Dina (00:00):
... we've had one single US crew member on board and the last time was 2020, but we've had this several times, so what it means is really there's just fewer hands on board to do some of the work. We are continuing to do research and we're doing maintenance and we're doing stowage. We have two cargo vehicles on board. And so there's a lot of work to be done. And so that's one of the reasons we like to have more than three crew on board is just to get more work done. That and then on the US operating segment, if we were to have a major failure, then we would like to have a second USOS crew member to be able to go out and perform a complex space walk. It just has to do with the amount of specialty training that they've had. And so right now, no issues on board ISS, like I said. And when the Crew-12 guys get there it will bring us up to our full compliment to be able to react to those types of contingencies faster.
(00:59)
But we're not tracking anything urgent at the time. Everything is really actually going very well with... I did talk to Chris on Wednesday and he's in great spirits and as well as the Crew-12 guys coming up, so everybody's looking forward to joining up on ISS very soon. Sometimes, as you know, we would have two Dragon crews that would hand over the intricate details on board ISS. They'd both be there at the same time, so we'd have up to 11 crew on board. In this case, we'll not be having that direct handover, is what we call it. But we have Chris on board and he knows all those intricacies, so between that and some videos that the crews have recorded in advance, we don't see any issues. We're not tracking any problems whatsoever with not having that direct handover, so we don't see any problem with this indirect handover. From a science perspective, this crew is going to be given a lot of science, the Crew-12 guys, along with Chris. And so I'll just highlight some of our experiments that they'll have while they're on board.
(02:04)
One of them is an IV fluid experiment. And so medically an IV bag, you've seen them all. They're of course a medical grade type of fluid. And so when we go on a Mars mission, an IV fluid bag like that will expire before the entire mission has transpired. And furthermore, if you were to launch a bunch of IV bags in case of some medical contingency, then that takes up mass and volume, so what we're going to do on board during the Crew-12 timeframe is see if we can use potable water from the ISS system and put it through a filtration system that will take out the bacteria and the other contaminants and give us medical grade IV fluids. We'll bring a bag of IV fluid home, test it out, and see if it meets the mark. You can imagine that both for space applications and on the ground that this could be a really incredibly useful experiment.
(02:59)
Another couple of examples, we have a plant experiment looking at microbe interaction with the plants, and that will help us grow plants and future missions, as well as looking at astronauts body and microgravity, specifically their blood flow. We have different types of instrumentation and trying to understand geometries and how that could impact crew members' health long-term in microgravity, so lots of good experiments to be had. And then just our near term flight plan, I wanted to mention that SpaceX-33 is on board right now. And so Chris, like I said, is doing some research and some stowage associated with that mission. That mission also in the external trunk, it has a boost kit and SpaceX and our team have done a great job developing that kit and we've been using it over the past several weeks and we've used up all of the propellant, all the usable propellant in the trunk and we've boosted ISS to the highest it's ever been. Last week we boosted ISS to 262 miles and that's 422 kilometers, so that's the highest we've ever had ISS historically.
(04:14)
And so I just want to thank the team and the SpaceX guys for the outstanding delivery and this contribution for ISS. That mission is going to complete on or about February 26th, so we're looking to undock it at that time. That'll be after the Crew-12 guys get on board and we can get everything wrapped up associated with the stowage there and the science. And we also have got the HTV-X vehicle, X1 vehicle on board. Super happy to have that. It's the maiden voyage of that particular spacecraft. And we are looking right now for an unbirth date around the first week of March. And we have a small navigation sensor demonstration as well associated with that, so we'll unbirth it in March. And sometime in early March we'll take the robotic arm and maneuver the HTV so that its sensors have a line of sight to the front docking port, allow it to just do a quick test and then we'll release it the following day.
(05:22)
And additionally, so in March, currently planning for March 22nd, we have the next progress launch, so a couple of days prior to that launch we'll undock the existing progress that's onboard that same port on the Xena side. And of course, as you're aware, the Russian launchpad for Soyuz and Progress out at Baikonur, it's under repairs right now, so we'll be watching that schedule. And any questions you have about that, of course I'll have to direct you to Roscosmos on that, but it's looking pretty good in that timeframe for that vehicle to arrive, so we're looking forward to that. Our partnership is very strong and so when they have a small delay in their cargo vehicle, of course, we've been assisting with some amount of cargo, but it has not been a big tax or any big problem on our side at all whatsoever.
