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Historical All-Civilian SpaceX Flight Splashes Down Off Florida Coast. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 18, 2021 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:03]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We have some exciting news coming up. We are moments away from the splash down of history's first all-civilian space flight. The flight. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Inspiration 4, after three days in orbit, it's just about to reach to Atlantic Ocean, off the Florida coast with a crew unlike any ever sent to the stars. These are citizens in space. None of the four people aboard came from NASA or another government- run space agency.
If their trip ends successfully, it will mean the start of a new era for space travel with billionaires like Elon Musk pushing to see how far they can take things next.
Let's go to mission control for SpaceX and listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What you're seeing on your screen right now is on the left-hand side, that is Mission Control Hub 1.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: GPS converge expected. Nominal altitude for drogue chute deploy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SpaceX, we show the same.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And those coms confirmed that we have regained coms with Dragon. And they're getting ready for drogue deploy here shortly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I love these tracking shots. Again, that is Dragon in the center of your screen. We've got visuals of it and we're expecting drogue chutes to deploy and then the main chutes shortly after that here in a couple of minutes.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, a lot of excitement for Inspiration 4 crew's return. Waiting on drogue chute to deploy. That happens at about 18,000 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dragon, brace for drogue window. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SpaceX, we're bracing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On reentry, the team is experiencing about 3 to 5g's.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard some words to have them brace for drogue deploy. They will feel the difference in speed when the chutes do deploy. That was what the core mentioned there. That's such a cool shot of Dragon, coming back down to earth. It looks very fast in this camera view here.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There it is. (INAUDIBLE)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a great shot of Dragon looking up at the drogue chutes. A lot of communication going back and forth between the crews and ground station, but the drogue obviously slowed the vehicle down from about 350 miles an hour to 120. We are expecting the main chutes for these to cut off and the main chutes to come shortly after this.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a visual? (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's happening, Houston. (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Descend right now. You have visual for the (INAUDIBLE) forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy that. SpaceX, good news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And at 4:04 p.m. Pacific Time, we do have confirmation that the main chutes have deployed. And you can see that on your left-hand screen of the camera, looking forward above the Dragon capsule, looking at those four main chutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thousand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, 1,000.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next event coming up now is a visual confirmation of splashdown.
[19:05:04]
You can see the Dragon capsule on your right-hand screen slowly coming down now. We talked about how fast the vehicle has been traveling, but they will be touching down approximately 15 miles per hour when they touch the Atlantic Ocean there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 800, SpaceX.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, 800.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, the Dragon 1 program had great success with the water landing with 20 successful splashdowns over the course of that program, nine of which were carried out by flight proven Dragon spacecraft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is a great shot. Dragon continuing to descend back towards earth. Again, targeting a landing -- excuse me, a splashdown off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, 600.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four hundred.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, 400.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hundred, we're bracing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, 200.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SpaceX has splashed down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inspiration 4, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet earth. Your mission has shown the world that space is for all of us and that everyday people can make extraordinary impacts in the world around them. Thank you for sharing your leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity, and congratulations on your incredible journey.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks so much, SpaceX. It was a heck of a ride for us. Just getting started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy, just getting started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So welcome back, Inspiration 4.
BROWN: All right. Heck of a ride, just getting started. That's what we just heard from one of the four in the capsule and we just saw a successful splashdown. So to make sense of this historic moment, I want to bring in CNN's space and defense correspondent, Kristin Fisher.
And we also have special guest tonight, former NASA restaurant, Mike Massimino. He is "The New York Times" best-selling author of "Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe."
Kristin, what a momentous moment. What did we just see?
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Pam, you could hear the sonic boom here at Cape Canaveral as the Dragon capsule and the Inspiration 4 crew made its way through the atmosphere, before splashing down just off the coast of Florida. Sorry, we've got a Disney cruise ship going behind me.
This is a business port, Cape Canaveral. But, you know, what we just witnessed was the successful completion of the first all-civilian trip to orbit. They're now safely back on earth.
And what those amateur astronauts just experienced, they just felt up to 5g's of force pushing them down in their seats as they made their way back through the atmosphere. The capsule just experienced temperatures of about 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. This plasma fire wall engulfing the capsule, causing this communications blackout.
[19:10:03]
It is normal, it is expected, but every time that happens, it causes a bit of nerves on the ground and inside the Dragon capsule because there is zero communication between the ground and the crew for those seven minutes. But they came out of that blackout just looking beautiful. The small drogue chutes deployed, starting the slowing down of that capsule. Then the main parachutes, and then, as you saw, it just splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.
And so now what we're going to see are these two fast boats swooping in. They're there within two minutes of splashdown. And what they're there to do is provide a sort of sniff check. They make sure that there's no toxic fumes coming out of the capsule. Then someone else, a member of the recovery team, actually hops on top of the capsule to get it ready for extraction. And then about 30 minutes later, we'll see the main capsule recovery ship arrive.
