are you gonna apply?" And I'm like,

"Now I'm, you know, 50, and I just

don't think that's the route for me

if I'm gonna go to space. But, I think

that one day commercial space will work."

When I submitted my video

for Inspiration4,

I didn't bill myself

as a scientist and a geologist,

I billed myself as a poet and an artist.

I opened up my shop where I sell my art.

Now, one of the rules for the contest

was that you had to be able

to go viral a little bit.

[Jared] The more likes

and attention it got,

the greater the chance it would

make it to the final selection process.

And so I rallied Twitter.

And in three days,

I had 70,000 views on my video.

I got an email on Saturday that said,

"Hey, we've got some administrative stuff

for you that we need to check on."

"Can you jump on a Zoom

really quickly on Sunday?"

- Hey, Dr. Proctor.

- Hi! Hi, Jared! Hi, Kidd!

Hi!

And I'm like, "Jared's on here."

The good news is is that, um, it's, uh,

it's not really part

of the vetting process,

because you've already gone

through that. It's, um, you're selected.

So, you are representing Inspiration4

in the prosperity seat.

So, you're you're gonna go to space.

- We're all gonna

- Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Oh, my God! Oh!

I have dreamt of this my entire life.

You know, um, life-changing.

Life-changing Zoom call.

[cries]

Oh, my goodness. Thank you.

[man] It would've been easy for Jared

to just take three friends and

do this in secret.

But, as John F. Kennedy

said about the moon, he said,

"We don't do these things

because they're easy,

we do them because they're hard."

It's much more than just him,

it's much more than his crew,

he's doing this for a purpose

and for a benefit for future missions.

[Sian] Hey!

- Hi!

- Girl, you're rocking that space suit.

- It's so nice to meet you!

- I know!

- I'm excited, I'm excited.

- I'm so excited!

- This is cool, this is awesome.

- Yes.

- [Sian] We're a crew, look at that.

- Yes!

Yes.

[Chris] We know not all of this

is going to be fun.

Some of this is going to be uncomfortable,

but we all are singularly focused

on making sure that we are successful

as a team and a crew together.

[Jared] The whole crew is

for a process that was

about as random as you could get,

um the stars have

always aligned with us,

I mean, we have a fantastic crew,

every one of them

brings amazing qualities to the mission.

[man] As space becomes an increasingly

egalitarian place

where you can fly and I can fly

and my kids can fly,

I think we will look back and say,

"Who were the first people who did this?"

"Oh, yes, that was Inspiration4."

Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!

This is gonna be so crazy!

What am I gonna say? Oh, and not cry.

[Hayley] Yeah.

[indistinct conversations]

I saw you photobombing me.

- Hi, I love your dress!

- Oh, thank you! Thank you!

Oh, look at everybody coming in!

I'm so excited!

- Now it just hit 31.

- Okay.

- Should I go ahead and?

- Let 'em in, yup, yup, "admit all."

Okay!

- Hi, everyone!

- Hi!

Turn your cameras on

so I can see everybody!

Okay. Um, so I just wanted to say, uh

I, I I'm gonna get emotional,

but you know my dream

of always wanting to go to space.

Um, I wanted to let you know

that I got selected

- as the Inspiration4!

- Oh, my God!

- I got my pass, and I am going to space!

- This is awesome!

- I am

- Oh, my God, I cannot believe it!

I know, like me!

I'm in Florida right now

with the Inspiration4 crew.

Okay, so I'm gonna bring

my crew members over.

Jared, Hayley, Chris.

Let's all get in here.

So this is the four of us

are going to space together.

You know, there have been

three Black female American astronauts

who have made it to space.

I will be number four!

So, it's a small number.

I feel very fortunate to help

advance women of color in space,

and particularly African American females.

We have been overlooked,

and we have not been supported

as much as we could be, uh,

and I would like to see that change.

My dad would always tell me about

how scientists stand on the shoulders

of the scientists before them.

And that's exactly what we want.

