5:30, WE ARE COUNTING DOWN
TO TOMORROW'S HISTORIC SPACEX
LAUNCH WITH A LARGE AMERICA
COVERAGE.
TWO ASTRONAUTS ARE SET TO BLAST
OFF U.S. SOIL FOR THE FIRST
TIME SINCE THE SPACE SHUTTLE
PROGRAM ENDED BACK IN 2011.
SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET WILL
SEND THEM TO THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION.
IT IS STANDING ON THE SAME
LAUNCHPAD THAT LAUNCHED APOLLO
11 TO THE MOON.
MARK STRASSMANN IS AT THE
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER WITH HOW
SPACEX GOT TO THE BRINK OF
MAKING SPACE HISTORY.
THE ROAD AND TUSSLES TO THE
FINAL REHEARSAL.
ASTRONAUTS BOB AND DOUG HURLEY,
THIS IS THE RIGHT THAT MATTERS.
THE JUDGE CREW DRAGON CASTLE,
TO BLAZE A NEW AMERICAN PATH TO
SPACE.
SIX YEARS AGO, ELON MUSK'S
COMPANY ONLY HAD A MODEL OF THE
SPACESHIP.
BUT NASA AWARDED SPACEX A $2.6
BILLION CONTRACT TO FLY ITS
ASTRONAUTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION.
LIFT OFF OF THE FALCON 9
ROCKET, BY THEN, SPACEX HAD
ALREADY MADE HISTORY.
THE FIRST COMPANY TO FLY CARGO
THERE.
CAPTURE COMPLETE.
THE FIRST TO DEVELOP
REUSABLE ROCKETS, SLASHING
COSTS AND REVOLUTIONIZING THE
BUSINESS MODEL OF SPACE.
BY 2018, DEVELOPMENT OF CREW
DRAGON WAS WELL UNDERWAY.
AT SPACEX HEADQUARTERS IN
HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA, WE MET
THE ASTRONAUTS TRAINING TO BE
ITS FIRST GROUP.
COMING OUT HERE IT IS A REAL
MOTIVATOR.
THIS WORKFORCE IS SO YOUNG.
THEY ARE EXCITED ABOUT WHAT
THEY DO.
THEY ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT
THEY DO.
IT KIND OF REINVIGORATE'S YOU
ABOUT WHY YOU GOT INTO THE
BUSINESS SO MANY YEARS AGO.
FOR APOLLO 11, THE AVERAGE
AGE OF A FLAKE CONTROLLER WAS
26.
IT WAS OBVIOUSLY WE WERE NOT
THERE BUT I WOULD CERTAINLY SAY
THAT THE NASA OF THE 60s WAS NOT
DRASTICALLY UNLIKE SPACEX OF
NOW.
LEARNING AS THEY GO, LEARNING
ABOUT FLYING IN SPACE, LEARNING
THE HARD LESSONS AND BEING
SUCCESSFUL.
HARD LESSONS LIKE THIS ONE
IN 2015.
A FALCON 9 ROCKET LIFTING CARGO
TO THE SPACE STATION
DISINTEGRATED MINUTES AFTER
LIFTOFF.
IT APPEARED TO HAVE HAD A
LAUNCH VEHICLE FAILURE.
WHILE IT IS DISAPPOINTING,
IT CAN BE A REAL GIFT TO THE
FINAL DESIGN.
SPACEX IS NOW ON A STREAK OF
62 SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHES.
AND CREW DRAGON IS ARMED WITH
AN ESCAPE SYSTEM.
ESCAPE INITIATED.
IT WAS IF THE ROCKET FALTERS,
HIS ENGINES CAN PERSUADE THE
CAPSULE, LANDING THE GROUP
SAFELY IN THE OCEAN.
YOU GENERALLY BELIEVE IF
SOMETHING GOES WRONG, YOU HAVE
GOT OPTIONS.
ABSOLUTELY.
WE REALLY TRY TO FOCUS ON
REMINDING FOLKS THAT THERE ARE
PEOPLE ON THE POINTY END OF
THIS ROCKETSHIP AND THAT IS
IMPORTANT TO US.
WE ARE KIND OF AN EXTENSION OF
WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO
ACCOMPLISH.