(06:19)
And then lastly, I'll just mention the two EVAs that we were going to have in January, but were deferred due to the Crew-11 departure, they're not urgent and we're looking for a home. We'll let you guys know where those will fall, but we're looking at the spring summer timeframe and we're still... We have not yet determined which dates. I lastly just want to thank both all the ISS program people, but also our military and our other government agencies, the commercial crew program, the flight operations guys, the engineering team, and the list goes on and on, but everyone that has assisted with bringing Crew-11 home and trying to prepare for this Crew-12 mission. We're looking really good and excited to get the Crew-12 guys here. And that's all I have, so I'm going to hand it over to Andy.
Andreas Mogensen (07:12):
Well, thank you, Dina. It's a pleasure to be part of the briefing today, even if it's only remotely from the European Astronaut Center, and I hope you can hear me all right. NASA is and has always been one of the closest partners of the European Space Agency. And a couple of months ago we celebrated together 25 years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station. It's an impressive milestone and a testimony of the successful collaboration, which has been tying our space agencies together. Now we have ESA astronaut, Sophie Adenot, as part of Crew-12, about to embark on her first journey to space. She will be the 22nd ESA astronaut working on the ISS and conducting research and advancing science, notably thanks to our European Columbus module, which is our European laboratory, and which recently completed its 100,000th orbit around the earth. I think that was last September, if we calculated correctly. Sophie was selected in 2022. It was the first time that ESA selected a new class of astronauts since 2008. It was a European wide astronaut selection, and it attracted more than 22,500 candidates.
(08:40)
And out of those we selected five talented individuals to join our astronaut core. And Sophie will be the first from this new class to embark on a long duration mission. Together with four other members of her class and a colleague from the Australian Space Agency, she went through basic training at the European Astronauts Center and was assigned to a mission less than one month later. Teams have since then worked tirelessly to ensure the preparation of this mission and support to Sophie on her upcoming adventure. And I'd like to thank all of those teams for preparing Sophie so well. Astronauts' missions, operations, and training are at the heart of any exploration program, and they rely on a multitude of passionate people devoting their time and energy to ensure the success of our missions. Sophie is one of those talented individuals and has been performing incredibly well, and we're all very sure that she will have a tremendously successful mission on the ISS together with her crewmates. You might also have noticed that in addition to the Crew-12 and Expedition 74 patches, Sophie will also be carrying an ESA patch on her mission.
(10:23)
This is a tradition among ESA astronauts to name and have an ESA mission patch and Sophie has chosen a name for her mission, which she thinks reflects the mission. The name is Epsilon, meaning or symbolizing the power of the small yet impactful contributions, and also symbolizing how multiple parts unite to create a whole. And I think this is a very nice message that underlies how an astronaut is a part of a much larger and wider group, or in other words, a small piece of a larger and more complex puzzle. From the support teams to the engineers working on the launcher and then technologies from the scientific community supporting the development and implementation of advanced experiments and to the countless institutions involved in one way or the other, it takes thousands of people to support this collective endeavor.
(11:29)
We all know it. Space exploration activities are developing worldwide at a pace unparalleled with ambitious initiatives put in place by a high number of countries and private actors. In such a context, a coherent and well-coordinated strategy is essential and Europe is proud to have developed a substantial human space flight program as well. With a bold vision of establishing continuous, sustainable and responsible human and robotic exploration
Andreas Mogensen (12:00):
... [inaudible 00:12:00] of the solar system by providing unique contributions and returning benefits to society lies at the core of this overarching strategy. Our high-level destination goals are to maintain a human presence in and utilization of low Earth orbit to allow Europeans to explore the moon in the 2030s and to prepare to take Europeans to explore Mars at the end of the 2040s.
(12:29)
With that, we're also ensuring our long-term participation in key programs, such as the International Space Station and Artemis, as well as ensuring our common ability to act towards any future projects involving human space flight. Thus, everyone at ESA is very proud and excited to support not just Sophie, but all of Crew-12 and Expedition 74. We look forward to an exciting future within human space flight, not only in lower Earth orbit, but also in the coming years to the moon. With that, I'd like to pass it over to Lee.
