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liftoff in five four three two one zero

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that's exactly what our tour today

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focuses on the launching of rockets and

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humans as part of the Commercial Crew

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program Commercial Crew is focused on

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safely getting humans to and from the

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International Space Station with our

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partners Boeing and SpaceX hi I'm Joshua

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Santora thanks for joining me here today

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on the sunny coast of Central Florida at

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the Kennedy Space Center our tour today

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has two main stops the first is over

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there its launch complex 39a or LC 39a

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this has been where SpaceX launched a

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number of Falcon 9's its Falcon Heavy

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and soon humans onboard the crew Dragon

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our second stop is actually a little

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further south on Cape Canaveral Air

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Force Station property its United Launch

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alliances Space Launch Complex 41 or

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Slick's 41 it has been the site of such

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historic launches as the New Horizons

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spacecraft which flew past Pluto the

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Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover

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and soon humans on board the Starliner

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we've got a lot of ground to cover today

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let's get going you might recognize this

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it's a falcon core stage there used for

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both the Falcon 9's and the Falcon heavy

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rocket all SpaceX Rockets are designed

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and built at their headquarters in

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California before being transported to

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the rocket development facility in

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McGregor Texas for engine testing and

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then finally here to the Kennedy Space

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Center or to another SpaceX launch site

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the Falcon 9 which will be used for the

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commercial crew launches has been used

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by SpaceX on over 50 successful flights

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since 2010 equipped with nine merlin 1d

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engines each Falcon 9 packs over 1.7

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million pounds of thrust

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we love redundancy and that's a huge

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plus for this configuration as they're

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able to experience up to two engine

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shutdowns

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and still succeed after launch once the

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first stage is depleted of fuel it will

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separate and return to Earth releasing

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the second stage which has its own

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Merlin vacuum engine to continue on to

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orbit for fuel both the first and second

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stages use rocket grade kerosene and

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both stages carry supercooled liquid

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oxygen as their oxidizer since there's

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no oxygen in space

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the Falcon boosters have the ability to

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land and be reused and to assist with

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reusability to have a few special

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features the first is the hypersonic

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grid fin there are four of them that

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will mount towards the top of the rocket

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and those help steer as it reenters the

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Earth's atmosphere there's also the

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carbon-fiber landing links there's two

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on the floor behind you those will be

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installed near the bottom of the rocket

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and they deployed just before landing

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reusability goes a really long way to

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helping reduce the cost of access to

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space but recovering a booster is always

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secondary to ensuring the spacecraft

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gets to the correct destination in space

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now we don't launch indoors and we

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certainly don't launch horizontally so

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when the time is right the main hangar

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door will open and the transporter

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erector or teehee will move into the

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building the rocket will be secured on

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top and then the rocket with the te will

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both roll up to the top of the launch

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pad let's head out there and take a

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closer look once the Falcon 9 finishes

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making the trip to the top of the launch

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pad the te will then lift the entire

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rocket into a vertical position final

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checkout takes place and four commercial

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crew launches when the time is right

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the astronauts make their way out here

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travel up the tower across the crew

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access arm and into the crew dragon the

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launch will be controlled and monitored

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closely by SpaceX personnel here at

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their launch and landing control center

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and in Hawthorne California at their

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Mission Control Center as well as by

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NASA personnel at the Kennedy Space

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Center and the Johnson Space Center in

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Houston Texas all of these teams have to

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work together to ensure all systems are

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working and ready for flight the launch

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team conducts a go/no-go poll prior to

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final countdown then after the engines

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ignite the launch mount briefly holds

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onto the rocket for the flight computers

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to do a final check before releasing the

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rocket for liftoff beginning the

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astronauts trip into space now let's

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head over and see how Boeing is doing

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their launch prep we're out here at

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slick 41 now where they're in the

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process right now of making

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modifications to be ready for commercial

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crew launches one of the things we had

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in mind when we selected two partners

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was diversity diversity of thought

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opinion approach perspective execution

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and innovation Boeing and SpaceX are

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doing things

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differently and we love that for Boeing

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they wanted to focus on creating an

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amazing space capsule and so they're

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working to fly on top of a proven rocket

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they're working with United Launch

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Alliance or ula to fly on top of the

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Atlas 5 the Atlas 5 is an

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industry-leading workhorse that's been

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flying for more than 15 years and has

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over 80 flights to its name every single

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one successful the Atlas 5 also has a

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variety of configurations to meet the

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needs of its many customers and they've

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got one ready just for the Starliner

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they're calling it the n2 to the end

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means that there's no payload fairing

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because there's a capsule the first two

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represents the two solid rocket boosters

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on the first stage the second two

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represents the two engines on the upper

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stage or Centaur the two solid rocket

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boosters plus the rd-180 engine on the

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first stage will produce more than 1.4

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million pounds of thrust and lift off

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that Atlas 5 will actually arrived here

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horizontally down that road and will

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travel to that facility the vertical

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integration facility and they'll tip it

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from horizontal to vertical and then

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they'll hoist the Starliner on top and

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secure it in place

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once final checkout has happened and

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preparation is complete they'll actually

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roll that entire stack down rails to

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here on top of this mobile launcher

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platform to be ready for launch

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let's head up and take a look at the

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view the astronauts will have as they

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prepare to board Starliner the progress

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and preparation for these Commercial

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Crew launches will be monitored closely

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by ul a Boeing and NASA from across the

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country some will be here in Florida at

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the Atlas spaceflight Operations Center

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or Boeing Mission Control Center down

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that way others will be in Houston Texas

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at the Johnson Space Center in Mission

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Control several hours prior launch the

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entire area will be cleared of all

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personnel for fueling to take place the

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Atlas 5 uses liquid oxygen and rocket

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great kerosene as its fuel once that

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fuelling is complete and it's safe to

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return here the astronauts will arrive

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and travel up an elevator in that tower

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to this level they'll walk across this

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the crew access arm the last place

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they'll set foot before blasting off

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into space

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a similar process was followed for the

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space shuttle program every launch pad

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on earth that launches humans has what's

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called a white room the white room here

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is actually through those double doors

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it's the part of the crew access arm

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that connects directly to the spacecraft

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and allows for easy access by the

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astronauts and there

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support personnel it also is extremely

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clean to make sure we don't contaminate

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the vehicle once the astronauts are

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strapped in place and safe the entire

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area will again be cleared of all

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personnel except those onboard of course

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this crew access arm will be swung out

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of the way of the rocket and a t-minus

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zero the engines ignite and we're off if

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all goes according to plan when those

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rockets leave Earth it will only take

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about eight minutes for them to reach

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orbit and a day or so later they'll be

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able to rendezvous with the

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International Space Station both of our

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Commercial Crew partners have spent a

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lot of time planning individualized

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approaches that have resulted in really

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unique hardware on the most fundamental

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level force equals mass times

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acceleration gravity isn't changing and

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each partner knows exactly how much

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their spacecraft weighs the difference

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in weight means that they'll need a

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different amount of force at liftoff

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they'll have to get the math just right

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in order to reach their destination if

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you haven't ever had a chance to see a

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launch in person I hope you'll find a

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way to do that soon and if you can't

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make it out here I hope you'll tune in

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online and keep your eyes open for

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opportunities to view in virtual reality

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we'll see you next time as we prepare to

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launch America hello I'm Cathy leaders

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Commercial Crew program manager thank

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you for taking a tour today with