Pad Abort Test of Boeing's Starliner Spacecraft, Nov. 4, 2019

okay, good morning everyone and welcome to our live coverage of the Boeing pad

abort

test

. We will come to you live from the desert at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I'm Dan Hewitt from NASA and today I have the privilege of being with you. by jessica landa with

boeing

for what is going to be a very exciting and dynamic morning, that's right janet, it's an absolute pleasure to be here with you, I mean today is such a beautiful morning out in the desert and it could be a little warmer, definitely It could be a little warmer, we were struggling a couple of days ago, weren't we?

But we just couldn't ask for a more beautiful morning for the first

abort

of the Starliner flight

test

pad, which is really one of the last major milestones before crewed flight and a lot will happen very quickly and again it will be a really dynamic test. , so let's paint a picture of what people will see today, yeah, at this point we're about nine minutes away. away from liftoff and uh dan and I here we are about five miles west of the test stand and the mission director center is another 500 feet or so west of us so we did our launch minus 30 poles was it 20 minutes ago?

All good. going across the board the wind at this point that windsock behind us is just moving slightly easterly winds so we're looking pretty good and there are a couple of key targets that we're going to be looking for For today, what are we going to do? really do? Because obviously we're going to see those launch abort engines fire up. This will be the first one that will start a very fast sequence of this paddle board. Yes, absolutely, the platform abort test is really a Starliner test. end-to-end functionality of our abort system so you know we have to make sure that we can keep the crew safe in the unlikely event that there is an emergency and the Starliner abort system is actually designed to be able to abort successfully in all phases of flight, so not just on the pad but across the entire climb profile and you know, we've tested the system at the component level, we've tested at the subsystem level and now we're testing at the integrated system performance level. .

So we really want to make sure that all of these systems work together so that we can keep our crews safe. Some of the things we really want to keep in mind is we really want those launch abort engines to be able to propel that

spacecraft

away from the launch vehicle adapter that's actually there on the pad. Today we replaced the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, so we have four main launch engines of 40,000 pounds of thrust each and we have um, about a dozen omacs that are 1,500 orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters. pounds each, so we really want to see them propel that

spacecraft

safely in the unlikely event of an emergency.

You know, the next thing you really need to pay attention to is. it's guidance, navigation and control, you know we really have to be in control of that spacecraft all the time and it has to go in the general direction that we need, especially on launch day, if this was the real thing that we have. you have to be able to get to the Atlantic Ocean and then you know all of our separation events have to work correctly, you have to see the parachute sequence, you know, jettison and launch correctly and then really one of the other main separation events that I just want to mention to you that you'll see the service module separated from the crew module and that's a really critical separation event and I'll walk you through an animation here in just a minute, but before I do that. just be aware that the service module will separate from the crew module, fall freely to the ground and some of the residual propellant left in that vehicle may ignite and may burn a little, you may see some color. smoke trail, uh, but that's exactly what we expect to happen, uh, keep in mind that if this were real, it would land in the ocean, but today it will land in the desert, so if we see some additional fireworks today, it will wait and that's it. that's it, you'll see what we expect, yeah, so why don't we check out the animation?

Yes, it is absolutely expected. I mean, this is going to be a really dynamic couple of minutes. Let me walk you through here so you can get those launch abort engines to come on, those LEDs will light up for about five seconds, those omacs will continue to fire intermittently for another five seconds, which will just put the spacecraft on the right trajectory, um , and then all this will go pretty quickly. Before you know it, the spacecraft will begin performing its pitch maneuver which places itself in the proper orientation of the earth. You'll see that climb cover and that forward heat shield jettisoning together, followed by the parachute sequence, followed by two drop parachutes. by three pilot parachutes, that job is really just taking out the power grid and then you'll see three main parachutes deploy and you really know that the parachutes really do double duty here because they're not just designed to carry the crew module so safely and slowly return to the ground, but they're also being jettisoned at the right time, they deploy at the right time to make sure that the spacecraft is in the right orientation to properly separate that service module from the crew module, but like I said You want to keep your eyes on that crew module because that's where, of course, our precious cargo is about 60 seconds into flight, that base heat shield is going to be jettisoned and that allows those magnificent airbags to deploy. landing, you know, keep in mind that here goes Starliner.