We want to inspire people to imagine that,

"Yeah, it's me in the seat right now,

but it can be you in the future."

I don't wanna cry, but you know,

I wish Mom and Dad

I wish they were here!

- I know Dad would be, you know, so proud.

- He'll be watching.

- Um

- He'll be up waiting for you.

- Yeah it's so, uh

- He'll be watching.

He'd be so proud.

to carry that legacy that Dad

started so long ago on Guam.

So, uh, Langley, I'm gonna need

that Neil Armstrong autograph

to take to space with me.

Right there! Yeah.

I can't take it.

- That was too good.

- Thank you.

Oh, I'm so glad it's over.

I'm glad they know.

I'm so glad that they know. Right?

- I'm just so happy.

- That's so powerful to

I'm so happy to be here with all of you.

- [Hayley] We're happy that you're here.

- [Jared] Agree completely.

- I know, we're the we're the crew!

- [Hayley] We're the crew.

- I-4.

- One, two, three, I-4!

[Sian] Okay, now let's eat.

- Okay.

- All right, yeah.

[Chris] Inspiration4 will be launching

from the Kennedy Space Center.

It's located on Cape Canaveral

on the east coast of Florida.

The Kennedy Space Center is really

the home to manned spaceflight.

If you think about people standing

on the beach and looking up in awe,

all of that is Kennedy Space Center.

[Jeffrey] It is a vast complex.

It has a military segment.

It has a civilian segment.

It has a range of launchpads.

There is the

vehicle assembly building there,

one of the largest buildings in the world.

Blue Origin has its own complex there.

SpaceX has its own complex there.

It is an entire mini megalopolis

built around a space industry.

The great thing about

the Kennedy Space Center

is it has this historical element to it

which is where Apollo launched from,

where the space shuttle

launched from.

And the place where Inspiration4

will launch is the same pad

that we launched people to the moon.

[Cronkite] If all goes well,

Apollo 11 astronauts

Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins,

are to lift off from Pad 39-A out there

on the voyage

man always has dreamed about.

[Chris] Kennedy Space Center

is home to so much success,

but it's also home to some

very tragic moments

in manned spaceflight history.

Lessons learned in blood are something

near and dear to our heart.

Spaceflight is inherently risky, right?

It is unforgiving of errors.

You're dealing

with high-energy propellants,

liquid oxygen, and rocket fuel.

[popping]

[expl*si*n]

Things that in other cases

could be used as a b*mb.

[Jared] The risk is not zero.

You're riding a rocket

at 17,500 miles an hour around the Earth.

In that kind of environment,

there's risk associated with it.

Let's look at where things

have gone wrong in the past.

We lost a space shuttle on ascent,

so on the way up,

and we lost a space shuttle

on the way down, on reentry.

[man] Ten, nine, eight

[Jared] When you're on launch,

you've got an awful lot of thrust

that's coming out the other end

of that rocket,

which is coming

from an awful lot of propellant,

that's basically going

through a controlled expl*si*n.

[Hayley] I called my sister-in-law,

who's also an aerospace engineer,

I told her that I was invited

to go to space and I said,

"I'm gonna do it," and she was like,

"I would never do it,

you're basically on top of a b*mb."

[man] Three, two, one, zero

[Sian] The biggest danger is:

you could die.

I mean, something could

happen with the spacecraft

that literally causes you

to lose your life.

That's the biggest danger,

but it's not about crazy risk-taking,

this is about going on a journey

that has all of the safety precautions

that you can think of built into it.

[Jared] None of the crew members

have expressed any, like, direct fear,

but I do think that there might be

concerns in other ways, like,

for family.

Like, hey, I know the risk

I'm taking, I'm not entirely sure

you know, my family might not necessarily

know fully their risk that they're taking.

[Todd] The families of the crew members

have a

significant yet different burden

than those actually going up,

and that's what they live with

day in and day out.

The crew are the ones at risk.

The families are the ones who

now bear the consequence of that risk.