Lee Echerd (13:16):
Hi, thank you, Andy. Hello, everyone. Excited to be here and get to talk to you about our preparations for the launch of Dragon and the Crew-12 mission in two weeks. It's been a busy month with Crew-11 Dragon departure and safe return a couple weeks ago. Crew-11 safely splashed down off the coast of San Diego, California, which was our fifth Dragon return since moving back to the West Coast last year. Then last week, the CRS-33 Dragon, currently docked to the ISS, completed our final boost burn helping maintain ISS orbital altitude over the last five months.
(13:50)
In parallel, our teams have been working towards Crew-12 launch, which will be our 12th long-duration human space flight mission to the ISS, supporting NASA's Commercial Crew program. We're excited to fly Jessica, Jack, Sophie, and Andrey, along with critical science to the ISS. I'm particularly excited about our return frequent flyer, Andrey, for his second Dragon mission and to be a part of Jack and Sophie's first space flight as well.
(14:17)
Our teams are currently finishing up closeout of the Dragon spacecraft with expectation to transport to the hangar at Pad 40 early next week. The Falcon 9 booster that's supporting this mission will be on its second flight after completing a successful launch of a Starlink mission earlier this month. Then Crew-12 will be launching off of Space Launch Complex 40. This will be our second human space flight launch off of that pad. First for this mission, the Falcon Booster will perform a return to launch site to our new landing zone at SLC-40.
(14:53)
As Steve mentioned, we're working towards a no earlier than February 11th, 6:00 AM as our first launch opportunity, and all of our hardware and pad systems are on track to support.
(15:04)
As always, NASA and SpaceX work closely together in partnership to make sure our teams and hardware are ready to fly. This mission includes a few notable upgrades, including a new Falcon 9 stage two flight controller, an upgraded Dragon parachute bay and closeout structure. The full crew will don upgraded flight suits similar to the version that Crew-11 pilot Mike Fincke wore for his mission. We still have multiple reviews and final checkouts prior to launch. This gives us an opportunity to step back, double and triple check all of our data and make sure that we're safe to fly. Crew safety is always our joint highest priority. We're very proud of our partnership with ISS and the international community that helps sustain, operate, and execute incredible science on the ISS. I want to say a special thank you to our friends at NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, and the 45th for your continued trust as we proceed towards another crew mission together. Go Crew-12.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Great. Thank you to our briefers for those opening remarks. We will now open it up for questions here in the room as well as on the phone bridge. If you are on the phone bridge, you can press star one to submit your question. If your question has already been asked and answered, please press star two to withdraw it. We do have quite a bit of media interest today, so please try to limit your question to one each. Once your name is called, please state your name, affiliation, and to whom you'd like to direct your question. It looks like we do have a question here. Go ahead, Eric.
Eric Berger (16:40):
Eric Berger, Ars Technica. Thanks for doing this. I guess my question concerns the turnaround time between Artemis 2 and Crew-12. What's the minimum amount of time you need to transition from one launch to the other? Specifically, I understand that one of the issues is repositioning Navy recovery forces in case of an asset abort. So maybe just talk about sort of that scenario and explain to us the timing.
Steve (17:10):
Yeah, I can start and see if Ken or Dina have anything to add. So the timing in between missions sort of depends a little bit as to what happens. For example, if Artemis were to launch, have a great wet dress, proceed into their FRR and launch on the 8th, we think we could be ready to go launch Crew-11 around the 13th. The things that we have to-
Dina (17:40):
If they launch the 19th?
Steve (17:41):
Oh, I'm saying if they launch successfully, yeah. If they launch or are in an orbit, then we would defer all the way to the 19th. We would then stand down, let them have their operations. If they get into a countdown and they attempt on the 8th and then have an issue where they stand down, then we could go a few days later, as early as the 13th.
(18:02)
So the things that we're looking to deconflict are operations relative to the suit-up room. Right now, we tend to use the dual suit-up room in the ONC where the crew stays. And then we have an option to go use a SpaceX suit-up room if we need to at Pad 39A. SpaceX has been gracious enough to let us use that, which they've used for many of their flights.