It will be the first American-made crew orbital capsule to land on Earth, and today you'll get a sneak peek of that. That's right, and we've been here a couple of times doing those landing tests, one of the main landing zones for the Starliner style will be here at the Whitestone spaceport, actually, right next to an old runway on the who landed the shuttle once in their program on sts-3, so there are a lot of interesting things happening today that are important to note. I mean this is a challenging test, we are really putting the vehicle in one of the most dynamic situations that could be in Europe.

You're simulating getting the crew out of an extremely dangerous situation and at NASA we have some nice things. recent history with how important systems like these are, our astronaut Nick Hague, last year in October, was on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and aborted while going uphill, but was able to land successfully thanks to an abort system along with your your crewmate alexei from china, really important testing here today, a really important system, but it just plays into what we need to do to make sure that when we're ready to put the crew on one of these spacecraft, they're going to be in a safe place. place, oh, absolutely, you know, I think the Boeing team thinks about that all the time, you know, we're constantly thinking about safety and how we can absolutely make sure that our crew is in the safest vehicle that we can let you know, I just want to You know, I'll show you a video actually from the Starliner production factory in Florida.

When they were signing the spaceship. You know this, the gentleman you see signing here is named Kevin and he is one of our lead technicians. He told me before. You know, hey, Jess, if something's not right, I'm not going to sleep tonight, I'll come back the next day and we'll fix it, we'll make it right, and you know, you see here. We have our Boeing President and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, Leanne Corette, who is signing off on the spacecraft. Now you can see her signing a little note for her father, who actually worked on the Apollo program, so Leanne was born on the Space Coast. so the space heritage runs in her family and you know the entire Boeing team is behind space in this particular program, yeah, and we're actually hearing in our loops right now that they're going to be on hold for a second.

We'll take a few moments to figure out what's going on, but we're still getting some great views of Starliner on its pad with that service module, so stay with us for just a couple of moments, we'll get a new updated time on what our account regressive was yes and again, we're currently on hold, we're still waiting to see what problem the teams are working on. Hopefully, we'll give you a new t-zero time in a moment, but we have three. time window today, so the seven o'clock mountain was right at the beginning of our window, so there's plenty of time for the teams to take it easy and make sure they're not working on any problems before Let's see Starliner take off.

Okay, and you know, let's go ahead and talk a little bit about that team. Our flight director today is actually Alicia Evans. Alicia led the team through the Starliner environmental rating testing a campaign that, you know, we actually passed with flying colors, so we're incredibly proud. Alicia is excited to hear it on the flight circuit today, and then you'll also hear from Jim Harder, he's our flight dynamics officer, you'll hear him come here in a moment, go ahead and give us all. of the milestones as they happen during the test, you know, but you know why we wait, I actually want to take us back and show a video here of the team deploying the spacecraft in preparation for launch, so this was actually and we.

We'll give our production team a second here to prepare the video, but you know, what was really incredible about this operation is that it's one of the most dangerous and complicated operations the team will do. spacecraft here leaving uh the fittiff, which is our test facility here on site at launch complex 32 and you see it leaving that building now this whole operation took, they started around five in the morning. until about 10 o'clock to get it into place, but think about it, this is a vehicle with all the fuel they're pumping out here and I think it was a hundred ton crane that they used to lift it up onto the gantry and then you know they had to tighten 278 bolts by hand to put it in place.

I'm really proud of the team there, you know they had practiced for a couple of weeks. Jeff Bertelsen, who was our recovery leader for this test, talked to us about I said it the other day and you know they practiced with some of what we call our standard vehicles, which are what we use to practice our landing airbags and our parachutes, we are very proud of them and they really did the job, yes, the rest. The team have been on the consoles since at least 10 o'clock last night, so they have been working through the night to get everything ready for our test today again, we have a three hour window that just opened in seven equipment.

If you're just joining, they're taking a look at a couple of things on the spaceship, so we're expecting a t z t minus zero, but as soon as we hear it, we'll let you know, but we'll still qualify for some great views. We're going to have views through some tracking cameras from the White Sands people here in Wismer, they do a lot of missile testing and things like that, so they have things, they have these cameras that can track things that are going very fast in the air, so it's perfect. for a test like today and this will also be one of the main landing sites, if not the best, for Starliner once it is flying, you know, I must say that the White Sands Missile Range and White Sands are just amazing partners ours, United States. us military we really couldn't do it without them you know they are such an integral part of the

starliner

team you know like you said we have two landing zones here at White Sands this is also where we do our parachute testing right on the other side of the mountain here, on top of that, this is where we did our service module hot fire test and of course our paddle board test today, so we couldn't do it without the US military and the white sands, uh your amazing partners of ours and from what I understand, you are also quite familiar with white sands, right?