[Colleen] I'm not thinking about

the launch.

I'm not thinking about her being in space.

I'm thinking about today.

I think, similarly to when

she was going through treatment,

one day at a time.

I know the people behind the scenes

and I'm very confident,

but of course, you know, as a mother,

I have those worries.

[interviewer] What are your biggest fears

right now?

I try not to go there,

but of course, I do at times.

Of course, something happening.

I'm the generation that was

watching the Challenger,

and I

Christa McAuliffe's parents'

face you know, pops into my head.

[reporter] The star of this mission,

New Hampshire school teacher

Christa McAuliffe.

[Dan Rather] The school teacher,

the first civilian person

to be aboard a space shuttle.

[Christa] Lots of students

at Concord High School

who would love to have that opportunity.

[reporter 2] A crowd

of some 500 spectators,

including Christa McAuliffe's parents,

Grace and Edward Corrigan,

watched proudly through tears of joy.

[reporter 3] Liftoff of the 25th

space shuttle mission,

and it has cleared the tower.

[NASA worker] Challenger,

go with throttle up.

[astronaut] Roger, go with throttle up.

[expl*si*n]

[male voice] Flight controllers here

looking very carefully at the situation.

Obviously a major malfunction.

We have a report

from the flight dynamics officer

that the vehicle has exploded.

[NASA worker] At 11:40 a.m. this morning,

the space program experienced

a national tragedy with the expl*si*n

of the space shuttle Challenger

approximately a minute

and a half after launch

from here at the Kennedy Space Center.

[Benji] When we talk about risks

in a mission,

the two times where you're

the most worried is at launch,

and then reentry is the other part

where you do you worry about that,

because now you're intentionally

falling back to the Earth.

Once you're in orbit,

you've gotta then get rid of the energy.

Your entry is like a meteor.

You're like a blazing meteor coming in.

And so, it's hard not to get vaporized.

Um there's meteors

hitting Earth all the time,

but they mostly get vaporized.

[reporter 4] We have booster ignition

and liftoff of space shuttle Columbia

[reporter 5] As Columbia blasted

into the last frontier this morning,

Racine native Laurel Clark

was along for the ride.

[Jonathan] My name is Jonathan B. Clark.

My wife Laurel, we were both

active duty Navy officers.

We met in Navy dive school,

and she had this kinda unique

just down-to-earth nature.

Laurel was a wonderful mom.

When she was applying to NASA,

she had been pregnant the first time,

and her attitude was,

"Hey, if I can't be an astronaut,

I'm I have this great job as a mom."

And, when she got picked up by NASA,

it was a shock to both of us.

I was at NASA for eight years

as a shuttle crew flight surgeon.

To my knowledge, I'm probably

the only person that was a family member

that worked the specific mission

that their wife was on.

Oh, Dad's got on

his Easter tie, looks nice!

[Jonathan] I had the ability

to communicate with her

through what are called

Private Family Conferences.

Ow Oh, God, that hit me in the eye.

Yeah! Good shot, Mom!

[Jonathan] Now in retrospect,

that's the last conversations we had.

Bye!

- [Jonathan] All right, honey, bye.

- [Laurel] Over and out.

[Jonathan] We were lucky to have

a landing that was gonna be

at a perfect time of day.

- [astronaut] Houston, comm check.

- [NASA worker] Columbia, Houston

[Jonathan] Communication was getting

very spotty.

It was very obvious it was breaking up.

[astronaut] Houston, we see

your tire pressure messages,

and we did not copy your last.

[Jonathan]

So, "copy your tire pressure alarm,"

and "did not copy your last."

I'm like

that's not right.

This indicates to me that something is

uh, catastrophically amiss.

[NASA worker] Communications with Columbia

were lost at about 8:00 a.m. Central Time.

[Jonathan] Within minutes, all the

family escort's cellphones were going off.

And then

very soon thereafter,

the head of the astronaut office,

he comes in and he goes,

"We We lo We lost the crew."

