01x03 - Episode 3

[bunniefuu]

[man] Good morning, Shelley.

How are you?

- [woman] Hey, good morning.

- [Sian] Good morning.

[Hayley] Good morning.

- Hi, guys!

- [Chris] Good morning.

[Jared] Briefing objectives today:

familiarization with the

Inspiration4 mission,

uh understand training commitments

and timelines to the best

that I can communicate them.

Okay, so, mission overview here.

We're planning to launch on

a dawn launch and a dawn recovery

for three days.

[Hayley] I was a little intimidated

to be the youngest member of the crew.

You know, I know the least about space,

and I just I didn't want to be weak.

But it's really cool.

You know, all four of us are basically

in a different decade of our lives,

but we click so well that

I don't often feel like I'm the young one.

So we're probably gonna go

into Chris's neck of the woods

for our wilderness

team-building training event,

somewhere in the Cascades,

likely Mount Rainier.

We're gonna be in some intentionally

uncomfortable situations

and, to see how we do as a team.

Here's where it gets serious again.

Our mission to space is not guaranteed.

This is not Top g*n.

We are not the best of the best

being sent to space here.

We still have to take this super serious.

There are a number of ways

that any individual, or the mission,

could be shut down.

If it looks like anything is going to be,

you know, unsafe,

it could be delayed, it could be canceled.

You can fail in training.

Are we willing to accept going up

to space if, you know, three crew members

are really laser focused,

and one's in, you know, Vegas,

like, gambling and drinking

every single night,

and obviously, not coming in prepared

- I'm, like Yeah.

- [Chris] That isn't us.

I'm not looking at you, Chris,

but seriously

[Sian] Come on!

He just has that look.

[Jared] This is the honeymoon period.

Everybody's excited.

But there will be some sort of problems.

People die getting to space,

and people die coming home from space.

And we need to be really focused

on making sure that that is not us.

And that means, like, training it,

and earning it every single day

from here forward,

and acting like we do belong here.

[theme music]

[Jeffrey] Inspiration4 is going to space

in a spacecraft that is capable

of sustaining a crew

for days, or weeks, or months.

This is not buying a car

and piling into it with four people

for a road trip.

They will be equipped

and trained to intervene

in the event of an emergency.

They will be able to fly their spacecraft.

Cool.

[Jared] Sarah Gillis is our lead trainer,

so she's the one responsible

for our entire education

to be prepared for safe flight.

She's ultimately the one

that signs us off,

and the burden of, you know,

will we execute well or not

will really fall on her.

So the first action with the suit

is that you're gonna be

preparing all the openings on the suit.

So what this means is

making sure the visor's open.

There we go.

My name is Sarah Gillis, and I'm 27,

and my job title

is Lead Space Operations Engineer.

I lead our astronaut training program.

This is a great opportunity.

Let's try donning

and doffing your earpieces.

It is gonna be red in your right ear,

blue in your left.

Still not fully in.

We can keep practicing

in just a minute, okay?

[Hayley] Okay.

I want you guys to swim all the way in

and get your hands all the way

through the openings in the sleeves.

I probably knew an embarrassingly

little amount about space

by the time I actually

started to study engineering.

I am a classically trained violinist.

My mother was a professional violinist

and started me when I was two.

Um, she certainly did not raise me

to be an engineer,

she raised me to be a violinist.

So, I played for many,

many years, but it was not

it was never what I was passionate about.

I had a mentor in high school

who set me on the course

to study aerospace engineering.

He was a former astronaut,

and he encouraged me

to apply for engineering.

I had never considered it before that.

You each get one of them to play with.

[Jared] She knows how to be our friend

[Sarah] Three steps to disconnect

the fire extinguisher.

[Jared] because there are times

when that's exactly what we need.

There you go.

And she knows how to keep us in line,

like when we're veering off-course.

[Sian] She's really smart,

and knows the Dragon capsule

and systems inside and out.

I love the fact that she's a woman,

and I love the fact

that she's freaking kick-a*s.

[Chris] SpaceX Dragon,

we're ready for a suit-leak check.

[Sarah] Copy, Dragon, you have a go

to initiate the suit-leak check.

[Jared] She's also our core.

The core is like

the NASA equivalent of CapCom.