And it's going to pull the capsule out of the ocean and then, when it is safely onboard, the capsule recovery ship, only then will they open up the hatch and let those astronauts out. And it's going to be very interesting to see what SpaceX decide to do at that point in time because astronauts, NASA astronauts got back from longer duration flights to the International Space Station, like Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on Demo 2, they were actually taken out on a stretcher because, you know, it takes a while for your body to adjust to longer being in microgravity.
And don't forget, you're actually on a moving ship and there are waves, so, you know, they don't want anybody to trip and fall. We don't know exactly if that's what they're going to do for this crew since they were only up in orbit for about three days so that still remains to be seen. And then after that, they're going to be flown back to the Kennedy Space Center in a helicopter, where their family and all the SpaceX employees are waiting for a big celebration.
And then finally, that capsule, that Crew Dragon capsule is going to be brought back right here to Port Canaveral over the next few days -- Pam.
BROWN: Mike, as you watched this moment, what goes through your mind?
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, Pam, thanks for having me. I'm really happy for the crew. I'm happy for SpaceX. I'm kind of happy for the world in general, I guess. This is something that NASA has been dreaming about for decades, where they could influence and help private enterprise get to space. And we tried it with the space shuttle. It didn't quite fulfill what we wanted to do in that era of commercial space flight, but now we have it.
Truly, a crew that, with no government astronauts onboard, no professional astronauts onboard, minimal training because of the automatic systems, the way that that spacecraft is built to be highly automated, such that with minimal training, a couple of months of training a crew can get onboard and fly in space, and making it open to the general public. Of course you need to be very wealthy to afford to do this.
But what we're seeing with the reusability of this spacecraft, that hopefully that price will be coming down. So this is really a great milestone and I'm happy for everyone involved.
BROWN: Right. There was one billionaire aboard and three others who, you know, don't have a typical resume of what you would think of going up into space, right? A physician's assistant, a community college teacher. You know, this crew is -- was civilian. It was a civilian crew. They spent about six months training.
How does that compare to what NASA puts astronauts through, Mike?
MASSIMINO: Well, what -- as far as the training that they got for working the SpaceX vehicle, it's very similar to what my friends are going through when they fly on SpaceX. It's not that much different. Maybe a little more of the automated system, in this case, for these folks.
But it's very similar. What the NASA astronauts, what the big difference is for the NASA astronaut is that they're in space for much longer periods of time, they're trained to do space work, walks, to do rendezvous.
This crew orbited the planet. They did not go to the space station, so they didn't rendezvous with another space ship like the NASA astronauts that are going to the space station. They didn't get the training for robotics and all the experiments, and all the other things that you do. So what's good about this model that we have is that you can cut down the training needed to fly the spaceship.
For the space shuttle, it was intensive training to handle every emergency. It was flown manually. So the bulk of your training and the training full for space flight was in actually just training the vehicle and working emergencies being prepared for the actual vehicle. That time has been cut down drastically. And so even the NASA astronauts go through a similar flow, but they can concentrate more on the other aspects of their space flight.
BROWN: Kristin, I want to bring you back in. As we talked about, there were no professional astronauts onboard. Tell us a little bit more about the crew and the level of risks they faced with this trip?
FISHER: Well, the crew's commander, 38-year-old Jared Isaacman. He is a billionaire entrepreneur. He was on the phone with SpaceX about something totally different, something totally unrelated back in October.
[19:15:04]
And as they were ending the call, he said something along the lines of, you know, hey, if you guys ever want to send an all-civilian mission to orbit, think of me, I'd be interested. And just about two weeks later, SpaceX said, all right, you're in. And, you know, that was less than a year ago.
So from last October until now, Jared Isaacman has really made this dream come true for himself and for these three other people, and he's been, you know, really focused on raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, so much so that the first crew mate that he selected -- he went to St. Jude's and said, hey, you can pick my first crew mate.
And they selected 29-year-old Hayley Arceneaux. She's a pediatric cancer survivor, she's also a current physician's assistant, to go on this trip. She knew nothing about space. Never even thought about going into orbit. And now here she is. There's also Sian Proctor, she's a geology professor, a painter, a poet. She applied to be an astronaut back in 2009. Didn't quite make the cut. She was devastated. Now she got to achieve her lifelong dream.
And then there's Chris Sembroski, who's an engineer. He was watching the Super Bowl last year and saw a commercial for Inspiration 4. He entered a raffle. His friend got the golden ticket but couldn't go, so gave it to him. And so that's how this kind of hodgepodge crew ended up together. And you know, by doing something like that, a raffle, an online contest, it entered into the equation a big element of risk.
I mean, what if this crew didn't get along? But it turns out, after about five and a half, six months of training, they became very close. They climbed Mt. Rainier together, they did so many simulators together, and they say that they really became a family. And so, yes, anytime you're going into space, it is incredibly risky. But SpaceX felt very confident that they had a safe vehicle.
This is now the fourth crewed mission that SpaceX has launched into space. And of course, this comes after this nearly decades-long desert of U.S. astronauts being launched from U.S. soil after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. So truly, we're witnessing this new era of space travel and really, you know, I've been down to a lot of launches. This is the very first launch that I've been to, first crewed launch where NASA really had no role in it whatsoever because, as you said, no NASA astronauts on board -- Pam.
