NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, together with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov arrived at the launch pad in Florida and completed ingress into their Dragon spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Aug. 1, 2025.
00:02And all in 90 minutes, right, as you zip around the planet.
00:0616 times a day.
00:08Well, there is our commander and our pilot, Mike Fink and Xena Cardman,
00:14looking up at their rocket.
00:20Big hugs, big hugs.
00:22So Xena must have listened to your commentary yesterday, Daryl,
00:24because she was leaning back farther than Mike was today.
00:27I noticed that.
00:28I was going to say so.
00:29I was like, wait, Mike Fink has the upgraded suit.
00:32He is the only one of the crew to wear the version 2, V2, R2,
00:39which is an upgraded suit that SpaceX is providing.
00:43In the elevator they go from the ground floor up to the 275-foot level.
00:51This is a great shot.
00:52They were just there looking up at their rocket.
00:55This gives you a sense of scale.
00:57Which is so hard to get in the space industry.
01:02Yes.
01:02You see these pictures of the rocket and launch pad from a long ways away,
01:06and without a person standing there,
01:07you start to forget that these are small buildings we're launching into space.
01:12Yes, that's right.
01:13That was a great shot to lay that imagery out, right?
01:19We saw them close up in the elevators, and then we widened out to the rocket.
01:25It really gives you a sense of scale.
01:27Great work by the production team there.
01:30All right, they get to the elevator.
01:31They have one more set of stairs to climb before they get up to the crew access arm.
01:36Well, Xena has some hugs for the closeout crew.
02:05Yeah, last little, you know, thank yous for all the work yesterday and today.
02:12And getting ready to walk out the arm and get strapped in.
02:20Today's the day.
02:30A nice gaze out across the spaceport.
02:33You can see everything.
02:36It's an unbelievable view.
02:40It's so scenic.
02:43And here comes Mike and Xena.
02:46Hearts and thumbs up with big waves getting ready to get inside Dragon Endeavor.
02:53Was that a dab?
03:07You said he was a jokester.
03:10He's having a good time.
03:11And so put a hand where they signed the meatball.
03:20More on countdown.
03:21Could have reached the white room on schedule.
03:25Because this is the second launch attempt, they will not have to sign their names along the NASA logo that you see there on the wall.
03:34They did that yesterday.
03:36So Xena just put her hand on it.
03:39Gave it a touch.
03:41And they'll go straight into making sure their suit is clean.
03:48And there's no FOD before they get into the Dragon Endeavor.
03:53They're a spacecraft that will take them on a journey to the International Space Station.
03:58260 miles above the surface of the Earth.
04:02Talk about Mike's spacesuit.
04:17This is V2.
04:20Version 2.
04:21But they call it R2.
04:23His is different than the one Xena is wearing.
04:26As we split screen to catch the mission specialists doing their poses, looking up.
04:32Strike in a pose.
04:35They're choreographed.
04:37They get higher marks than Spanky and Xena.
04:43You're listening to our posing judge, General Nick Haig.
04:51An astronaut here at NASA and also a brigadier general with the U.S. Space Force.
04:57In goes the commander.
05:00And now we await the pilot.
05:02But his suit is different.
05:06As he pulls up the front of it, it is more configurable.
05:12You can adjust the sizing on it much better than you can the first version.
05:17This one has zippers that zip around the circumference of the individual rather than a long zipper that goes along the inseam.
05:26With that one that you suited up in, Nick, you get into it kind of like you would a onesie.
05:33But this one, you get into it the way we got into our clothes today.
05:38You're wearing a flight suit.
05:39I'm not.
05:39But, you know, get into your pants, put on your shirt, and then zip around.
05:45And just like your luggage, which has that zipper to expand it when you've bought too many, you know, tourist stuff on your trip.
05:55You can unzip it to expand or zip it to shrink it, which gives them greater flexibility with these suits.
06:03They can fit them on more people and have to make fewer custom suits for the astronauts.
06:10Yeah, a suit fit can be a really finicky thing, and there's a lot of effort that's been spent with the first version of the suit,
06:19trying to make sure that every crew member gets a suit that fits.
06:23With this new one, there's a lot more adaptability and a little bit more forgiveness in the suit.
06:29It's one of those things that's really important.
06:33Normally, these suits are never pressurized except during leak checks.
06:37But in the event of an emergency, they may need to pressurize.
06:42And if they don't pressurize in the right shape, it can lead to injury of the crew member.
06:56And here come our mission specialists right behind them, Oleg and Kimia.
07:01Flashing signs of crew 11 with the two fingers extended upwards.
07:10They are ready to go.
07:11You know what I love about the view you were talking about earlier that we can see out the windows there is that with the exception of, you know,
07:29the occasional launch pad and building and stuff, this is a pristine wildlife refuge that just goes on and on and on.
07:36So it's natural Florida the way it was before, you know, it became populated.
07:41Yeah, and it's that stark contrast of nature and then this technology, like the most sophisticated thing that humanity can do plopped right down in the middle of it.
07:57And that juxtaposition is just, it's eye-catching.
08:09Get comfortable, Mike.
08:12You're going to be here a while.
08:13He's around in his seat.
08:15Well, you want to make sure the straps are tight.
08:17Yeah, so you can see, you know, the pad crew strapping them in inside, but then also outside, some of the things that you wear on the way to the launch pad are there to protect you from getting FOD in the suits or, you know, debris in the suits.
08:37So there's a cover that goes on the umbilical port on the leg.
08:41There's some covers that go on the bottoms of the boots.
08:43Once you get to the white room, you take all that stuff off because it's clean at that point and you're ready to get inside.
08:50And then you'll see them strap in inside as well as, here in a little bit, start to hand them their, you know, personal gear, which is that satchel that they're going to put on their left thigh.
09:02If you joined us recently, you're watching NASA and SpaceX's coverage of the launch of Crew-11 to the International Space Station.
09:20Our T-0 set for 11.43 a.m. Eastern Time.
09:23We are counting down currently T-minus two hours and 47 minutes.
09:27We have the commander and the pilot seated in their positions.
09:34And we just saw the two mission specialists go into the capsule and they are getting into their seats.
09:40NASA astronaut Nick Hague is here helping us document Crew-11's journey into orbit.
10:02In our split screen, we are inside and outside of the spacecraft.
10:06We're also taking your questions, so please send them in.
10:15Hashtag AskNASA.
10:18Nick has given us the goal of getting as many questions answered as we can.
Be the first to comment