So she's the voice we're gonna hear

during the actual spaceflight.

[Sarah] Awesome work, you guys.

How you feeling?

Ready to get out of there?

There's two hats that you have

to wear to be successful at that.

One is the operational hat

where you need to understand

exactly what actions you need

to take to keep them safe.

On the other aspect, I care very deeply

about every single one

of these people now.

I'm emotionally invested in it and

you have to separate that out

to be effective at what you do

when you need to wear

your operational hat.

Dragon SpaceX comm check.

For our Crew-2 mission five months ago,

I was on console.

[astronaut] SpaceX Endeavor,

and I hear you loud and clear.

- How you doing, Sarah?

- Copy that, I'm doing well.

Looking forward

to supporting you guys today.

And there was a very late notice,

possible conjunction, so

um, we got word

that there might be an object

that could come very close to Dragon.

For awareness, we have identified

a late-breaking possible conjunction

with a fairly close

miss-distance to Dragon.

We had very little time

and had to respond very quickly.

We do need you to immediately

proceed with suit donning

and securing yourselves in seats.

They were fully configured for sleep.

They need to rapidly

get into their spacesuits,

because in the event

of a depressurization,

where an object punctured

a hole in the spacecraft,

it means that all of the breathable air

inside the cabin

could potentially leave the cabin,

and leave them in a vacuum,

which means they'll get in suits,

100% oxygen will be fed to the suits,

and they'll pressurize.

Suits are little spaceships

that keep them safe

in the event

that their atmosphere disappears.

The time of closest approach

for this event is at 17:43.

And then, there's a time

of closest approach,

exactly when we think the object

would be closest to the capsule.

Please ensure visors are closed

and zippers are closed prior to TCA

in approximately 20 seconds.

[astronaut] SpaceX Endeavour,

we are visors closed and zipped up.

[Sarah] And after that time,

nothing happened.

Dragon SpaceX, we have passed TCA impact.

[Megan] Sarah, I think you said that

we passed the object. Is that correct?

Affirm, Megan.

Immediately, there's this massive weight

that's lifted off your chest.

Um, but it's

That was probably the hardest thing

stepping off console that day,

was the panic for my friends in space.

You can't process it when you're

in the moment, you can't

You can't think about it,

or else you can't do your job,

but as soon as you step off console

you care so deeply about those people

that it it is overwhelming

to think back on what just happened.

I probably still need therapy,

let's be honest.

For Inspiration4, it's a unique situation.

It's our first commercial crew.

The Dragon vehicle is largely

an autonomous vehicle.

The software takes care

of what the vehicle needs to do.

So from that perspective,

what crew get trained on

are the ways in which

they can backup the automation.

There are capabilities that are provided

to them that they need to be trained on

to backup the systems, but

it's a very smart and capable vehicle.

Not only do we need to train them

how to live in Dragon

and be successful in Dragon,

we also need to provide

background on what it's like

to live in space,

how you move in space,

what the space environment actually is.

[Chris] In the very early days

of spaceflight,

when we had much less experience

as a nation, it was quite challenging.

Simulators in those early days

were actual flying machines.

Feeling all right, oh, no ♪

I'm not feeling too good myself

Oh, no ♪

Feeling all right, oh, no ♪

I'm not feeling that good myself

Oh, no ♪

[crackling]

Fast forward to today's day and age

when we have the experience

of all those decades,

we really do know how

to prepare people for spaceflight.

[Jared] The biggest differences

in our training versus a normal astronaut

is that we're not going to Space Station,

we're also not doing a space walk,

but outside of that,

it's all going to be the same.

We have a spacecraft we need

to take through a lot of phases of flight.

It's hard, but I absolutely thought,

with my background, like,

I know what to expect, and I got it wrong.

Feeling all right, oh, no ♪

I'm not feeling too good myself ♪

[Sian] There's a lot of material.

Every week, we would just

get stacks of stuff.

Feeling all right, oh no ♪

[Jared] You're showing up at 7:00 a.m.,

leaving at 7:00 p.m.

There's no gaps in the schedule at all.

You're just taking down

as much coffee as you can,

and then you're coming back

and studying and doing it the next day.

[Sarah] A lot of the training focuses

on operating the Dragon,

knowing how to access cargo,

how to get out equipment.