BROWN: So what does this mean for them? I mean, they can't really call themselves astronauts, though, even though they went through this mission, right? Or can they?
FISHER: Well, they're going to call themselves astronauts. SpaceX is going to call them astronauts --
BROWN: I mean, yes, they can call themselves but from a -- yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: And they should.
FISHER: From a very technical standpoint, and this is the subject to have great debate, it is up to the FAA to issue your official government-issued commercial astronaut wings. And the FAA says that it still has not decided really what to do about this crew and about Jeff Bezos' crew and Richard Branson's crew. But if you look at the eligibility requirements in the official guidance, only crew members qualify for those commercial astronaut wings.
And because of kind of a technical technicality, SpaceX could only list the Inspiration 4 crew as space flight participants. And so that means that this crew would only be eligible for an honorary award from the FAA and not their official regular wings.
What are wings? It's essentially, you know, the official, verified blue check mark that you would see on Twitter, but for astronauts. It's really just symbolic, but it means a lot to the people who fly. It means a lot to these private companies who are now using this as a selling point, as they try to sell tickets to space. And it's really the subject of great debate, as we enter this new era of space tourism in terms of who qualifies to be an astronaut and who does not -- Pam.
BROWN: And we're just hearing, Elon Musk just said congratulations to this crew. There you go. There's the tweet. "Congratulations, Inspiration 4."
So, Mike, first of all, I'm sure you would look at them as astronauts, even though there's that technical technicality as Kristin would say, because what they did is pretty extraordinary and they traveled in this capsule that is just slightly larger than a minivan. I mean, you've spent more than 260 hours in space, if I have that right.
How cramped do you think they felt up there? Because for me, I have claustrophobia, and I don't know if I could handle that. What would it be like inside of that?
MASSIMINO: Oh, Pam, I think you'd be fine. It's kind of like -- it's kind of like being on a camping trip with your friends. One thing as a new astronaut, I was told this by the guys, the men and women in front of me, who have flown in space, I didn't quite believe them, but they said how it's amazing how the spacecraft is so much bigger.
[19:20:10]
We'd be in the simulator working and very cramped. But when you're able to float around, whatever room you're in right now, Pam, and people at home watching, whatever room they're in, just look around it. Imagine if you could float around it, it becomes a lot bigger. And that's what happens in space.
The simulator where you're always cramped because you're stuck on the floor of it, once you're able to float around and you can get up high and all over the place, it actually becomes much larger to you. I don't think they felt cramped. I think the other thing is the view
they have. They were up pretty high. They were 100 miles higher than the space station. They were up close to where we were on Hubble, where you can see the curve of the planet, a magnificent view up there.
And they had this great cupola on the top of their spaceship so they could look out anytime they wanted. Look at the stars, look at the planet, enjoy that view. So I'm guessing they probably did not have that feeling of claustrophobia because of the view they had and because they're able to float around. So I think you'd have no trouble.
BROWN: All right. Well, good to know. So I'll just be on the next flight up then, in that case.
MASSIMINO: There you go.
BROWN: Easy as that, right, Kristin? So on that note, just given what Mike laid out, what did they do there for the three days they were up in space, you know, besides just look at the incredible views?
FISHER: They conducted some scientific experiments, some medical experiments, but they also just did some very average, ordinary things, things like what you or I might do if we were up there. Sian Proctor, the poet and painter, she made some art. Chris Sembroski, he's a musician, so he played the ukulele. Hayley Arceneaux was really into kind of the gymnastics and the weightless somersaults so she did a lot of that.
They took pictures. They spoke with children at St. Jude's Research Hospital. But, you know, that's kind of what made this so whole spaceflight so extraordinary. It's just kind of how ordinary the whole thing was in terms of what they wanted to do in orbit.
I mean, you saw Chris Sembroski as they were preparing for the de- orbit burn just a few minutes ago. He was watching "Spaceballs," he was watching a movie before he descended into the earth's atmosphere and, you know, was about to experience 4 or 5g's pressing him back into his seat.
So there's this real sense of, you know, this is what you or I would do if we went to orbit. And that's precisely the point. What Elon Musk said he wanted to do when he founded SpaceX was he said that he wanted to make humanity multi-planetary. He ultimately wants to colonize mars. That is the company's stated goal if you go to their Web site. And so what we're seeing now is just one more small step in that direction.
Because you have to prove, in order to colonize mars and send hundreds of people to another planet, you have to prove that your everyday person is capable of withstanding the rigors of orbital space flight first. And so that's what this mission was all about, when you hear them talking about opening up space to everyone.
One thing I want to point out in terms of what you're seeing right now happening, you see like a man, he's with the crew -- the capsule recovery team, kind of hanging on to the edge of the capsule. What he's doing is he's attaching all the hooks and ropes, sort to speak, which are going to be used to attach the capsule to the main capsule recovery ship when it arrives in about 20 minutes or so, and will allow it to be pulled out of the ocean. I mean, this is something that they have practiced and trained for many, many times.
