With the successful test flight of the dragon on the vulcan 9, that safely delivered the two that safely delivered the two astronauts from the one International Space station and brought them home safely, it set the stage for the crew one Mission Tomorrow afternoon. This is the first flight under contract the Crew Rotation Mission with spacex to the International Space station. This is truly a new era of human spaceflight and i could not be more pleased with what the nasa and spacex team has accomplished. Its truly an exciting time. Its great we are flying crews on a regular cadence from here to Kennedy Space center on u. S. Rockets. It is also great that we are doing it with our International Partners. Suichi from japan on board. I could not be more pleased with what the team has accomplished. Im proud and humbled to be a part of it. It is my pleasure to introduce our nasa administrator, jim bridenstine. Through his outstanding leadership and advocacy for the commercialization of lowearth , the commercial crew program, and transformation of the Kennedy Space center, to a multiuser spaceport that becomes a reality, please welcome a Great American to the stand, our administrator, jim bridenstine. [applause] jim thank you. Thank you, bob, for that introduction and thank you for go your amazing leadership here center,ennedy space which has become a truly multiuser spaceport. We are looking forward to so many great things happening in kennedy in the years ahead. This is another historic moment. It seems like every time i come to kennedy, we are making history and this is no different. The history being made this time is we are launching an operational flight through the International Space station. Make no mistake, vigilance is required on every flight, but as bob says, this is under contract. Another first for nasa is this flight is certified by the faa, the federal aviation administration. Steve dickson here, and i will introduce him in a few minutes, the administrator of the faa. The whole goal is to commercialize our activities in lowearth orbit. Nasa wants to be one customer of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace for human spaceflight and lowearth orbit. But we dont just want to be one of many customers, we want to e numerous dividers numerous providers competing against each other on costs, innovation, and on safety, ultimately bringing more access to space than ever before. We have had success with commercial resupplies of the International Space station, where we are buying services to get our equipment, hardware, and experiments to the iss. Success withving commercial crew. Tomorrows flight is the next major milestone in this development. The next big phase is commercial space stations themselves. Where we have private capital, and nasa as a customer as well, ultimately capitalizing funding and moving forward for this new era in human spaceflight, where nasa is one of many customers, and numerous providers are competing on cost and innovation. The ultimate goal is to have more resources to do things where there is not yet a commercial focus, like going to mars, the moon to mars program. Because of what is happening today, all these things will be possible in the future. This is a very exciting time for nasa. These are, again, historic firsts. Tomorrows launch is licensed by the federal aviation administration. Dickson has become a good friend of mine. Hes the administrator of the faa. He is a graduate of the air force academy, f16 pilot by trade who went to work for delta, flew the line at delta for nine years. He got a law degree in the midst of all of this. Then he went into management at delta as a Senior Vice President of Flight Operations before taking the helm of the federal aviation administration. Please welcome Steve Dickson to the microphone. [applause] steve thanks, jim. It is really a pleasure. Appreciate your hospitality, today at the Kennedy Space center along with bob. Its an honor for the faa to partner with nasa and spacex on the first operational crew dragon launch. This is what happens when you add a drop or two of rocket fuel to ingenuity. There is tremendous opportunity. We have all dedicated countless hours to make sure this launch is both safe and successful. The faas job in this mission and in commercial space generally is to protect public safety, property, and national security. We have the right skills and the right workforce and the team to get this done. We have been doing it for many years, but this is our first manned, orbital spaceflight. We are really excited and privileged to participate today. In calendar year 2020, the faa licensed 31 Space Operations. We set a record in the month of october with six in one month. We expect to license 56 more. 2021. Bout one a week in an exciting time in aerospace in the united states. In and of themselves, these numbers are impressive but just the tip of the iceberg. Once Space Tourism turns the corner, we think we will likely see 100 operations per year. These operations will be a huge part of the new space economy, which some estimates say could be worth 1 trillion by the year 2040. Its my job, under the leader of transportation secretary elaine chao, to make sure that the u. S. Is a doorway, not a barrier, to this innovation. We recently finalized the streamlined launch and recovery licensing requirements rule. The new rule will allow space launch operators to use a single license for multiple launches from multiple launch sites. It strips out restrictive requirements and has a flexible, performancebased criteria. We told this industry we would be out there on the launch pad with them, and we have kept that promise today. As we have cut red tape, we are also helping to establish our nations space transportation infrastructure. We