They're going to have to go

through emergency response.

Ooh!

[Sarah] What food they're gonna eat,

they're gonna have to go

through a selection of food options.

[laughs]

I'm thinking I probably

won't eat much in space.

[Chris] They put us through the wringer

pretty quick.

It really mirrors exactly

what the NASA astronauts all go through.

Oh, no ♪

Whoa, I'm feeling all right, oh no ♪

Yeah, I'm not feeling that good myself

Oh, no ♪

Oh, whoa, I'm lonely ♪

But I'm not feeling good myself

Oh, no ♪

You can turn away ♪

Feeling all right, oh, no ♪

[Chris] What makes an effective

crew member on a spacecraft?

The nuts and bolts

of keeping yourself safe,

the nuts and bolts of knowing

how to push buttons and when,

and reading a checklist

is pretty trainable.

The interesting thing about spaceflight

is you can't go to space

to train for space.

You have to train

in Earth-environment simulators,

situations that are

analogous to spaceflight.

And then in your brain,

integrate all of that into a neat package

that prepares you mentally

for what you're getting into.

[Jeffrey] You have to be well-trained

to fly a SpaceX spacecraft.

- Good luck, Commander.

- [Jared] Thank you.

[man] Don't suck!

You have to be brave

to fly a SpaceX spacecraft.

You have to be able

to tolerate a centrifuge.

You have to be able to tolerate G-forces.

Okay, Jared, confirm your location

of that door-release handle, you

- [Jared] Lower right.

- Get back there. Got it, good.

[Jeffrey] You have to be able to

overcome your fear.

[Sarah] Ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three, two, one. Liftoff.

[Jeffrey] If you go through your training,

maybe you're gonna learn

that you're not qualified to go.

[Sian] Look at him smiling.

He's having a good time.

[laughs]

[Chris] The centrifuge was

where you get the experience

of what it's going to be like

when you launch in the rocket

and what it's gonna be like

when you come back through the atmosphere.

You're going to be experiencing

four-and-a-half times

your own body weight.

It's like a couple of your largest buddies

sitting on your chest, you know,

pushing you into your seat

feeling that for several minutes in a row.

[Hayley] Have you ever done anything

like this?

[Chris] Not this no, not really.

I mean there's just that little one

at space camp they had, you know?

That's not the same, they show

you're flying through these mountains,

and really, you're like,

"Why are they showing me something

that's gonna make me throw up?"

No, but this is cool.

- I think.

- [Hayley] Mm-hmm.

SpaceX Dragon, I think we have splashdown.

And the worst part of this

is that we can't ask him anything.

[Jared] When we did

our centrifuge training,

they separated us after we completed it

because they didn't want us

to tell the next crew member

going up that they had some

some things in store in the centrifuge.

- Do you want your emesis bag?

- Oh, sure, I'll stick one by my leg here.

[door slams]

Well, that's intense.

Do you have any questions?

- No questions.

- [Sarah] Copy that.

Copy.

One G.

And three G.

Now climbing to six Gs.

[alarm blares]

[Jared] Right when everything

was supposed to be normal,

you had this super loud horn going off,

which is exactly the alarm that happens

in Dragon when an emergency triggers off.

Do you want me to silence that?

[alarm blares]

And then some violent shaking.

And ultimately it became a launch escape,

where, you know, the Falcon

became unstable in launch

and Dragon had to separate and come back.

[Sarah] Splashdown.

Dragon SpaceX splashdown.

Copy that. I had nausea here,

by the way, just so you know.

- [man] All right, breathing difficulty?

- None.

- Chest pressure or discomfort?

- None.

- Cough?

- None.

- All right, how about the nausea?

- Um, moderate.

Okay, I'm on my way down to take you out.

[man 2] You okay?

Feel free to use the bag if you need it.

[man] Hey, Chris,

do you have your bag at the ready?

- [retches]

- [Sian] Oh, no

[laughs]

Oh, he's a trooper.

[Chris] At the end we simulated

splashdown in the ocean,

and the boat got a little rocky.

- How are you feeling?

- A little sick after that.

Have you ever thrown up

from being motion sick?

Yeah, I get sick on small boats.

All right.

- You ready?