One thing, though, that I'm not seeing is when the Demo 2 mission with Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, those first two NASA astronauts to go up in a Crew Dragon capsule, when they splashed down, there was a huge crowd of boats just -- I mean, fishermen, people just out for a good time. People who heard that this is where they were going to splashdown. And they came to watch it and so there was literally like a semicircle of boats, just watching it.
And it can be, you know, kind of dangerous. I mean, there could be potentially some toxic fumes being emitted from the spacecraft after its splashes down. So this time around, it appears SpaceX has taken a few more precautions and we even heard them on the webcast before splashdown saying, hey, if you're watching this, don't think of coming anywhere near splashdown. Please just watch from the safety of your own home or wherever you're watching it from. So we're not seeing that this time, which is good, Pam.
BROWN: That is good. We're seeing some video from Friday of the crew there. And you look at this, Mike, and again, these are civilians, with various jobs, who trained for about six months. And this is exactly as Kristin laid out what SpaceX has been trying to accomplish, right? Sending more civilians into space.
MASSIMINO: Yes.
BROWN: Why is that a good thing? Why is access to space a good thing?
[19:25:03]
MASSIMINO: Pam, I think that's a great question. I've been thinking about this for the past few months as these things have been happening. And I think what we're seeing today -- this flight, what we're seeing today in this flight that we have for the past few days is a great example of what non-astronauts, non-NASA astronauts in space flights can do.
As a NASA astronaut, I was trained along with a lot of other engineers and scientists and military personnel to fulfill the charter that NASA had. Service Hubble built the space station. We trained for those things to benefit the world of science, engineering, those types of things. But it was -- that's what our missions were.
We have these private missions now, this -- Jared, with his crew, what they did is they did something to raise awareness for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. That's something that -- we might think about doing that at NASA, but that's really beyond NASA's purview, beyond their charter.
Now that you have these private citizens, companies, going into space, they can dream big. They couldn't do these things just a few years ago because there was no access for them. And that applies to people who want to do things to raise awareness for causes like St. Jude's Children's Hospital, in this case, or those who want to do some research or some commercial activity in space. Make movies in space. Sports in space.
I mean, once you get creative people the access to space, it's not just engineers and scientists and military personnel like we've had before. You get really creative people, journalists, people who can think beyond what we would normally think about in our traditions as astronauts, and I think it gets really exciting. So I don't even think we can imagine what people are going to come up with now, now that this is possible.
BROWN: And I've talked to other astronauts and I believe you said the same thing, that once you go up into space and you're able to look at earth from that vantage point, you have this profound experience where you just like look at life, you look at earth in a different way, right?
MASSIMINO: Absolutely, Pamela. I looked at our planet on my very first spacewalk from an altitude similar to where these folks were and I looked at our planet and I thought to myself, this must be heaven I'm looking at. I felt I was looking into an absolute paradise. I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful than that planet, our planet. And you turn your head, you look out to the, you know, vastness of space, we checked out the neighborhood, we've got nowhere else to go.
We need to take care of this place. And, you know, going around it over and over again, I got this sense of oneness. It's a home. I think of my home now -- you know, I grew up in New York, I'll always be a New Yorker, I'll always be an American, but I also really think of myself now, what I really think of myself as after that experience as a citizen of planet earth. A home that we all share.
It is a profound experience to be able to go to space and take that look back at our planet. It's a beautiful place. We can enjoy its beauty here on earth. But I think it really was intended to be viewed from space. So the more people that get that view, I think the better off we're going to be as a world.
BROWN: Especially as we're dealing with so much on this planet, right, with climate change, all that we're seeing done to this planet on that front. Just the divisions, you know, the list goes on and on, and just how going up into space and looking back, how that can have such a profound impact.
And for these four civilians, Kristin, if you would, just walk us through again what they experienced coming back down. You were saying they were up pressed back by 4 or 5g's and they land in the water after being in space for three days. What is that transition like for them?
FISHER: Yes. Imagine, you're traveling around the earth at a speed of, you know, 17,500 miles per hour. You're higher than the International Space Station. And then you slowly start this deorbit burn and begin the process of reentering the earth's atmosphere. And when Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who were the crew of Demo 2, and remember, these are professional NASA astronauts, military test pilots, people who've been training their whole lives for this.
When they experienced what the crew of Inspiration 4 just experienced, they said it felt as though they were inside a living and breathing animal, kind of like a Dragon, like the crew capsule is called. They also said that at every single separation event, it felt as though the back of their chair or seat was getting whacked with a baseball bat. I mean, these are significant events that happen as they reenter the earth's atmosphere.
They are experiencing temperatures or the capsule is experiencing temperatures of about 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It forces this fiery plasma to quite literally engulf the capsule, causing that communications blackout for six or seven minutes, in which the mission control on the ground and the crew in the capsule cannot communicate with one another.