(18:26)
The rescue assets are common between the two missions so that's something that Detachment 3 and the Department of Defense Forces, the Air Force, we use common forces for that. Recovery is separate. We have a Navy ship that we ... Artemis uses for recovery. We use the SpaceX recovery. It's a common landing site off San Diego, and then the northern sites for Artemis kind of overlap our northern sites. So that's why we would deconflict operations in flight.
(18:57)
Then we have different scenarios. If they get into a wet dress and they need another wet dress, but then didn't proceed in this window, we could go on as early as the 11th or 12th. So we have all these different scenarios just depending on what happens. Hopefully that answers your question.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Thank you. We do have another question here in the room. Go ahead. Okay. Mark, go ahead.
Mark Carreau (19:28):
Thank you, Mark Carreau, Aviation Week and Space Technology. I apologize if you said this during your opening remarks, but how long is the Crew-12 mission planned for, and how flexible would it be in terms of maybe extending it with the crew you're launching?
Steve (19:52):
Yeah, we have the capability. We did extend the certification of Dragon. We've been flying six-month missions, and we have extended the certification of Dragon to be able to stay docked to ISS up to eight months. So we have that capability. We'd have to go look at whether we're gonna use it or not, but it's there and ready to stay up to eight months. Eventually, we're working on extending that certification longer and longer. As we get toward the end of ISS and move toward the deorbit of ISS, we may need to stay a little longer. So we keep extending that certification.
Dina (20:29):
So in this case, we are planning on an eight-month mission, but we're continually looking at what our overall flight plan looks like.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Thank you both. We'll next take a question from Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press.
Marcia Dunn (20:43):
Oh, hi. Marcia Dunn at the AP. Are the communication assets also a driver for wanting the two Artemis 2 Crew-12 separate for launch time communication assets? And for Dina, were there any extra medical tests or checks ordered for Crew-12 given the circumstances surrounding Crew-11's early departure? Any changes whatsoever stemming from the sick crew, and is the IV fluid experiment related to that or was that already planned? Thanks.
Steve (21:18):
Yeah, I'll take the first question relative to the communication assets. Yes, Artemis does utilize the Teteras communication assets not only on the pad operations, but also with Orion, but also early part of their mission, they fly high Earth orbit and so they use Teteras for that, and so that would have to be deconflicted.
(21:39)
Also, if we were in free flight, and which we're not intending to do, if we had simultaneous operations between Dragon in flight and Artemis, we would have to deconflict even the Deep Space Network comm to make sure the two beams, the Teteras beam and the Deep Space Network beam didn't overlap. So that was one of the considerations as well. I'll let Dina take the next question.
Dina (21:59):
Okay. And then on the Crew-12 pre-flight medical testing question, I'm not aware of any tests that were changed or new. I mean, of course, like any normal human being and person, you'll have your doctor consultations and such, but I'm not aware of any specific tests. And then on the IV fluid experiment, it's not related. This is the experiment that was planned before the Crew-11 return. This just happened to be a fun experiment that I just wanted to point out, but it is not at all related.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Thank you. Next up we'll go to Will Robinson-Smith with Spaceflight Now.
Will Robinson-Smith (22:39):
Hi, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions today. I wonder if you could expand a little bit more ... This is going towards Mr. Echerd from SpaceX ... A little bit more on the upgraded flight suits that the crew will be flying. What did you learn from the test out with Mike Fincke on that initial flight with Crew-11? Thanks.
Lee Echerd (23:06):
Yeah, thank you for your question. Yeah, I think we're constantly learning and trying to improve our hardware to make it as reliable and safe as possible. We did have a few lessons learned from the version that Mike Fincke flew for his Crew-11 mission and applied those with the build and production of the Crew-12 flight suits, but predominantly it's very similar design as what Mike flew.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Thank you. Our next question on the phone bridge comes from Ryan Caton with nasaspaceflight.com.
Ryan Caton (23:40):
Hi, thanks for doing this. I'm just wondering, following the postponement of the EVAs from Crew-11, has there been any extra or kind of specialized training or procedures being provided to Crew-12 to prepare for those? I know you said they were gonna be taking place as early as the springtime, so I'm just curious about that. Thank you.