- No. Yeah.

- [Hayley] Yes, you are.

- I'm ready.

- Hey there, how you doing?

- Just letting the medicine do its thing.

Hopefully, this won't happen in space.

[Sarah] Dragon SpaceX,

nominal trajectory.

Copy nominal trajectory.

Chris forged the way before me,

and so I've gotten to be like,

"Oh, Chris threw up, okay,

I need to think about this."

[man] Did you have any reactions

that surprised you?

A little bit of nausea.

I was this close to being

just right there next to him.

I'm gonna definitely take the docs up

on their offers of anti-nausea medicine

when it comes time.

[interviewer] That's an option?

It is absolutely an option

to take anti-nausea medicine.

I've heard that most astronauts do so.

[Sarah] Six Gs four seconds.

The total profile duration

is approximately a minute and a half.

[man] Hayley, I need you

to keep your eyes open, please.

[Jared] They had flight psychiatrists

there

that were evaluating us on the screens

while it was taking place,

and then afterwards during an interview.

This has implications as us,

as four, you know, human beings

going in a spacecraft, right?

This has implications to SpaceX.

What if this goes wrong?

[Sian] Hayley's doing great.

She's doing great.

- She's just rock solid in there.

- [Sian] She is.

[Sarah] Three, two, one.

[Jared] You know, they have obviously

as much interest as we do

to making sure this is safe

and that the crew that they're sending up

can competently handle, you know,

some pretty difficult circumstances.

That's great.

Coming out of it, everybody was smiling,

everybody was super excited,

everybody was like, "All right,

when do we start the rest of our training?

- Let's get going!"

- That was fun!

Good. Yeah.

And that was kind of the moment

where I was like, "Okay

I think we can get through

probably anything."

[applause]

And for somebody

who's never done this before,

pretty doggone good.

I'm gonna when you guys launch,

I'm gonna come to Florida and watch that.

- Thank you, Glenn.

- I'll be cheering you on, "Go, go!"

- Hello!

- [Colleen] Hey!

Hi.

I can't wait to tell you

all about the day.

The day I got back to St. Jude

after my big announcement

that I was going to space,

I was stopped by this mother and daughter,

and the mom came up to me,

and she had tears in her eyes.

And she said, "I just wanted

to thank you for what you're doing.

This mission is giving my daughter

so much hope."

I asked the little girl, I said,

"What's been going on?"

And she said she was feeling discouraged

because she can't run

or jump like her siblings can.

And I told her, you know,

I can't run or jump

like my little brother either.

But I said, "It's not stopping me

from going to space."

She can do this too.

If I can do it, she can do it.

And you don't need to run

or jump to accomplish dreams.

[Colleen] Are you more excited,

or more afraid?

I'm not scared at all right now.

[Colleen] Good.

After that, I was walking back

to my office with tears in my eyes

because I was like,

this is why we're going on this mission.

[Colleen] Okay. Well, text me.

You didn't text at all today.

Okay. I will.

- [Colleen] All right?

- All right.

- I love you!

- Good talking to you.

- I know, I'm glad we got to catch up.

- [Colleen] I'm so excited for you still.

I know! I'm so excited.

[Colleen] Text me everything.

- Okay?

- Okay, I will.

- All right. Bye.

- Talk to you later. Love y'all!

- Bye, Hay.

- Bye!

Okay.

[Spanish reggaeton music]

My favorite music genres are, like,

indie music, kind of hipster,

and '80s pop,

and Spanish reggaeton.

[Spanish reggaeton music]

I was a Spanish major throughout college,

and then I spent some time

in South America,

and that's when I really fell in love

with, like, the whole genre of reggaeton.

That's my pump-up music.

The music I listen to if I'm nervous,

or just, like, need some encouragement.

Somehow, it just, like,

fills me with all the good vibes.

[Spanish reggaeton music]

My life aspirations absolutely changed

in that year I was going

through treatment.

Ultimately, entering college,

I decided I wanted to be

a physician assistant.

And that's why I decided

to major in Spanish

to work with the many

Spanish-speaking patients at St. Jude,

and then also

through their global program.

They have many clinics

they're affiliated with

throughout Central and South America,

and I wanted to work

and help kids there live.