[19:30:12]
And even though you know that that is happening and you prepare for it, it has to be a slightly unnerving moment, knowing that you are just on your own out there hurtling through space.
I mean, Elon Musk described it as a meteor going through and he said, you know, we had to do everything to make sure that that meteor does not get vaporized, and what they have been able to accomplish with this Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket and the reusability of the booster, which will ultimately make spaceflight more affordable for everyone, for companies, for people, it is really quite incredible.
And so then we saw those two parachutes deploy, the capsule splashdown off the Coast of Florida, and now we're seeing the capsule approaching, or I should say, the crew recovery ship approaching the capsule.
And so what's going to happen is they are going to hook those ropes to the capsule, and they're going to use this hydraulic crane to lift it out of the ocean. And then, they call it the nest, it's basically a giant net. They're going to place the capsule down in the recovery ship's nest, and only then are they going to begin the process of opening up the hatch and getting the crew out.
And, you know, I'm very curious whether or not SpaceX is going to show us that moment. Because, you know, this is -- keep in mind, this is not NASA. This is not the government, it is not beholden to taxpayers. This is a private company.
And if they don't want to show us that moment, if the Commander, Jared, Isaacman who has financed this whole flight, if he doesn't want to show that moment, they don't have to. And you know, who knows how the crew is doing in there right now. They could be feeling a little bit seasick. I talked about those vomit bags that are in there, just in case, you
know, someone is not feeling too well. And on previous missions, longer duration missions, they have actually brought the astronauts out in stretchers just because, you know, you're getting used to gravity again. You're also on a boat that's rocking, so they don't want to -- they want to make sure everybody is feeling okay, and they're back to their balance, their normal balance before they make them walk around on the boat.
So it'll be interesting to see what we are allowed to see as these next few minutes transpire -- Pam.
BROWN: So they will likely be back on dry land, or out of the capsule just a few minutes from now. Whether or not we see that moment remains to be seen as Kristin just laid out there.
But Mike, once this crew does get back on dry land, what is your advice to them?
MASSIMINO: I think they could tell us about what they experienced. I think they would share what they experienced, and enjoy the moments of course, but I think we always felt the responsibility when we got back, of course, their family is going to reunited with them.
But also we went right to debrief. So, everything we did it at NASA, we debriefed very quickly to get the data out of what we learned and to share everything that we learned on the mission with our team and also with the public.
And so I hope they do the same. I hope that they let us know what it was like.
BROWN: And we just learned SpaceX is saying the crew is in good spirits. They're watching entertainment on their iPads as they are just floating in this capsule right now. Pretty surreal, Kristin.
What are some of the questions you would want to ask them? What would be sort of the pressing questions for you as a journalist covering this if you had that opportunity?
FISHER: I'd want to know if -- for Jared Isaacman, I'd want to know if it was everything that he hoped it would be. I mean, this is someone who had been dreaming about this moment, his whole life. Sian Proctor, too. I mean, she came this close to becoming a NASA astronaut in 2009, and was a finalist, was just devastated that she wasn't selected.
So for those two, I want to know, did it live up to their dreams? For Hayley Arceneaux, I mean, here you have someone when she first got the call, and they said, do you want to go to space? The first thing she said was, "Are we going to the moon?" And she later acknowledged how you know, how silly that was? Because obviously, nobody has been to the moon since the Apollo Program, NASA now trying to go back with the Artemis Program.
But she shared that story, just to say, you know, this is how little I knew about space. And so I'm curious if this is now for her going to fuel a lifelong passion and interest for her in space, if she is going to continue to -- if she is going to push for other people to follow in her footsteps.
And then there's Chris Sembroski, and he is someone who -- there was a Netflix documentary leading up to this, and in that documentary, he really talked about the impact that this was having on his family.
He has a wife. He has two small children. And when he first found out that he'd been selected for this, he didn't say yes, I'm going. He immediately went to his wife and said, you know, "Can I go? Is it okay to go?"
[19:35:07]
FISHER: And she had no idea that he had even entered this sweepstakes or a raffle in an attempt to get this golden ticket to go to space, and she talked so much about how scared she was, how she knew that this was an important mission, and she was happy for her husband, but that she would not be able to breathe a sigh of relief until he was back down on Planet Earth.
So now that he has landed or splashed down, I should say, I want to know from her, was the anxiety, the nerves, was it all worth it? -- Pam.
BROWN: Was it all worth it? As we watch this moment, right, as the capsule is inching slowly toward the ship, it's going to go on the ship. And then we're told that a Medical Officer is going to check out the crew before they leave that capsule.
Walk us through, Kristin, more about what's going on here, and what would the Medical Officer be looking for?
FISHER: So right now, this is the moment where I believe they are -- yes, they're actually beginning to pull the capsule, the Dragon capsule out of the Atlantic Ocean. It splashed down just off the Coast of Florida from where we are right now in Cape Canaveral. They are going to be pulling it back into -- see that little donut-shaped thing right there, there may be a bit of a delay, so sorry for not seeing it at the exact same time -- but they're going to be bringing the capsule down into that doughnut, they call it the nest.
