00:00Right now, the news is that Falcon 9 is ready for a takeoff.
00:04Let's take a listen.
00:05Before they get on board today.
00:06Peggy's is gold, as I see.
00:08Yes, you'll notice that Peggy's indicates that she is a frequent flyer with us here at SpaceX.
00:12Then, of course, our crew has the opportunity to sign the wall in the White Room,
00:16as all the astronauts who have launched from that tower have before them.
00:20And then one by one, they ingress or enter the spacecraft.
00:24Got some great views here of them hugging this team goodbye.
00:27And as you mentioned earlier, Paul, they've been working together with these teams here
00:30for the last 10 months, preparing for today.
00:34You're right.
00:35So much of that is not just the work that they're going to do on station,
00:40but a lot of that is also just this moment, rehearsing with their closeout crew
00:45to prepare for getting into Dragon.
00:47And all of these steps have been rehearsed a time and time again.
00:50There they are, exiting the Falcon support building,
00:52which is just about a half mile away from the launch pad.
00:55Then, of course, they get into the Tesla caravan together to go to launch complex 39A.
01:01You can see them moving into the Teslas there.
01:04We do, of course, divide the crew into two sets.
01:07So you're seeing some of our SpaceX support ninjas in the background there.
01:11Very excited crew on their way over to 39A.
01:14Once they reach the base of the tower,
01:17they do stop to take in Falcon 9 and Dragon,
01:19which is always my favorite shot,
01:21is getting to see this crew see their spacecraft for the first time in their suit
01:25on the lead up to launch.
01:27Here they are walking across the crew access arm before ingressing or entering.
01:33Here you are.
01:33You can see we've got our SpaceX team is checking the boarding passes of our crew
01:37before they get on board today.
01:39Peggy's is gold, as I see.
01:40Yes, you'll notice that Peggy's indicates that she is a frequent flyer with us here at SpaceX.
01:45Then, of course, our crew has the opportunity to sign the wall in the white room
01:49as all the astronauts who have launched from that tower have before them.
01:52And then one by one, they ingress or enter the spacecraft.
01:57Got some great views here of them hugging this team goodbye.
02:00And as you mentioned earlier, Paul,
02:01they've been working together with these teams here for the last 10 months preparing for today.
02:05You're right.
02:08So much of that is not just the work that they're going to do on station,
02:13but a lot of that is also just this moment,
02:15rehearsing with their closeout crew to prepare for getting into Dragon.
02:20And all of these steps have been rehearsed time and time again.
02:23Akshita also tracking that story very, very closely.
02:26Akshita, this is, of course, Mission Akash Ganga.
02:29And it's a perfect example of U.S.-India cooperation when it comes to space.
02:36You know, this is a mission that everyone really has their eyes on.
02:39I mean, 1.4 billion hearts really beating for Siwansha Shukla today, isn't it?
02:45Now, how exciting is this, Neha, that we're seeing this moment
02:48and these images of Group Captain Shukla seated there inside the capsule.
02:52It's a very small space, as you can make out.
02:55They all had to duck in and enter.
02:56But seated right next to Group Captain Shukla, to his left, is the mission commander, Peggy Whitson.
03:02And that itself tells you you're the scheme of things.
03:04Essentially, you've got the mission commander, Peggy Whitson.
03:07The number two is clearly Group Captain Shukla because he's the pilot.
03:10And then you have the two mission specialists as well.
03:13So it's an important mission, but you can see that the mood is clearly high.
03:17They're excited.
03:18All of them ready in their suits.
03:20It took about an hour or so for them to get suited up, stepped out.
03:24And then there was that amazing moment where they all held their fists up in the air,
03:28celebrating this moment, just soaking it all in.
03:31Remember that they've been in quarantine for the last one month, Neha.
03:34So the kind of exposure they've had to the outside world, to people, has been very limited.
03:39Which is why even in that moment where you saw them stepping out, meeting their families one last time,
03:44it was very limited interactions that were allowed.
03:47I can tell you that the press who was present there, we were told to be at a 50 feet distance away from them
03:53to ensure minimum exposure.
03:55And that's how sensitive this kind of a mission is.
03:58Even while they're entering into the capsule, at the very last stretch where you have Axiom personnel,
04:03SpaceX personnel, getting them set for the mission, they're fully covered up.
04:07They've got their faces covered up.
04:08All of that done with the reason to ensure that these astronauts are not exposed at the nth minute.
04:13And they traveled essentially in two vehicles, again very symbolically in Tesla vehicles.
04:18You had the two mission specialists together, Group Captain Shukla,
04:21along with Mission Commander Peggy Whitson in another car.
04:24That's that moment there.
04:25And it's great, absolutely great to see Group Captain Shukla.
04:29All smiles, looking confident, looking excited.
04:31And as he himself said earlier, Sneha, in a virtual press conference that we had attended about a month ago,
04:37he said, I'm carrying with me certain personal belongings,
04:41but I'm also carrying with me the prayers and hopes of billions of Indians.
04:45And nobody could have put that better than Group Captain Shukla.
04:48So he knows what this mission means for every single Indian.
04:51It makes us so proud to watch these moments as Group Captain Shukla,
04:55along with all the other astronauts, are now in the capsule, ready.
04:59They're seated.
04:59This is the normal protocol that about 90 minutes before they're seated and ready to go,
05:04ready for blast off.
05:05And Ashita, be with us.
05:06We'll just come back to you in a moment.
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