[Spanish reggaeton music]

[Colleen] We do have an arrangement

for when she does

all this international travel

that she doesn't tell me

the stories till she gets home

and I know she's safe,

and then, she tells me

about all these wild adventures.

If I let my mom anxiety

influence her life,

she wouldn't do nearly

the things that she's doing.

She wouldn't live in a big city,

she wouldn't travel the world,

but I wouldn't stop her

from doing any of that.

[Hayley] I honestly come from

the best family ever.

Probably, other people think that too,

but I firmly believe it.

I always knew I was so loved,

and so supported,

and my family is really strong.

We've been through a lot together.

And it's really bonded us.

My dad and I were so close.

He and I were the most alike

in the family.

He was actually the journalist

for the newspaper in our small town,

and he loved these sweet,

little heartwarming stories,

and just kind of see the beauty in things

that maybe everyone didn't see.

When I was going through treatment,

he was actually

still working in Baton Rouge,

and he and my brother

would drive up every weekend.

It was a six-hour drive.

And whenever I knew

they were coming on a Friday night,

I would sit on the couch

and just stare out the window for hours.

And when I saw his car pull up,

I was so excited.

He definitely taught me a lot

of appreciating other cultures

and going out of my comfort zone.

I thought he had cancer

before he was diagnosed.

He was having all this upper back pain,

like, in his spine,

and he was losing weight really rapidly.

I just felt sick.

I knew something was really wrong.

We found out

that he had metastatic disease

in his thoracic spine.

We knew it was really bad,

and I knew that he was going to die.

We thought he had more time than he did.

But he was so sick.

And they tried a couple different things,

but I mean

it didn't give him the time

that we were hoping.

He was such a supportive and proud father,

and I think he would be more proud of me

for going out of my comfort zone

than for actually going to space.

I wish he was here,

because he would be

absolutely loving this,

but you know

he's not.

[Colleen] My husband would be

out-of-this-world excited.

He would be thrilled,

but, you know,

I think that he's thrilled now.

I think he knows.

I think he's going to have

a very unique perspective

on her mission.

[Sian] My title is mission pilot,

and Jared is also a pilot,

but his title is the commander.

Jared's role really is

to make the decisions

about the capsule and the crew,

and my job as the pilot

is to back him up on that.

So in just a bit, Dr. Proctor,

who is the pilot on Inspiration4,

is going to show up here,

and we're gonna just

reorient her with flying.

These are Aermacchi MB-339s.

So, Italian jets.

And then, obviously,

that's a Douglas A-4 Skyhawks,

if you ever saw Top g*n.

Did you fly a Spitfire?

- [Jared] I didn't, it was just a gift.

- [Sian laughs]

[Sian] I got my pilot's license

in 2007, technically.

When I was 36,

but I'd always just loved

making model airplanes,

and wanting to fly jets

and stuff like that.

- [Jared] Well, you get to.

- I know!

I can't even think

I gotta say, that's one

of the highlights of everything.

[Jared] It's a good opportunity,

since she's been

out of the c*ck for a little bit,

to get familiar

with checklist drills and radio work

which is all, like, carries over perfectly

to Dragon and the spacecraft.

So, once you get into the Dragon systems,

and how many, you know,

flight computers and strings they have

[Sian] The Dragon capsule

is designed to be autonomous

so it can go up into space,

and then come back

through its flight computer.

However, there are contingencies,

and things that could happen,

and that's where me as the pilot

and Jared as the commander,

we really have to understand the systems.

It's going to be windy!

[Jared] When things go wrong,

Dragon is designed for the crew,

specifically myself and Dr. Proctor,

to take control and be able

to come home safely.

- Air source select.

- [Jared] We are on both.

- Cleared, ready for take-off.

- [Jared] Okay.

What could possibly go wrong?

There's B-1. Rotate.

Ever lose your Wi-Fi connection

in your house or your hotel?

If we can't have, like,

100% perfect internet,

you know, in your home, believe me,

you don't have 100% perfect comms

in communication in space.

So I had gear down. Three green, no red,

full flaps, down and indicating

engine sync is off, igniters are on.

- Yaw damper's off

- [computer] Altitude.

and we're clear for the option.

That's the final checklist.