[reporter] The space shuttle

at some point after reentry

into the Earth's atmosphere,

traveling at 12,500 miles per hour,

seemed to break up,

according to the pictures.

So reminiscent of that fateful day,

January 28th, 1986, when we saw

something similar upon the takeoff

of the space shuttle Challenger

when it exploded shortly after takeoff.

Somebody had the insight

to take the kids away.

And it was Barbara Morgan,

who was an astronaut.

She was Christa McAuliffe's backup.

She was there at Christa's demise.

And she knows what to do.

It's almost like there was some

you know, divine intervention

that she would be there.

It was almost like

she's there for a reason.

And she gets the kids away,

and literally within ten minutes,

the kids are playing

and being kids.

And the adults are the ones that are

you know, sobbing,

and just horribly overcome with grief.

And

Barbara said to me,

"John, the kids will get us through this."

They were the strong ones.

And, uh

as much as it is painful to all of us,

you look at it and you go,

"Life will go on."

You have to

you know, deal with this.

So, my role is now:

make sure Iain is good,

make sure the other

family members are good,

take care of the team.

The tribe.

And we'll get through this.

[Monica] It's weird, like

now that we're getting closer to it,

you start dreaming about the stuff,

like

Good and bad, right?

Like, you start thinking

about, like, what could happen, and

the risks that are involved.

I'm trying to be excited for him

and show him how proud I am, but

you have your good days

and you have your bad days.

[Erin] I think, being the partner,

there is this expectation

that we are proud,

that we are grateful,

and we are happy to be here.

And the reality

is that, yes, we are all of those things,

but we also are anxious,

and we also are nervous.

This whole adventure and experience

has been a roller coaster ride.

[Monica] I know Jared's always been

this way.

He's always tried to do his thing

and I've always kind of let him

do that and be himself.

I don't want him to change because of me

or, like, because we have a family.

As hard as it is for me sometimes,

like, I know he has to do it for himself.

It's it's his life too, right? So

[Jonathan] Laurel

sitting in Heaven

would be looking down and saying,

"You go for it."

The higher we go, the farther we can see.

And it's a species imperative

for us to do this.

Your spouse or your loved one's journey

is now your journey,

and their dream is your dream.

To be a part of inspiring

the next generation,

to pass that torch, and recognize

that, whatever cost it takes,

that's your dream, you go for it.

There may be costs to that journey.

Is it worth it?

You bet it is.

[Benji] Crew-2 launched

in the Spring of this year,

and we brought the Inspiration4 crew

to the launch.

Crew-2 was the last time we flew humans

to space from SpaceX,

in the Falcon and in the Dragon.

Um and Inspiration4

will be the next time.

- [Erin] This is awesome!

- [Chris] Yeah, it is just

[Erin] Look at that!

Please, look out the window to the east.

Uh, you'll see our pad.

Uh, if you look at the very top,

you can see the crew arm

sticking out there as well,

uh, which will be your ingress

and egress to and from the capsule.

[Sian] Look at that!

I am here with my crew to watch Crew-2

lift off to the

International Space Station.

It makes me so proud that we can be a part

of the American history and legacy.

Inspiration4 are going to be

the next humans

to lift off from Kennedy Space Center

in five months.

Once you get to the pad,

you'll be there around two hours.

T-minus 45 minutes, we arm

what we call the Launch Escape System

so that's the safety net,

or like an eject button

if something were to happen.

[Jared] We recognize the risk,

you know, we have families.

But nobody's said like,

"Hey, I'm really nervous about this,"

because they're all very confident

in what SpaceX has built.

When you're coming down here,

what we have in the center lane right now

is our Crew-2 booster,

a reused booster after a flight use.

[Sian] That's so frickin' awesome!

We also have here on the other side,

here, in the hanger here

a life-leader booster.

So this is nine flights

uh on a booster.

And so, you can start

to see the patina, if you will.