Yes, we actually used the exact same paddle board rack on our Orion spacecraft a few years ago and I had the opportunity to come along. I went out with the Boeing teams a couple of times to do these landing and recovery practices. It's really exciting. I have some experience doing it in Kazakhstan with the Russian Soyuz. This is a completely different environment. A completely different environment. A completely different team. But it's really exciting. It's usually a little warmer when we're here. I think it's usually around 100 degrees during the summer because we've beenhere in July and August.

It's a little colder this morning but it's not too bad and we haven't had any weather restrictions like we heard before. No, no, you know, I think you know it was a little cold, so I know the team was looking at our helium tanks, you know, wanting to make sure they were staying at the right temperature. overnight and you know we have a little bit of 15 knot wind restrictions, but really that's just we can push the gantry back so you know the weather has been good and you know it's me. I'm really excited to see this test because you know we're going to go about 650 miles per hour and probably about five seconds.

There will be so many dynamic events happening that we will get data from during these two. one minute test and I know this is one in particular that the team is very excited to see happen that's right, and again, if you're just joining us, we're expecting a new t-minus zero, so the new time of launch for platform cancellation looks like we're getting close, we'll just pause for a moment, listen and then we should be able to offer you that new launch time in just a moment, okay, okay, we're here and we have a new time t-minus zero.

Now we're looking at 715 mountain 9 15. Yeah, it looks like the team was just taking another look at the booster pressurization when I looked again at what they saw on the screen and they said, hey, you know we're still good, so let's go ahead and just reset it to 7 15. and that's take a look at the clock here it's not too far away at all, is that right? um yeah, we should be again and again if you're just joining our original t zero, all seven worked, quick prop problem, now we're good. to go at 7 15. If you want, why don't we show them again?

Because this is going to be a really dynamic, really fast test, like Jessica said, 650 miles per hour in just five seconds, so that thing is going to fly off that platform. very quickly, yes, and why don't you explain to us one more time? Absolutely, that's exactly what we want to see, we want to see all those launch pad engines fire with those omaxes and we want to see that spacecraft actually fire that. launch pad like you said 650 miles per hour in about five seconds we're going to reach apogee here pretty quickly I think we're going to reach it in about 19 seconds we're going to start doing that roll maneuver that just gets the spacecraft into the correct orientation to open up that landing sequence and that really kicks off when once you see the climb cover and forward heat shield being removed that actually allows the parachute sequence to begin, you're going to see two parachutes followed by three shots from the pilot and that really just pull out the mains over and over again those parachutes that are really doing double duty here for this test not only do they have extra weight from the service module attached properly and their main job is really to make sure that they bring that crew module down slowly. and safe, but on top of that, they're deploying at a certain time, that pulls the spacecraft back and orients it appropriately to safely release that service module and then you'll see, you know. that bucket handle comes loose as you just saw uh that's uh that's also pretty critical that it allows us to get down nicely on a stable one that's right on top of our airbags um and then you would see that the heat shield of the base breaks down allowing those landing airbags to deploy and I have to tell you I'm really looking forward to seeing today you know our team has worked very hard to make sure that we can design a system that is safe and that is also reusable and landing on land, you know, these Starliner crew modules are reusable spacecraft and one of the ways we can do that is because we land on land, yeah, and it's important to add again for people, the service module goes to remove and it is going to impact the ground and there will be some residual fuel on board that can ignite, so if you see that it is totally expected and as we talked about, they will land on the ground for the real thing, but if we were in an oar Onboard scenario in On a real day, they have the Atlantic Ocean they would be passing over, so the service module will fall into the water followed shortly after by the crew capsule under the parachutes.

That's right and you know, we can talk a little bit. Also about how the team plans to do some of the recovery after today's test is completed, so the crew module, of course, will be recovered and taken to Launch Complex 32 for evaluation and analysis, and really we want to make sure we get all the information. The data goes back that that crew module that we do, we're flying an anthropomorphic test dummy there, so we also want to get all the data back from our ATD and that data is really critical, so we're going to go out.

We're going to recover it, take it back to the launch site for evaluation and analysis. Now the service module is a little different and a combined team of Boeing, the US military and an environmental and industrial services company called Clean Arbors, it's really let's go out, let's put the vehicle away and then get rid of it properly and I think it will be a process that will probably take two or three days. You know, we have some data to look forward to. get off the service module too uh but I guess it depends on what state it's in yeah but we're less than five minutes away again the launch time right now is set at 715 mountain 915 eastern time on just couple of minutes.