have licensed several more sites forh consideration. And to help us determine what services, rules, and regulations will be needed to support spaceports. Along with this, a suite of Game Changing technologies and procedures. To safely integrate Space Operations into the National Aerospace system. By the start of next year, we plan to deploy a prototype of the space data integrator, or sdi, as we call it, that will telemetry data into the faas Traffic Management system so that we can manage traffic much better than historically. We will be able to block off less space for Space Operation and release that space more quickly, so it is available for other spaceports users. To complement sdi, we are already using timebased air traffic procedures to help us better manage the flow of aircraft around the space launch or reentry. This is also an inspiring time for young people as well. We want young people to know what the opportunities are in aerospace and space in particular that can come from a career, and we are working to reach kids of all ages. As a matter of fact i will be , watching tomorrows launch with a group of kids from tulsa, oklahoma, who really have a dream of going to space, and its within the reach in ways that it never was for my generation. I will leave you with this. Tomorrows crew dragon launch is a great example of americas american ingenuity, but also Global Leadership and partnership. But, there are even bigger and better days to come. America is watching, and the entire world is, too. They want to see the industry continue to do great things. This industry is stepping up to the task from what ive seen. To that point, it is my privilege to introduce hiroshi zuzaki. The Vice President of jackson. Thank you. [applause] hiroshi thank you, steve, for introducing me. On behalf of all [inaudible] expressd like to [inaudible] it is a great pleasure for me for this exciting missions. On another note as well, well prepared for the launch. The module of iss is also ready and waiting for the crew arrival. This mission is a symbol of the japanu. S. Partnership, and we want to go together to the iss and beyond. King forward to the launch tomorrow, and wish you a successful launch. Thank you. I would like to introduce an astronaut and very famous even in japan. [applause] thank you. Your it is great to be here in florida. Im so excited to see our mike, victor,w, shannon, suichi. It will be awesome to see them working up there for the next six months. The commercial crew program with boeing and spacex has been spectacular. Watching the innovation from both companies has been amazing. Im specifically looking forward to seeing them live up there, because our crew, my crew will be the complementary crew on the boeing star liner here. Probably at the end of next year. This is an exciting time for all of us, watching them pave the way, so we can do lowearth orbit with commercial crew and then move on to the next big step. With that, im going to introduce one of the newest astronauts newest class of , astronauts, johnny kim, who will be leading that exploration charge. Thank you. [applause] johnny good morning. My name is johnny kim, and im honored and privileged to be here. Its crazy to be thinking about what we will be doing tomorrow. Its hard to imagine how far we have come. The First Certified flight of a commercial vehicle launching three american astronauts and an International Partner to the space station. We are here because of the thousands of people who work behind the scenes. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants. From former astronauts to our administrator and International Partners, we would not to be we would not be here if it was not for everyone. You have heard all of the benefits the commercial crew program is bringing to the American People and humanity. I am excited to see four of my friends launch on that rocket tomorrow. Brothers, sisters, parents, children, but they are all humans. They represent us and everything we stand for, for humanity. The successes of the commercial crew program and the iss, which has been inhabited for 20 years, has set the stage for future Space Exploration. As we go deeper into space, as we return to the moon and beyond. I am greatly privileged and honored to be here. Im looking forward to tomorrow. [applause] thank you. We will start taking questions from reporters. Please, one question per reporter. Our focus is on crew one. Any questions other than crew one we will be happy to take after the press conference. Our first question . Associated press for mr. Bridenstine. Elon musk has been tweeting that he is not feeling so good, and some of his covid tests are positive and some are negative. What is he telling you, personally, and are you going to allow him to be in launch or crew quarters, even if his next test comes back negative . Jim i talked to elon two days ago before this news came to be. Ill tell you, when somebody all tests positive for covid here at the Kennedy Space center and nasa, its the policy for the person to quarantine and self isolate, so we anticipate that will take place. And we are looking to spacex to do any Contact Tracing that is appropriate, and of course, if there are changes that need to be made, we will look at those, but it is early to know if any changes are necessary, at this point. We just dont know. Im lauren with the verge. My question is for jim. Crew one comes at a transitional time for our country, and as we prepare for a new administration, im curious, what are your hopes for the commercial crew program, the future of human spaceflight at nasa, and how do you plan to work with any successors to ensure a good future for the program . Jim when we think about the commercial crew program specifically, and i have said this a