And then once it is there, the first thing they're going to do is they're going to check to make sure that there are no toxic fumes coming out of this spacecraft, right? I mean, there's so much propellant, so many toxins that are used to bring this type of spacecraft back safely to Planet Earth.
So they first have to make sure that it is safe for the Recovery Team, and for the crew to open up the hatch. Then they'll go in, they'll open up the hatch. That's when we may or may not get our first glimpse of the crew inside the Crew Dragon capsule.
And then after that, they will be taken to a part of the ship where they're going to do some medical checks. They're going to check them out, make sure they are feeling okay. Like I said nausea, really a big problem, or can be a big problem when you're splashing down in the ocean in a kind of claustrophobic capsule even though as Mike was saying, it is quite nice and spacious when you're in orbit.
And once they get that all clear, there is a helicopter pad on that ship and a helicopter is going to whisk the new astronauts away or spaceflight participants, whatever you want to call them. They're going to whisk the crew of Inspiration 4 back to the Kennedy Space Center, which is where their family, all of those SpaceX employees are going to be waiting for this big celebration.
And you know, deservedly so, because what they have done, what SpaceX has done over the last, you know, year and a half is really something that only governments have been able to do until very recently.
China, Russia, the United States, and NASA. That's it. Those were the only entities that were capable of putting humans all the way into orbit. We're not talking about you know, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic or Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, who, you know, we saw them back in July go on their own space flights, but those were suborbital space flights. They only went up and down, they only experienced three to four minutes of weightlessness.
The crew of Inspiration 4 got to experience three full days of weightlessness. That is something that only a select few governments were able to do until just about a year and a half ago. And now, SpaceX proving that not only can it send NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, but it can also send amateur astronauts on the greatest adventure of their lives.
And with that comes its own set of challenges. I mean, as a member of the press who has covered quite a few launches, I can say that this one was like no other in terms of access. We are so used to a NASA communications team responding to our every request, a government agency that's beholden to taxpayers in terms of providing constant updates in terms of how the crew is doing and what they're doing.
We didn't get that. We didn't get quite as much insight into the mission, as we would have if this were a strictly NASA Flight. But SpaceX is a private company. This was a flight that was fully financed by one person, Jared Isaacman, and therefore they are able and have the prerogative to share as much or as little about this mission as they want.
So we should see in a few moments. Now, you can see the Crew Dragon capsule, this one is called Resilience, safely on the capsule recovery ship, just off the Coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.
It appears it is secure in its little bird's nest there. And in a few moments, we should see some of the crew members coming out, checking the capsule, making sure it's okay.
[19:40:11]
FISHER: And you know one thing I'd point out, look at that capsule. I mean, it was beautiful, pristine white when it took off. Now look at it, you see those like black streaks and the charring of the capsule, that is from re-entry. That is from the extremely high temperatures that that capsule had to endure, that plasma wall we were talking about that caused the communications blackout.
But those marks, they might seem ugly, they might seem dirty to you and me, but SpaceX is incredibly proud of them. They love to keep their Falcon 9 boosters looking all dirty, because it proves that this has been in the space or close to space, it launched something in to space, it came back, and now they can reuse it, which is what SpaceX and Elon Musk have been working towards since it was founded 20 years ago -- Pam.
BROWN: And just the idea that they kept the four crew members safe. Look at what the capsule went through, it took a huge beating as you can see, as you laid out. But as we were told from the company, the four civilians inside that capsule were in good spirits.
They are still in the capsule right now, and they are getting ready to get out once they're checked out by the Medical Officer and Mike, you know, what was that like for you after your first space flight to get out of the capsule and set foot on dry land?
MASSIMINO: Yes, there's a -- I guess, there's the physical part of it, and then there's the emotional part of it.
The physical part, your head is trying to make sense of what's happening because your sense of balance, vestibular system that was not working in space and that's what sometimes causes a bit of nausea and not feeling well when you first get the space because your brain is trying to figure out where am I? You're floating around. That usually goes away after the first day, you feel great.
But then when you get back to Earth, that's going up again. You also feel a bit heavy, because you've been floating around for a few days, in this case, and now you're back in one gravity, it feels a lot heavier than one gravity. It can feel like everything just weighs a lot, you weigh a lot, it's hard to move around in that way.
And your brain is trying to get used to having input again from your balance system, because you're not floating.
When I first got -- tried to walk around, my feet were very far apart, because I felt like I was going to fall over. So I was trying to -- I felt like I was going to fall over, I was perfectly fine.
So, you're trying to make sense of all that again, and be able to move around again. And after a couple of hours, you're feeling much, much better.
We weren't allowed to drive a car or fly an airplane, do anything like that for a few days until we got checked out by the doc. And you will be able to get checked out by the doctor as well, making sure everything is working like it should.
And then there's the emotional part. You've been through this amazing journey. Yes, what my advice for them now that they're back, in addition to sharing their story, be grateful for what they have been able to do. Not very many people get to do it. More and more hopefully are going to get that chance, but be grateful for that opportunity.