We're going to open up the actual launch control loop where you can hear the flight director and some of the other people again explain to us who it is that we're going to hear in these loops this morning, yeah. So once again you'll hear from Alicia Evans, she's our flight director today and Alicia, as I said before an environmental qualification test campaign letter, it was a really critical test campaign for us because what we do is we keep going. . and we built a complete spaceship and then sent it to California. Our people in El Segundo were just incredible when it came to our environmental qualification campaign and what we do is shake it and bake it like what we say in the spacecraft world where we make sure we subject you to the exact same conditions that you will see in orbit, we we make sure you know you can withstand changes and temperature, you know radiation and all those types of things and as I've said in the past with great success, Alicia led that campaign, now she's leading the first Starliner flight test, we couldn't be proudest of her and once again you will also hear from Jim Harder, he is our flight dynamics officer. today you will hear the takeoff line coming from alicia and then the rest of the events in this sequence you will hear from jim so at this point we are minus two minutes away and proceed to launch so dan and i are going to go ahead and listen with you.

Go Starliner. The light is slippery. All commands are complete. Copy that hold move for the final abort command. Copy that. Minus one minute and counting 50 seconds 40. 30 seconds and counting 20 seconds and counting nine eight seven. six five four three two one zero take off off road full LED cut off on runway oh man cut step around 40 kills parachute sm says two main fully distribute these heat shields discard airbags inflating cm landing very good, we have Starliner taking flight for the first time and touching the desert floor safely and beautifully, it was just incredible and it's a little hard not to get a little emotional here just watching it, but it was phenomenal.

The initial indication is that we had a very successful Paddle Board Test today, that's right, it went off, it came on and I mean, when you're standing here looking at it in person, that thing actually moves when you see it get up off the deck. and then the sound hits you like five or six. Seconds later, you hear that rumble on the desert floor as Starliner is already soaring through the sky absolutely and to see it land like that now you saw the landing under two good mains, um, which is certainly within the limits of acceptable, uh, acceptable. limits for this particular test we have tested with two good mains and qualification and that is acceptable for our landing sequence so it was just amazing it was amazing to see this test and it was absolutely amazing just a little look at a replay here again .

I hope you didn't blink, uh, because 650 miles per hour in five seconds, uh, that thing sure shot off a dyno, didn't it? You've got those launch abort engines firing up, uh, those four launch port engines with 40,000 pounds of thrust. the omax mount uh another 1500 pounds of thrust each on those that continue to fire you saw them the pilot parachutes pulling out the power grid there after that turn maneuver um and then of course you saw the service module at some point fall And I just mean what an absolutely beautiful place the parachutes really do in doing their job here in terms of making sure that they can get the spacecraft in the correct orientation to safely release that service module to the ground, um and, by Of course, you know.

We want to keep our eyes on that crew module, you know, I think our people in Florida are going to be really interested to see the data that comes out of this test today for sure and again we saw two, two of three parachutes, but that's one stable condition and that goes into what we have in spaceflight redundancy, yes, if you've ever been around anyone from NASA or Boeing or any of the space companies, redundancy, we have backups for our backups. All of that and that's really a great example of how you can work even when things don't go exactly as designed, yeah, and we might actually have, um, you know, our fault tolerance, that's really, you know, one . came out and it's a primary exit so we have redundancy like you said built in and it's just amazing to see those landing airbags on our spacecraft landing you know it's going to be amazing to see it on a Return to mission um here a around the corner on December 17th yes, you absolutely know it, I know it, I just want to give a quick shout out to our people at the Starliner production factory in Florida who I know are looking right now also to our people in Houston who are watching and our people across the country, you know they've worked incredibly hard for this moment today and to see a spacecraft that they built on it on a launch pad for the first time means incredibly a lot and I.

I will tell you that you were just as beautiful in person as you would imagine, yes, but I mean, there it is, we will continue to give you some of these great views and maybe even a couple of replays we are going to hang out for a while, we know that a couple of people were here looking, including our first Starliner team, so we hope to have them here in just a couple of minutes, absolutely, yeah and You know, let me one more time, remind people how we're going to recover the spacecraft today, that crew that you see there, which will be recovered and brought back to Launch Complex 32 for evaluation analysis again.