[all laugh]

[Hayley] Getting to see the rocket,

you know, little things that

go through your mind like, "That rocket's

really tall," just made it so real.

This is the exact path

you guys are gonna take.

You're gonna come out of the cars,

get in the elevators, go up one floor.

Now you're in the 265.

Welcome to the top of the space coast.

[Chris] Every human being who walked

on the moon and climbed into a rocket

here on this launchpad

you know, almost every single

shuttle mission came from this launchpad.

This phone behind you

is a shuttle-era phone.

It's used by most astros to come in

and actually make the last phone call

they wanna make before

before they actually head to space.

So, we put time in the timeline

to allow you guys to use that phone.

[Chris] I think a lot of us had a

a pretty significant moment on Pad 39-A.

So many hero astronauts before us

had used that phone to make,

you know, what could have been

their last phone call.

- [Chris] Are you okay?

- Just practicing breathing.

You can hold my hand if you want.

Just try not to break it.

[guide] This is the crew arm,

completely suspended above thin air.

[Hayley] Oh, my gosh.

[guide] Yes.

- [Hayley] So cool.

- On the other side of this red stanchion

is a 270-foot drop, just so you guys know.

But normally, Dragon would be right here.

We have one tradition

that we do in the crew arm

that you guys will certainly be part of,

and that's before

you get into the vehicle,

you sign the edge of the white room.

[Chris] We're here watching Crew-2 launch,

and knowing that we're coming up next,

like, you know,

how fortunate we are to really be

standing on the shoulders of giants.

[Sian] It's gettin' real.

This is awesome! Whoa.

- Yeah, the capsule will be right here!

- [Hayley] Yeah.

The landing facility see that round?

Being up on top of that Pad 39-A,

this is where America leaves

to go to space.

This is, like,

an amazing dream coming true.

- Really cool.

- What a view.

Yes. We're higher than most

everybody else in Florida right now, so

- That's not hard.

- It's not hard.

- Yeah, yeah.

- That's cool.

Oh, Chris.

- Wow, yeah.

- What an adventure.

What This is just

Come here.

[cries]

[Jared] Chris, you want

to get in for a picture?

- [Chris] In a minute. Yeah.

- [Jared] Okay.

I'm happy for you. [crying]

Go ahead.

[somber music playing]

[Erin] I don't think I'll think

about the worldly impact

that this mission is going to have

until Chris is back on the ground

and it's one of those late nights

where we're sitting and we're chatting

with a glass of wine

that I think it'll start to sink in,

and we'll start to realize,

"Wow. This is what you did,

and this is what you're a part of,

and this is bigger than the both of us."

Like anyone would be ♪

I am flattered by your

Fascination with me ♪

[Jared] I think there's a lot of things

that people enjoy that have risk in life.

We talk about space and why do it,

there's a lot of reasons

why we should do that.

We are a speck

in the grand scheme of things

when you think about the universe.

And we know so little about it.

The questions that human beings

have been asking themselves

since the beginning of time

are probably answered

in the worlds beyond our own.

I think it's in our nature to want to go

and seek out some of those answers,

and we're gonna find them through

an accessible means to space.

And our mission

is one step in that journey.

Must be strangely exciting ♪

To watch the stoic squirm ♪

But you, you're not allowed ♪

You're uninvited ♪

An unfortunate slight ♪

Like any uncharted territory ♪

I must seem greatly intriguing ♪

[Sian] I just remember, just, excitement,

and the reality is setting in.

I am going to actually

experience what that feels like.

Wooh! I'm next. Let's do this!

[woman] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one, zero.

Mission.

["Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette

continues]

You have to be well-trained

to fly a SpaceX spacecraft.

You have to be able to tolerate g-forces,

a centrifuge,

and overcome your fear.

[Sian panting] Oh, God.

[Jared] Our mission to space

is not guaranteed.

There are a number of ways

that any individual or the mission

could be shut down.

[thrilling music playing]

[dramatic orchestral music playing]