International space station. Hello. Thank you for joining us today. We have one day to launch of the historic nasa spacex mission. Hello. Thank you for joining us today. We have one day to launch of the historic nasa spacex mission. We moved the press conference indoors due to weather, but we have good news the weather has improved. We have a 60 chance of favorable weather for launch. We will hear lots about the launch by the great guests today. We have bob cabana, the director for the Kennedy Space center. Jim bridenstine, the nasa we have commercial group astronauts. Commercial crew astronauts. We have the nasa deputy administrator. We will hear more from them in a minute. First, lets talk to bob cabana. Dir. Cabana good morning and welcome to the Kennedy Space center. I dont have to tell you how exciting it is to have the first flights of humans to space from the Kennedy Space center in nine years. And what a historic pad to be doing it from. We went to the moon from pad 39a. 82 of the 135 Shuttle Missions launched, including three of my flights. With our partnership with spacex, the pad is being used again and is now for the commercial crew program and for other spacex missions. I think it is absolutely outstanding. Truly an historic time from an historic pad. We are pleased to have our nasa administrator with us this morning. As a member of congress, jim was a huge advocate and proponent for aviation and spaceflight as a member of the Armed Services committee and the science and technology committee. Now he is sharing that passion with all of us as he leads nasa into a new era of space exploration. Jim. Adm. Bridenstine it is great to be here at the Kennedy Space center. We are once again launching american astronauts from an american rocket on american soil. It has been nine years since we have had this opportunity. Bob cabana, we want to thank you for getting the Kennedy Space center ready. Everything is looking good. As of now, we are go for launch. Said, the weather is 60 favorable for launch tomorrow , which is good news. Yesterday, we were at 40 , so the trend is in the right direction and we are very excited. I would like to start by saying that again, this room is empty. We would love to have this room full. We would love to have it filled with reporters and filled with space enthusiasts and unfortunately we are in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Our country has been through a lot. This is a unique moment where all of america can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again. That is launch american astronauts on american rockets from american soil. We are going to go to the International Space station and we are transforming how do you spaceflight in general. The commercial crew program is about commercializing orbit. We have resupply and now we will have crew and soon we will have commercial space stations. This is an opportunity to bring all of america together in one moment in time and say, look at how great the future is. That is what this launch is all about. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, we have taken extraordinary measures to keep safe and we are one day away from launch. This is an exciting day. Thank you. I will turn it back to you. I echo what jim and bob have said. This is an historic milestone. The reality is that we in the past, nasa developed, designed, and built and operated spacecraft and rockets. This is the first time a commercial company is building and going to operate this spacecraft and capsule. We are really looking to be a customer to spacex and to other companies in the future, and that is what we are trying to do really expand the economy in lowearth orbit. That is what this is about tomorrow. Our commercial crew. Lets start with nicole. It is incredibly exciting to be here. People always ask what it is like to be an astronaut and train with full to our flying on spacecraft . We are starting to lay the foundation for orion. It is an incredible time to be training with all of these opportunities in front of us and we are so proud and happy for doug and bob. It feels like a close Family Member having a great lifetime achievement. That is really what it is. On a personal level, that is definitely how we all feel, so proud for what they have accomplished with the spacex and nasa team to get ready for this launch. It is so important because it is not just about one launch. This is launch america and it is huge. My son is eight years old. He has never seen americans launch from the United States ever. It is foreign to him. As i was getting ready to come on this trip yesterday, he asked, are we going to the moon . Is this our first flight to the moon . And i said, not technically, but it is the first big step to the moon and to mars. He, as a young boy, sees that and there are a lot of kids will , be watching the launch. It is exciting for nasa, spacex, and a proud moment for all of america. Joe. Joe i echo nicoles sentiments exactly. What a privilege to be here and be a part of this team. Commercial and Government Entities working together, spacex and nasa, to pull something off like this. What a privilege to be here just a day away from launch. We are so incredibly excited to be a part of this. I had the opportunity to launch with International Partners to the International Space station back in 2015 and that is at the core of what we are doing today , to continue that incredible work we have done on the International Space station. We have had humans living and working on that orbital outpost for almost 20 years, conducting science in research to expand our presence in the solar system and to improve life on earth. This launch represents an extension of that capability and having the ability to launch americans from american soil in u. S. Spacecraft is absolutely amazing. I think about