You know, we want to make sure. We get all the data from that spacecraft, of course, the initial indication here is that we've had a successful test, but you know we really want to pore over all the data and deliver it to NASA and, of course, make sure. that everything worked as well as we thought and the service module um is another one that will recover slightly different as I said, we're going to get a little bit of data from that service module if we can, depending on the condition it's in, but a combined team of

boeing

, the us military, and an environmental and industrial services company called clean arbors, they're going to go out, we're going to secure that vehicle and we're going to go ahead and dispose of it properly, so really exciting, the crew module, of course, we will keep it for possible reuse.

You know, of course, there's flight hardware in there that we could reuse if necessary, but you know, again, the key here is uh. Those crew modules are reusable vehicles, you know, we have two additional spacecraft in our production facility in Florida, of course, the Starliner that will launch here in December for our first uncrewed orbital flight test to the international space station and then we have the spaceship that is going to launch the crew, it was actually the first spaceship that we built sent for environmental qualification testing that Alicia was a part of and we actually have that spaceship in the factory as well.

You may have seen some photos of our orbital flight test vehicle complete and completely built and actually taxiing towards one ofour dangerous processing areas to feed fuel, preparing to deploy to the pad whenever everything is on track for the first Starliner flight two. At the International Space Station, we've already posted some news about it, we're now targeting December 17th, so if you're going to be on the Space Coast over the holidays, it might be a good idea to come for the rocket launch. Yeah, and hey, I'll tell you that this Starliner is the first human spacecraft built and launched in Florida, so if you live on the space coast, we really hope to see you come and support your hometown girl and watch her fly because that goes to be really amazing, yes, there are a couple of things that will come up over the next few weeks.

The Starliner itself will be fueled at that c3pf, that right production facility where the Starliner is being built, after which it will be moved to the ula vertical integration facility I'm trying to get all my acronyms right, hey, you're doing good job uh ula actually stacked the rocket today so getting it ready again we're aiming for December 17th for that launch it will be a flight. even the space station will get there in about a day, I think that's the last dynamic that can change depending on the altitude of the station over time, it will be about a day up there, it will dock.

It's going to be the first successful docking of Starliner, you're going to have it there for a couple of days and then we're going to find it here just a couple of days later, yeah, absolutely, uh, you. I know it's really awesome to get another look here at this crew module. on the desert floor. You know, the first time Starliner takes off. I'm serious. I have to say you know you have to watch it descend and land. in the desert there under those landing airbags, it's just like that, we're going to make history when I do it on a return mission to space, here in December, as you said, but seeing it today is difficult not to get a little excited knowing to the people at home who just put their hearts and souls into this, you know, it's funny because I showed some pictures of the spaceship that was being signed in Florida, before and I.

I know I talked a little bit about Kevin, I don't think I mentioned Jonna who was also in that file and here's a really fun fact about her, you know her, her daughter actually says that the spaceship is her little brother because her mother just puts in, you know, a lot of time, the dedication that she's put into the spacecraft as one of our main wiring technicians and you know it's just the people at Starlight and the production factory in Florida, the people in Houston and from the whole country that has helped. They came out to us and they just put their hearts and souls into this show.

They're full of people like Kevin and Jonna and they really hope you're smiling from ear to ear this morning and getting ready to celebrate and again if you're just now tuning in, you're watching Starliner, it's on the desert floor where the paddle board was made with success, our t-zero, our launch time was 7:15 a.m. m., mountain, 9:15 a.m. m., this one, if you didn't understand, we will have more repetitions soon. For you, because it was over in an instant, I think it was from start to finish, it was only a 95 second test or so, it was over quickly, but we got to see all the events happen in sequence, those four launch abort engines firing and Starliner is launched. in the air away from the pad and then getting the correct orientation going around using those side thrusters getting good shots there are good drugs in the service modules separating correctly everything looked fantastic this morning two good main circuits so still in a stable configuration Yes, their bags inflate and touch the desert floor, and like we said, those two good entrees are certainly within the acceptable limits of this test.

Here we're going to play it again here for you, just in case you're doing it now. Tuning in um you know at this point you know you see the pitch maneuver occur um and as it prepares to move forward and begin the parachute sequence um did you see those uh appear to be those two drugs followed by those three pilots here come the main net and , as we continue to repeat that, here I'm going to go ahead and get people excited here getting ready to welcome the crew, the flight test crew, the Boeing and Starliner astronauts that just arrived, let's go ahead, talk to them, go ahead and get them, hey, come on guys, come on, yeah, we're going to invite everyone, come on, okay, come on, mikey, come here with me, nicole, go ahead, and get in the middle.