And now you're back on the planet, and it's really emotional to see your family again. You've seen -- you've seen our planet from a different perspective, and now you're back where you were before you started.
I was really looking forward to seeing people again. I had been in quarantine for a while and then in space for a while and I wanted to just go -- I wanted to go to my kid's swim tournament quite honestly, to be around other parents and other people and just kind of enjoy that. Get that sense of being back on Earth again and around people.
And I remember after landing, being back at home the next day and looking back up at night, walked in the dock and think wow, I was just up there not that long ago. So, there's the physical part of it that you get used to, but then the emotional part as well as -- it is quite interesting, quite profound, very meaningful.
BROWN: I was going to ask you about that. What was it like the next morning when you woke up in your own bed?
MASSIMINO: Well, you've got to be really careful, Pamela, because what happened to me is, as I woke up that very first -- that very first morning waking up, you kind of forget where you are and you're used to waking up in space, and I almost -- I tried to float out of bed and almost landed up on the floor.
And that would have been a very embarrassing call to the flight surgeon, but I caught myself, wait, you know. But that's what happened to me. I also -- later that day, unloading the car for groceries, you know, we went to the grocery store and I was helping unload and I didn't know where to put all the groceries and I thought, oh I know what I'll do, I'll just float them right behind me.
And as I'm letting go, you've had that feeling, you're doing something, you don't know what's wrong about it, but you know there's something wrong and as I let go -- and of course the groceries went flat to the ground.
So my advice, I guess, more advice from me is be really careful when you wake up tomorrow that you know don't try to float out of bed and don't think that you're going to be able to float stuff like you did in space. Gravity will take over and could make a mess.
[19:45:07]
BROWN: How long did it take you for reality to set back in once you were back on Earth here?
MASSIMINO: Yes, I think -- well, I think the reality of being a space really has never set in for me. It's just such an extraordinary experience that you never -- that stays with you forever. As far as getting to walk around, I thought --
BROWN: Just to point out, they did open the hatch door right there. So, we just want to walk our viewers who may just be on be joining us and tell them what's going on.
But go ahead, Mike.
MASSIMINO: Yes, so that was a couple -- I was able to walk pretty much right away. You know, we got checked out by the docs and we were able to do a walk around on the spaceship that was kind of like the thing you wanted to do. But I didn't really feel good about moving around for about another three or four hours.
And then it really took until the next day that I felt pretty solid, you know, walking around -- walking around the planet again.
So you've got to take it easy. A lot of things are setting -- your spine, for example, your spine extends itself when you're in space, it's kept in the right place by gravity. You're actually a little bit taller in space than when you're in the ground. But that is all settling back in. You lose all that height when you get back, your, as I said your vestibular system is learning how to coordinate motion with your vision.
And so all of that is kicking back in, so you really want to take it slow for the first day or two. And then you want to tell everybody about what you did, tell your family, tell your friends, and you know, I called my mom right away and you do all those things, really joyous and meaningful things to be doing.
BROWN: We're just wanting to tell our viewers as we see right now, I believe this is the -- what we're seeing from inside the capsule, if I'm not mistaken. We see two of the crew members right now. And Kristin, I want to bring you back in to help us understand who we're seeing right now. Is that the Medical Officer as far as you can tell? What's going on?
We saw, I think, one of the -- we'll call them astronauts now, flight crew attendants, whatever you want to call them, as you said, do a fist pump as well, clearly. They're excited and they know they just had a heck of a ride as the Flight Commander said when they splashed down.
FISHER: Well, you can see the X for SpaceX on the man's shirt who has entered the capsule, so he is certainly a SpaceX employee.
For previous splashdowns, the first person in has been some type of medical professional to go in, check out the crew, make sure they're doing okay. He'll probably ask them, you know, how are you feeling? Do you feel like you were going to be capable of walking out of this capsule? Are you going to perhaps need some assistance?
And remember, they're not wearing comfortable clothing. They're wearing full-on spacesuits and gloves and helmets and so, it's not the easiest thing in the world to move around.
SpaceX has certainly made these spacesuits more comfortable, much more comfortable than say the Apollo or even Shuttle spacesuits. And they certainly look pretty slick, too. I mean, the --
BROWN: We'd love to hear what's going on inside there.
FISHER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're just now joining us, you are tuned into the Inspiration 4, all-civilian mission to orbit with the Inspiration 4 crew back home on Earth, getting ready to egress the Dragon vehicle here shortly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More exciting fist bumps.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There they are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are in such a great shock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How incredible, some hearts. Love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, that was the crew members of Inspiration 4, as excited as ever. They are back on Earth on the recovery vessel just waiting to exit the Dragon spacecraft.