There are actually parts

of our mission just based in the orbit

where we will have no contact,

because it's still based largely

on ground stations and satellites

that were put up in the '80s and '90s,

in which case, then, the responsibility

shifts and swings significantly

over to us as the crew

to take care of ourselves.

So, totally get the writing down

what they're telling you,

but in terms of some of your responses,

'cause you were already past 7,000

when you said you were six here.

- Okay, so my situational awareness to

- Right.

[Chris] What is unique about this mission

is that, you know,

we're taking, you know,

more or less ordinary people, right?

Now you're going to tell them

you're on the RNAV 1-7 approach.

[Chris] Jared's taken on

so much more work,

so much more labor,

so much more complexity.

Hello, tower, this is

November Nine Eight Yankee.

[man] He's not only got to

take care of himself,

but he's got, you know, three other men

and women that we need to take care of.

Uh

[Jared] You wanna be more in the moment.

When you're giving them information,

when you're, you know,

"Hey, I'm 17-5 for flight level 2-3-0"

Just use the information

that's in front of you to do that.

Go the ILS, 2-4, Yankee Papa.

Nice.

- You're doing great, Sian.

- [laughs]

This is kind of fun, I got to admit.

Every time I get to hang out with Jared,

I learn to appreciate him more and more.

He's a fast thinker, and I like that,

but he's also encouraging and supportive.

So when I think about myself

and the leader that I want to be,

he inspires me.

[Jared] Yours is gonna be yellow.

We will earn this very,

very unique opportunity in life

to go and see our world from a perspective

that only 600 other people

throughout history

have ever had a chance to do.

So I think that's kind of fulfilling

my leadership role on this.

[Sian] Cleared to land, Yankee Papa.

- [Sian] Yay!

- Nice work!

Good job.

Really early on

in our conversations with SpaceX,

we got a look at what

the training plan would entail,

and it was a lot of academics,

it was a lot of simulator training,

but also, like, we need to get together

and try and accomplish something

as a team in a challenging

physical environment.

This is a good opportunity

for getting out and hitting the mountain,

which is why we picked

a climbing endeavor on Mount Rainier.

Now, this is not dissimilar

to what NASA does.

I mean, they want

to put crews in challenging

but achievable circumstances,

like, let's set a really hard goal

and try and get it done,

and let's try and help people get,

you know, comfortable

being uncomfortable.

I think, no matter what

we're gonna see some

it's gonna look beautiful.

Whatever happens,

we get out there, just know,

anyone else who attempts this mountain,

it's not a 100% success rate.

Every trip I've been on,

people are coming back down.

They train for six months, like, so

you guys had a month's notice, really.

[Hayley] When I first heard

that we were gonna climb a mountain,

I was kind of like, "Jared is crazy,

like, why is he doing this?"

Pretty much every NASA crew has done

something like this for the last 50 years.

I definitely like replicating what

has worked for others on their missions.

All this and more is gonna fit

into that little backpack.

Already this is uncomfortable

learning how to pack a pack

and try not to show too many people

my undergarments, you know.

"What color is he wearing?"

That's not important.

You want 'em mostly unzipped.

Last thing you want to do is be fiddling

in the cold, wet snow with zippers.

[Jared] There are things

that are unexpected

that happen on every single mission.

So I think it's good to, like,

work and build on some of those skills

here on Earth before we experience it

either in orbit or coming back.

- So I'm a hiker.

- Yeah.

And so, doing 15 miles, I'm a rabbit,

where I will I can't pace myself.

[Jared] We don't need to see, you know,

who can move the fastest up the mountain,

we don't need to see

who can carry the most weight.

We're gonna set a goal

that's difficult but achievable,

which I think is gonna have

a lot of parallels

to being in a Dragon spacecraft

for a couple days.

I'm ready to go.

Let's do it. [laughs]

Yes!

So, this is a picture of Camp Muir, right?

This is our goal.

Camp Muir sits on a ridgeline

that separates the Muir snowfield

from the Cowlitz Glacier.

In the mountains, we don't measure

things in horizontal distances,

the reason being, it's pretty deceptive.

Tomorrow is gonna be

a 4,400-foot vertical day.

[Hayley] My biggest fear is that

something is going to happen,

and I'm not going

to be able to go to space.