my launch and the family and just a few family and guests that i was able to have out there to watch that. I think about now so Many Americans in the future being able to congregate down here and watch this incredible vehicle takeoff. Just for people in florida to go on their porches or look up from a parking lot and to see this vehicle claw its way into space, to watch americans flying into lowearth orbit and to the International Space station and the absolute power of that to inspire our future generation of explorers and leaders. It is truly a privilege to be part of this, to witness this historic moment and to see where this journey ultimately takes us. Fantastic. With that, we will take our first question, but before that, just a reminder, if you are interested in what we are doing to watch the launch, you can go to our website to get more information. We will take our first question from asp, ivan. Administrator, will be flying the second Operational Mission of crew dragon . Can you confirm if you will have a european or russian on that mission . Adm. Bridenstine the crew dragon, for crew one has been selected. I dont think you were on that . I am not on one, but ive had the opportunity to back up bob and doug in crew one, and the following crew assignments are still being processed. Adm. Bridenstine what was the second part of the question . When will europeans or canadians or russians flying on crew dragon for the first time . Adm. Bridenstine that is undetermined at this point. Crew one, we will have japan with us, our First International partner on launching the falcon rocket with a crew dragon. We are excited about that. As far as other International Partners, that has not been determined. Thank you. Our next question is from gina from abc news. Yes, thank you. Can you talk to me a little bit about the gono go process. Who will be making those calls . Who will we hear making those calls . Adm. Bridenstine we have a Mission Management team that is working all of the checks as we go through the process. All along the way, people can say no go if they need to, but there will be a final countdown to the launch, where about 45 seconds out, they will make a determination go or no go. And then we will go. Do you want to add to that . Dir. Cabana it is a spacex launch and it is in the Launch Control center through a partnership we have with them. It will be a spacex launch director that gives the final go after everyone is pulled. The nasa Management Team will be involved in watching closely. The next question comes from the atlantic. Thank you for your time. Best of luck tomorrow. A followup to the question that was just asked. I am wondering if nasa personnel are allowed to intervene and take over from spacex if at any point during the mission if nasa feels it is necessary. Adm. Bridenstine the answer to that question is yes. We, of course, are the customer here. So, we do. Our goal is to have spacex be able to do missions one day without nasa. We want them to go get customers that are not us. We want to make sure they are making decisions, but if we see something we disagree with, certainly we have the right to intervene. I dont see that being necessary. At this point, but yes, we can intervene if necessary. Our next question comes from paul burkman from upi. Paul i would like one of you to comment on the sort of builtin uncertainty of this mission in terms of the length of the mission, anywhere from six to 16 weeks, i believe. I know any manned space flight or crew spaceflight has uncertainty, but im wondering how much of the readiness reviews went over the astronauts training and the uncertainty of that time period. Adm. Bridenstine there are a lot of things that go into this. Number one, we have to get our astronauts to the International Space station. Once they are there, there are different elements that come into play as to when they come home. This is a test flight. The highest priority is to test the vehicle and get home safely and then be prepared to launch crew one. Some of the things that go into the mix when they will come home include the solar arrays. There is a limitation of about 114 days, period. We cannot go beyond that. Some engineers might argue that we can, as we are on the space station, we will understand how the solar arrays are performing. Right now, we are looking at a limitation of 114 days for the solar arrays. And then we have to consider weather. When we come back to earth, we have to make sure the winds and the precipitation and lightning, all of those things create a metric as to how safe it is to come home. We need to make sure we have the. Ight weather if we have a good window to come home, remember, this is a test flight. As such, if we have a good window to come home and they are not necessary on the International Space station, we will be taking it. When we think about the other big parameter is when is crew one going to be ready . Right now, we are targeting august 30 for the launch of crew one. That is what we are working towards. What that means is we can keep our astronauts on board the International Space station, doing the maintenance of the iss and doing experiments on the iss for a period of time knowing that they can be there probably until early august. We need to get the spacecraft home and then evaluate the spacecraft, collect all the data, make sure it performed the way we wanted it to perform, and then get ready to launch crew one. The big parameters are the weather, the solar arrays, when crew one is going to be ready. Theres a lot of flexibility built into the back end of this mission and that is intentional. I want to reiterate it is a test flight. The goal is to get them to the International Space station and get them home. If they can do more work than that while on the iss, that is ok, but this is a test