These guys, um, okay, so, um, it was just an incredible test. Dan and I were here. I know you were watching the test nearby. um. This, of course, is the Boeing Starliner crew flight test crew. We have the Boeing astronaut, Chris Ferguson, the NASA astronaut. mann and mike fink and let me start with this guy because this is really this here is the legend of space flight uh mike fink this will be his fourth time in space on

starliner

here coming up on our crewed flight test but besides that in This will actually be your third vehicle, so as weird as it is to be an astronaut, it's even weirder to fly on your third vehicle, so what were your impressions today about today's test?

Well today was really amazing, we hope we never need to do that. use this system, but in case we ever have any problems aboard the beautiful Atlas 5 on the launch pad, we note that after today's test we will be able to go down safely and then come back and try again on a different day, so this is noticeable. that Boeing is committed to safety and we really want to fly on a safe spacecraft and today it really showed that it is beautiful, so how will NASA feel about having a crew transportation system once again? Well, it's been a long time.

Since we launched it outside of the United States, we really appreciate our friends in Russia for having the launch vehicle on the Soyuz, I flew on it twice, it's a great launch vehicle, a great spacecraft and, but it's time to have more options. and uh, the commercial crew program is opening up a new industry for the united states and it's an exciting time yeah, you know, I'll tell you, I just know that we were together in florida, well, you guys were there getting into the starliner vehicle and there was a moment when you were in the seat and you were looking at the panels and you know our human factors systems engineer, Selena, was there and you turned to her and said, look what you're doing here and it looks good with the panels and I know she was really touched by that comment that was there, I choked up a little bit at that, um, it's just amazing to have you here and to be a part of the team well, thank you, I'm glad to be part of the team too and by all means Of course, uh, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, uh, this will be her first time in space, uh, marine, uh, fighter pilot, uh, so at this point.

Like I said, you had just left for our recovery area for mission dress rehearsal. We saw you in Florida. It's starting to feel like it's hurtling around the corner. At this point, it's starting to feel very close. It's amazing, especially being here for the test. We've had the opportunity to be in the vehicle a few times, but last week at the Cape we were in the spacecraft and everything was finished and all the final panels were in place and it looks a lot like our trainers, etc. It's good news, we've been through a lot of the training so it's good to see the final products online and the big milestones like today's test show that we're getting very close and then Chris for you, really . quick, so you closed the shuttle program and then you came to Boeing shortly after and I mean, this program has been a part of your life for the last few years.

What is it like to be here now after Starliner just took off for the The first time I did it, I imagined what this day would be like. You know, I had this trajectory of what this abortion would look like on the platform for a long time, and to see it actually happen was just fantastic and it worked. uh, pretty much how I've always imagined it uh and I really have to uh I have to take my hat off to the Boeing team um you know as we speak uh of course we have this big test going on uh today uh on the On the coast This we are fueling our vehicle for the platform, for the orbital flight test that will take place in December, so on both coasts we have important operations to restore human spaceflight from the United States of America.

It's a very proud moment for me, it should be a very proud moment for the entire Boeing team that has made this happen and, you know, I hope that our NASA customers are just as happy with the progress that we've made and it's you. I know it's a big day for the United States of America, that's right, yes, as a member of NASA, it was great to be here with the Boeing team. I know we're all very excited too, our NASA astronauts, the Boeing team, it really is a fantastic day. We don't want to keep you too long, I'm sure you all want to start celebrating, this is a really successful day, so thank you for running so fast and having a couple of minutes with us, I really appreciate it, thank you, really, thank you.

Thank you, I'm excited to be here, absolutely, thank you, thank you so much, guys, that's proper television, so at this point you know what's next for Starliner, our uncrewed flight test to the international space station scheduled for December 17. Don't expect that, I'm really excited, I hope you all tune in and watch us and like we said, if you're on the space coast, you better come and support your hometown girl, that's right, and like we said, There are a couple of milestones along the way. until the spacecraft is being fueled very soon, it will be deployed at ula's legal vehicle integration facility and will actually be stacked on top of the rocket we're looking for in the coming weeks, so stay tuned again.

Follow Boeing on social media at owingspace.boeing.com and then nasa nasa.gov and our various social media sites, including the commercial team, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, we are everywhere so please continue to follow us, thank you for waking up and watching today's first Starliner flight test. It is the first time he has taken to the skies with the successful paddle board this morning. Hello, thank you all very much, see you there.