Some fist bumps going around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again, as the crew does begin their egress, they will have a team that does help them as they egress or exit the vehicle. As they have been out in microgravity for the last three days, they have not felt the gravity of their own body in three days. So, this is very standard procedure to have some support and help as they egress the vehicle
[19:50:09]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, it looks like they are removing the foot rests at the bottom of their seats. This will give them some space as they exit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is a good thing to note that when we land, we also recline the seats back down to make it a little bit easier for the astronauts and crew members to exit the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like we have our first crew member, Hayley Arceneaux egressing the vehicle. She was sitting in seat one to the left. She looks very excited even if we're just looking at the backside of her SpaceX spacesuit helmet.
[APPLAUSE]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there she is, Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux has now egressed the vehicle, the first of the Inspiration 4 crew and so very excited. Lots of waves, thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some thumbs up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting a little photo op, and it looks like up next is Dr. Sian Proctor. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is very exciting for the crew to be exiting
the capsule and finishing their Inspiration 4 mission, a mission that's done so much for folks around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, absolutely inspiring all the way around. Just an incredible mission with an incredible crew.
[APPLAUSE]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here comes Dr. Sian Proctor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There she is, excited as ever. Dr. Sian Proctor. Oh, I love it. Love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just strolling on down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know, no problem at all.'
Looks like Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski is up next to egress the vehicle.
Looks like some dancing there.
Again, there is crew there to help them egress to make sure that they do not damage their suits or themselves on their way out.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is Chris Sembroski, again, the Mission Specialist, again with a smile all over his face. Super excited, ready to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there we go. Last but not least, we have Commander Jared Isaacman getting ready to egress the vehicle as well. The final fourth Inspiration 4 crew member of the first all-civilian crew mission to orbit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what a way to close it out.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was really the person with the vision
[19:55:10]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There he is. Commander Jared Isaacman of the Inspiration 4 crew. So excited. It is amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Handshakes and hugs all around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazing. Now they will be doing a standard procedure, going into the Medical Room on the recovery vessel and doing some medical checks to make sure that the crew is safe and healthy.
And then they will hop on a helicopter and head back to Florida. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, well, now that Jared, Haley, Sian, and Chris
are safely back home on Earth and getting checked out by our medical team, we're going to wrap up our live coverage of their historic return.
We started this day about two hours ago. We had successful trunk separation, we completed a deorbit burn, closed the nose cone. We got through that blackout period of communications, both sets of shoots deployed. Awesome.
And the crew splashdown. We hoisted them up, and they have just exited the vehicle.
BROWN: All right. Kristin, back to you. That was so much fun to watch. I loved all the dancing. Clearly, they were no worse for the wear after that three days in space, the first historic all-civilian crew emerging from SpaceX capsule after that historic flight, but I didn't see the moonwalks.
I was kind of surprised by that, Kristin. I thought at least we'd see a moonwalk.
FISHER: Yes, I kind of felt like I was watching that moment at like a wedding reception where the wedding party comes in and they each do their own dances.
BROWN: Right.
FISHER: Look, they deserve every fist pump, every dance move that they did. I would have loved to have seen a moonwalk, but think about what they just went through, three days in microgravity. They just re- entered the Earth's atmosphere inside a capsule that was dealing with temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean and that recovery ship pulling the capsule back safely on board.
And you know, I think it was quite fitting, the 29-year-old Hayley Arceneaux was the first to exit the Crew Dragon capsule. I mean, she was the youngest American to visit space. She is also the first cancer survivor and the first person with a prosthesis to ever visit space.
And, you know, in a sense, this whole mission was kind of done for her and for children or people who use to -- or now children like she was when she was 10 years old and diagnosed with bone cancer.
This whole mission, which was the brainchild of the Commander Jared Isaacman was designed to raise funds, $200 million for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. And so I think it was fitting that she was the first one out.
You saw Sian Proctor come out with arguably the best dance moves after that. Someone who has spent her entire life trying to go into space. She openly admitted that she was devastated, depressed when she was cut from becoming a NASA astronaut in 2009. Now, she finally got to achieve her dream along with Chris Sembroski and Jared Isaacman -- Pam. BROWN: Yes, and you know, Mike, for a time there, you could only see
the back, but you could almost like feel her smile watching the coverage. Right? Like you just knew how excited she was given her history that Kristin just laid out and the others were.
You are one of the few people in the world who can understand what this would feel like.
MASSIMINO: Yes, it is and especially when you put it in the in the context of the obstacles that some of them have faced, of course, being a cancer survivor for Hayley and her case and being rejected from -- I got rejected for NASA three times, including a medical disqualification. It is pretty disappointing, but I was lucky enough to be on my fourth try to get there, and that just makes it a bit sweeter.
You know, you realize that these things in life that you dream about, you hope that they're going to happen beyond your wildest imagination, and then they actually do happen. And it's a wonderful feeling, and I'm very happy for all of them.
That, you know, a year ago, none of them would have thought that this could be possible, including Jared, I think, you know, because he just came up with this idea, this plan with SpaceX less than a year ago apparently.
So, think of how their lives have changed in the past few months, over the past year, particularly at a time when it's been really rough on all of us dealing with the pandemic and other issues to have something like this, I think we all can share in their joy and I'm very happy for all of them.
[20:00:10]
