1 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:03,909 Marie Lewis: Welcome this morning to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 2 00:00:03,909 --> 00:00:05,910 I’m Marie Lewis with NASA Public Affairs. 3 00:00:05,910 --> 00:00:08,480 Josh Barrett: And I’m Josh Barrett with Boeing Communications. 4 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:12,410 Starliner is nearly ready for our uncrewed Orbital Flight Test; you can see it over our 5 00:00:12,410 --> 00:00:14,059 shoulders, lit up on the launch pad. 6 00:00:14,059 --> 00:00:18,200 It’s a little windy out, but right now, that won’t stop liftoff scheduled for 6:36 7 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:19,200 a.m. 8 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,200 Eastern time. 9 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:21,240 Let’s take a look again at the pad. 10 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:24,330 Ground crews are currently wrapping up operations in the White Room. 11 00:00:24,330 --> 00:00:29,529 I want to take you back to about 4:34 a.m. this morning – that’s when they actually 12 00:00:29,529 --> 00:00:31,450 closed the hatch inside the White Room. 13 00:00:31,450 --> 00:00:34,600 We should have some video of them wrapping up that operation. 14 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,920 Marie: Yeah, and – Josh: There you go, there you see it. 15 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:42,330 Now, the pad team is actually running about 45 minutes ahead of schedule, which is really 16 00:00:42,330 --> 00:00:44,010 awesome news on their first time doing this. 17 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:45,010 Marie: Yeah, remarkable. 18 00:00:45,010 --> 00:00:48,270 Because this is the first time they’re doing it for real. 19 00:00:48,270 --> 00:00:49,789 So, it was so cool. 20 00:00:49,789 --> 00:00:53,090 I mean, this video you’re seeing was a little bit earlier this morning. 21 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:54,210 Like you said, they’re ahead of schedule. 22 00:00:54,210 --> 00:00:58,590 So, they’ve already left the White Room, but everything is looking good. 23 00:00:58,590 --> 00:01:02,920 And there’s no crew flying today, but teams are operating just as if astronauts are on 24 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:03,920 board. 25 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,840 Now this is a live view – you see the crew still up there on the tower. 26 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,740 And we are, as we get closer to launch, we’re going to see the White Room and the crew access 27 00:01:11,740 --> 00:01:16,330 arm start to swing away from Starliner in preparation for liftoff. 28 00:01:16,330 --> 00:01:19,610 But, there they are making those final preparations to leave the pad. 29 00:01:19,610 --> 00:01:24,450 Josh: Now, this uncrewed test flight is incredibly important for us to prove that we can safely 30 00:01:24,450 --> 00:01:26,810 fly astronauts to the International Space Station. 31 00:01:26,810 --> 00:01:32,210 Marie: This is a huge day for the entire NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance teams. 32 00:01:32,210 --> 00:01:36,960 Since the Space Shuttle Program ended, we’ve all been working hard to return human spaceflight 33 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:39,420 capability to the United States. 34 00:01:39,420 --> 00:01:42,310 We call this effort NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. 35 00:01:42,310 --> 00:01:47,829 It’s a partnership we have with Boeing and SpaceX, and today is Starliner’s big debut. 36 00:01:47,829 --> 00:01:53,610 Josh: And our goal is for everyone watching today to see a mission as close as possible 37 00:01:53,610 --> 00:01:57,869 to a crewed flight, and to collect the mountains of data that we can only learn from flying. 38 00:01:57,869 --> 00:02:01,729 Marie: It’s also the first time our mission teams have a chance to put Starliner through 39 00:02:01,729 --> 00:02:02,729 its paces. 40 00:02:02,729 --> 00:02:06,869 We’ve all been practicing, but now, as you can see in the control room, it’s game day. 41 00:02:06,869 --> 00:02:09,880 Josh: We’re really excited to show you how this all comes together. 42 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,510 Teams from NASA, Boeing and ULA all have to be in lock step to be successful today. 43 00:02:14,510 --> 00:02:19,220 We all have people spread across the country sitting on console. 44 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:24,060 We have three control rooms here in Florida: United Launch Alliance’s Atlas Spaceflight 45 00:02:24,060 --> 00:02:28,390 Operations Center is on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Starliner’s Launch Control 46 00:02:28,390 --> 00:02:32,599 – the Boeing Mission Control Center – is just across the street from us here at Kennedy… 47 00:02:32,599 --> 00:02:37,890 Marie: And NASA’s Emergency Operations Center is activated, ready to respond at a moment’s 48 00:02:37,890 --> 00:02:38,890 notice. 49 00:02:38,890 --> 00:02:43,030 Then in Houston at Johnson Space Center, the Space Station Control Room is following the 50 00:02:43,030 --> 00:02:44,550 mission closely as well. 51 00:02:44,550 --> 00:02:48,459 Josh: And Starliner’s Mission Control is just down the hall from that Space Station 52 00:02:48,459 --> 00:02:51,960 Control Room, that’s where flight controllers are actually commanding the vehicle right 53 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:52,960 now.