lot, we are exceptionally grateful to the leadership of Charlie Bolden and his commitment, going back many years. Then of course, Robert Lightfoot and the leadership i have had. This is a program that has spanned multiple administrations, and ive always said, and will continue to advocate for nasa, creating sustainable programs. Thats what we look for. That is something i think we are achieving with the Artemis Program. We have seen bills in the house and senate receive strong bipartisan support that fund the human landing system for the moon, that fund the Artemis Program, and the things we need to do to achieve what we would say sustainable programs we are thinking about programs that last not just decades, but a generation. I would like to see a day when my children are my age and we have People Living and working on the moon and on mars. To achieve that, we are going to need to have strong, apolitical, bipartisan support. We have worked for that day in and day out since i came to nasa, that was my commitment. Im looking at the house and senate, and im confident we have strong bipartisan support to result in a sustainable program. Thank you. This is for jim, rachel joy with florida today. Wondering if you could briefly talk about the falcon 9 engine issue that started with the gps 3 mission when they had the last second abort. And, how that played out in terms of engine swap outs and how many are ultimately swapped out across all three rockets . Jim i will address your question kind of big picture, but i would refer you we will have a flight readiness review and then a press conference after that. I would refer those questions to the press conference after the review. When we talk about the commercial program itself, remember what we are trying to achieve. Nasa wants to be one customer among many customers in a robust marketplace. One of the benefits of that is that when the air force, space force, or commercial Communications Satellite launches, we are going to get data and information about the rocket,on the falcon 9 about the performance of the avionics systems, etc. Each one of these missions is informative for what we are trying to achieve as an agency. That is in fact what i think is so magnificent about the commercial crew program in general. When we go back to the shuttle era, every flight was a human flight. Every flight was in fact a nasa flight. In this case, we have commercial flights, as bob cabana has done. He turned this facility into a multiuser spaceport where we have all of these different entities using these commercial vehicles, including now nasa, so we can get benefits from these other launches. I leave it to that but i would refer you, the flight readiness review will happen today. At the conclusion, there will be a conference and that is a question i would refer to them. Chris davenport from the Washington Post for jim. You touched on this in your opening remarks, but there is a lot of talk about this being the beginning of operational flights from u. S. Soil, regular flights with ruse to the space station, but the fact of the matter is, the crew dragon has only phone a couple times. Can you talk about what youre are doing to ensure it is safe. It seems to me this is a test mission in a lot of ways. Jim when we think about flights, to space, we take all of them with great percussion. Precaution. We take them very seriously. Every bit of attention to detail that we have on a test flight, we also have on operational flights. That being said, we learn from every single flight, whether it is operational or a test flight, but we are launching four astronauts, three american astronauts, a japanese astronaut, they are going to the International Space station for six months to do serious and real work on behalf of the American People and humanity at large. It is operational but also true that, when you think about spaceflight, every flight is a test flights. There is always something new and different. You in this case, they are going for a longer period of time and will be doing Different Things on the international station. They are going with a crew of four and will be doing Different Things on the way. Each one of those requires us to be diligent, which we always are. But make certain we do not take any of this lightly. Thank you. Good morning, i am melanie holt and this is for the administrator. Im piggybacking on an earlier question. We were talking about the change coming now with this administration, and i would like to know, if given the opportunity, would you like to continue the work already begun here . Jim i will refer you to the comments i made to irene standing behind you. I made them on sunday, and i will leave my comments there on that. Hi, irene with aviation. Jim, what is the status of the discussions with the russians to do swaps for commercial crew . Jim i know both countries are committed to the International Space station and the amazing work going on there now with humans on board for 20 years. We are moving into this new era where, instead of nasa purchasing seats, we want to have an exchange of seats where american astronauts can fly on russian flights and russian cosmonauts on american flights. That is something both countries are interested in achieving. We want to see a day where, if there is a time where there is a challenge with one of the vehicles, we have continued access to the International Space station by both partners. Those discussions are ongoing. We do not have a resolution, but it is something both countries are working toward. Dickson, is the process you went through to certify this mission, how similar will that be when you are asked to certify nonprofessional astronauts . Steve thats a great question. It will really be the same process, similar to what we have been