The rod in my leg

has actually broken twice,

like, pretty out of the blue,

and I just keep thinking, like, every time

I have a little pain in my leg, like,

it can't break.

When it was snowing,

I didn't even go outside.

I was like, I'll slip,

and I can't go to space.

If this opportunity was taken away,

I would be so devastated.

[Jared] How's it feel, Hayley?

So far, fine.

I think I'm more fearful

of her going up Mt. Rainier

than the space mission.

What if something happens to her leg

and she can't go?

And that's just the reality of being

a childhood cancer survivor

that has an internal prosthetic

that has broken in the past.

[Jared] To put you at ease,

there is zero possibility of an avalanche.

[Hayley] Great.

There's plenty of other sh*t

you should be worried about,

but avalanche is not one of them.

[Sian] Just making sure all my stuff

is where I want it to be.

[Chris] Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Jared] Does that feel a little better?

- It feels better, yeah.

- [Jared] Okay, it was

Thanks.

All righty, guys,

this is our jumping-off point!

Did everyone get a chance

to put a little sunscreen on?

I know that seems funny right now,

buried under the cloud,

but there's still a lot of radiation

coming through, so sunscreen,

lip balm, and let's go glasses

on the whole time.

If you don't wear the glasses,

you'll end up with pretty bloodshot eyes

and potentially even doing

some harm to yourselves.

Now, we're gonna work with you guys

on technique as we get going uphill

to try to save the most energy we can.

We have a big day in front of us.

It's manageable, but it's still

gonna be a lot of hard work.

As you guys walk along,

give that little scuff with your boots.

Nice, slow, steady rhythm.

This is definitely a tortoise

and hare kind of situation.

Hannah's gonna lead us right out of here,

and let's stay just maybe two,

three feet between each other.

[Hayley] So far feeling good.

This is doable.

I think it's gonna get harder, though.

[guide] Looking good, guys, make sure

we're taking nice, deep breaths.

[Chris] Not really sure

where we were going,

'cause we couldn't see

where we were headed the entire time.

[Sian] We were socked in.

We were in this cloud bank

that kind of like enveloped us,

so you could see the person

in front of you, and that's it.

[Hayley] I went into it really

optimistically slash slightly naively,

saying, "I got up to 70 minutes

on the treadmill, I will be fine."

And really, I didn't know how long

we were gonna be hiking the first day.

Hayley, she has a significant disadvantage

when it comes to going uphill

on icy conditions.

[Sian] But she's also tough as nails,

and she just has grit and determination,

and I think that that's

what helped get her through

that most trying part of her life

when she was ten years old.

[Jared] You all right?

[Hayley] Yeah, I just don't know

how I'm gonna get up.

[Jared] Good job.

You're almost at the top

and you're you're doing it.

It's not easy dragging uphill.

And the higher up you go,

the harder it's gonna get,

'cause you're getting tired

and, you know, you've got less air.

[Hannah] So, as we go up in altitude,

the pressure drops, so we counter that

by throwing in those pressure breaths.

[Chris] Three-fourths of the way up,

you know, my legs were dying.

And then Sian's there,

and she's struggling just as hard as I am,

if not more so.

[Jared] This sh*t is hard,

but you guys are doing great.

You know you're gonna get there. Might

take a little bit, but you will get there.

We are almost there.

- You've got some pack weight there.

- Yeah, this is heavy.

[Jared] I'll take it.

[Sian] I got to that point where I'm like,

"Oh my goodness, this is never gonna end."

And, you know, Jared was like,

"Let's take your backpack."

Oh, yeah!

Let's do it.

So when we talk about the leadership

seat, the pillar that he's in,

he really manifests that.

- [Jared] How you feeling, Hayley?

- [Hayley] I feel great.

I didn't feel good earlier.

[Jared] Your footwork is rock sol

it's like you're getting more comfortable

for sure.

[Hayley] Yeah.

One last push, and we're there.

Fifteen minutes!

We can do anything for 15 minutes.

Yeah, you guys ready? 15-minute push?

So like basically, the amount of time

we're gonna get to space.

[Jared] Yeah, pretty much.

All right, let's do it.

One more step, one more step,

one more step.

[Hannah] You're hitting 10,000 feet,

so altitude should be hitting you.