flight. Thank you. Our next question is from keith. I have a question. As a member of the apollo generation. I know jim morehart will remember when we were kids, when we wanted to know everything astronauts did and nasa would tell us. Including what they ate. Yesterday, there was a pretty straightforward question about what they will have for breakfast and they will get back to us. When asked about the breakfast menus, we found out that that is not disclosed. Is that really the answer . How do you explain to a sixthgrader that we cannot tell them what they are eating . Shouldnt there be more transparency in some of this . Dir. Cabana can i take this . As far as transparency goes, i can tell you what happened in the past. Astronauts get anything they want for breakfast. You got your choice, whether it breakfast, lunch, dinner. It is made to order. From my personal experience, on my first flight, i heard that some folks get airsick and i didnt want to get airsick. I had a toasted english muffin and a cup of coffee. One of my crewmates had steak and eggs and hashbrowns and pouring the hot sauce on. He did not get sick, but they may not have decided what they want for breakfast yet tomorrow. It is hard to release what you dont know, but i am sure they will make a decision and get anything they want. Thank you. Adm. Bridenstine maybe some of the current astronauts would like to answer. I know you have done a mission. What did you eat . We got anything we wanted as long as it was being served that morning. [laughter] i was kind of like you, director cabana, that i wanted to take it easy. I did not know how i would react to being on orbit. I went easy on solids and got my fair share of coffee. We ate really well while we were in quarantine, but we didnt have the choice of what we were going to eat, and i honestly cant i was so excited, i cant remember what we ate, but it was plenty and great for what we needed to do that day. We will go to our next question. It is Jackie Gothard with the times of london. Jackie both astronauts are dads. Im wondering what you could say, what you have said that you can share to the two little boys know what their dads are doing and the significance of it. I had a hard time hearing. I wonder what you can say or have said that you can share with us to their two little boys about what their dads are doing and the significance of it. Absolutely. I would start by saying, they know this, their dads are american heroes. They are laying the foundation for a new era in human spaceflight. It is an era where more space is going to be available to more people than ever before. We envision a future where lowearth orbit is entirely commercialized, where nasa is one customer of many customers, where we have numerous providers competing on cost and innovation and safety, but driving down costs and increasing access. We are proving out a Business Model, a publicprivate Business Model that will enable us to go to the moon, this time sustainably. In other words, we are going to go to the moon to stay. We love apollo, that era was fantastic. The problem is that it ended. And now we have the Artemis Program which is our sustainable return to the moon named after artemis, the twin sister of apollo, the goddess of the moon. This time we get to go with all of america, diverse, highly qualified crew that includes women. What bob and doug are doing is they are the final step in proving the success of a Publicprivate PartnershipBusiness Model that drives down costs and will enable us to go not just to the moon, but go sustainably, with reasonable landers to the surface of the moon. All of this is for a purpose and that is to get to mars. When those little boys are 40 years old, and we have a permanent presence on the moon, and we have astronauts on mars, they are going to know that their dads played a Critical Role in enabling not only this country, but the world as we lead International Partners to humanity going further into the solar system than ever before. Beyond that, i would remind children that their dads are both military aviators that have served their country boldly. Yesterday was memorial day. We had an opportunity to reflect on those who served the country. Of course, these two men have done that as well. They are heroes in so many ways. When they arrived here at kennedy i am 44 and about to turn 45. When i grow up, i want to be like bob and doug. Our next question is from joey from reuters. Thanks for doing this. Question for jim bridenstine. It has been a long run to get to this point. I am wondering how the Crew Development and the road that it got to get the crew dragon to this point and how this shape commercialized space. Jim, feel free to answer this too. Thanks. Adm. Bridenstine this is an important milestone. We have been very successful with commercial resupply of the International Space station and now weve got commercial crew tomorrow, knock on wood, and that will be a successful mission. We need to build commercial space stations in lowearth orbit. In order to create the market where these kind of programs can be capitalized with Publicprivate Partnerships, we need to prove there is an economy for human activity in lowearth orbit. That is what we are using the International Space station for right now. Some of the most salient projects happening and going on for a long time would include immunizations being developed on the International Space station for salmonella, pneumonia. The ability to compound pharmaceuticals we cant do well in the gravity of earth. The ability to print human organs in 3d. Create humano tissue using adult stem cells, adult skin cells, creating stem cells that can create human organs in 3d. We are at the tissue level right now. That is a capability that will transform life on earth. To create artificial retinas so that people with Ma