Okay, now when you launch,

you'll be well above

Look at that. Muir is right there.

Visualize it, guys.

Homestretch.

Let's do it!

[all cheer]

- [Hayley] We made it!

- [Jared] So proud of you guys!

I am so proud.

- Awesome!

- All right, guys. I want a group-hug.

[all exclaim]

- Awesome.

- That was so awesome!

Everybody had one giant group hug

at the top of the mountain.

I wanted and needed that

so bad at that moment,

'cause I was on the verge

of just breaking down.

[Jared] You guys crushed it.

And you guys look great.

What badasses.

[Chris] The best leaders are

the ones that are encouraging

their team to be their best selves,

and that's exactly what Jared's doing.

[Sian] Definitely the hardest hike

I've ever done in my life.

Oh, my God, by far.

If I knew that we'd be hiking

for nine-and-a-half hours,

I would've said, "I can't do this."

But I'm glad I didn't know,

because now I know how much I can do,

and I realized

I was putting a limit on myself

that didn't need to be there.

Which tent is the warmest out of the ten?

The one that you're in!

You know, the lessons that I personally

learned was not being afraid

to ask for help and show

vulnerability and weakness.

So to have, you know, my commander come

and be able to say, "Yeah, we got you,"

I think that that was

really powerful for me.

I just I don't wanna move.

I don't I just wanna lay down

and not have to do anything.

I'm so happy to be in my tent.

They did fantastic, I'm so proud.

I'm like, I can't stop smiling actually.

I want everyone to understand

what it's like to be very,

very uncomfortable

and go through challenging circumstances

and push yourself in a situation

to an outcome that

you never thought was achievable,

and do that all here on Earth, now,

before we're faced with that situation,

you know, up there in space.

[telephone ringing]

[Colleen] Hello?

Hey, it's Hayley!

[Colleen] Hey! Oh, my gosh.

How are you?

I'm good. I'm calling you on,

like, a satellite phone.

- [Colleen] You're safe, right?

- Yeah, no, it's

[Colleen] You're not in the hospital,

are you?

I'm not at the hospital, no.

I'm at the campsite.

We hiked up for nine

and a half hours yesterday.

[Colleen] Oh, my gosh, how's your leg?

Surprisingly great.

[Colleen] Oh, my gosh.

[Hayley] A couple years after my dad died,

I found one of the boards

I had broken in tae kwon do.

He wrote on there, and he said,

"I'm more proud of you

for conquering your fear

than for earning your brown belt.

Love, Dad."

I looked at that board so much

before the Mount Rainier trip,

because I was nervous

to go on Mount Rainier,

and I knew that he would be more proud

of me for conquering my fear

than for conquering the mountain.

But anyway, I just wanted to call

and let you know that I'm fine,

I'm actually doing great.

[Colleen] I'm so glad.

And surprisingly, I love mountaineering.

[Colleen] Oh, that's great!

- All right. Love you!

- Love you.

[Colleen] Okay. Bye.

A couple people have said, "You're

gonna be closer to your dad than ever

when you're in space."

It's a really nice thought,

but I don't know if I believe that's true,

because I believe

he's with me all the time.

I woke up to the morning sky first ♪

Baby blue, just like we rehearsed ♪

When I get up off this ground ♪

I shake leaves back down

to the brown, brown, brown, brown ♪

Till I'm clean ♪

[Jeffrey] Astronauts often talk about

something called "the overview effect."

Frank Borman,

the commander of Apollo 8 said,

"This must be what God sees."

Now whether you believe in God,

or don't believe in God,

or aren't sure if you believe in God,

the overview effect lets you see the world

in a way you cannot see

without going to space.

With all my favorite colors

Yes, sir ♪

All my favorite colors

Right ♪

You can't see any

of the borders we fight over.

You just see land.

You see desert.

You see mountains, and jungles,

and oceans, and seas.

You don't see the politics.

You don't see inequality.

A good day to see my favorite colors

Colors ♪

My sisters ♪

You just see our improbable planet

in its pure and naked state.

That changes you.

It's a good day to be

A good day for me ♪

These folks, the Inspiration4 crew,

those people will never

see the world the same way again.

This mission is opening that door

to the entire seven billion of us.

All my favorite colors ♪