Dina (23:59):
So
Dina (24:01):
The crews do training in our neutral buoyancy laboratory and of course, knowing that this is happening, ideally you would get as much training as you could on all of those types of tasks. In this case, there was not a lot of time, but they are familiar with those types of tasks and they are trained fully to do those tasks when they come up. There was not like extreme urgency to get them a whole lot of training prior to their flight in order to do those.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Thank you. As a reminder, you can press star one to submit your question and we also will try to get to some questions on social media too, so if you want to use the hashtag ask NASA, you can submit your question on social media as well. Next up, we'll go to Josh Dinner with space.com.
Josh Dinner (24:48):
Hi. Thanks for doing this. Josh Dinner with space.com. In lieu of the crew handover period aboard the Space Station, were there any activities or operations that needed to be mitigated or altered due to the lack of crew?
Dina (25:06):
Frankly, when you have 11 crew members on board, it's a lot of crew members, and so, you just have a lot less planning to do, a fewer number of scheduled events, I'd say. But Chris and his new Crew-12 crew members will have a lot of time to do that handover. There's actually not a rush like you might have when you have a certain, like say two or three day handover of crew to crew and trying to get all that information across. There was really not... The main mitigation is, it's a lot to take in. You're in a new home and just like if you, for example, you go to some new BRBO or whatever your bed and breakfast is, and you got to push the faucet handle harder in order to make it stop or this particular area's drafty. There's a couple of just fine details, and those types of words are passed from crew to crew. Chris will do what he can. Also, these videos that the crew has recently made have detailed out a lot of really cool intricacies. Those videos have been passed to the Crew-12 guys, and so they've had a chance to study those in advance. Really there's not like a mitigation needed so much as... Just we've done everything we can to supplement and bring them up to speed as quickly as possible. I'm sure they'll hit the ground running.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Thanks, Dina. Next up, we'll go to Jeff Foust with Space News.
Ryan Caton (26:30):
Good morning. In addition to having a longer increment potentially for Crew-12, I know there were some discussions last year about reducing the USOS crew size from four to three. Now that you have a better understanding of the budget and station logistics, is that still on the table for missions beyond Crew-12?
Dina (26:52):
Maybe I could take it first and if Ken, you want to add anything, but I'll just say at this time we are continuing to plan for four crew, but we're continually looking at our stockpile of supplies and what it takes to continue to do that. Right now we are planning for four. Ken, did you want to add anything?
Ken (27:12):
I would just say that what we do is, we look at options that we might have to activate if we have reduced resources, but based on the most recent appropriation and the supplemental appropriation that we received before that, we think we're going to be able to maintain four crew on ISS. We're always evaluating mission length and the activities that we do aboard ISS to make sure that we match with the resources we have available.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Our next question comes from Marcia Smith with Space Policy Online.
Marcia Smith (27:50):
Thanks so much. My question I think is to Ken. I'm curious about how many more US flights you're expecting to ISS because you're extending the length of each mission and it's already 2026 and 2030 is just around the corner. How many more flights to ISS do you anticipate? Those will be, I gather on Crew Dragons, but how is Starliner looking? Are you going to fit in Starliner at some point?
Ken (28:18):
Yeah. I haven't done the math on the number of flights, but if I do it roughly here, I think it's about 8 to 10 more flights that we'd be looking at. If you slip in private astronaut missions and potential other individual short missions, the numbers could go up or down. Starliner, we're planning to fly on another uncrewed mission sometime in the spring to summer. We'll launch it when it's ready. We'll gather all the information we need to complete the certification, and then we want to work Starliner back into the rotation so it could have, right now, we think as many as three more missions with Crew.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thank you. We do have a follow-up from Will Robinson-Smith with Spaceflight Now.
Will Robinson-Smith (29:14):
Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking another round of questions from us here. Just a quick follow up because my Starliner question was asked and answered and I appreciate Marcia for that. A quick one to Mr. Eckhart, with the use of Landing Zone 40, first of all, is that the name of it LZ40? Is there anything else that needs to be buttoned up at that landing site for this first landing back at 40? Thanks.
Lee Echerd (29:49):
Yeah. Thank you for the question. It's obviously an exciting time at Spaceport, Florida, and we're excited to debut our new Landing Zone 40. That's the right name. This will be our primary landing site for our Falcon 9 boosters that perform return to launch site going forward. We've completed all of the range and Space Force certification to be ready for this mission. We still have access to Landing Zone 2, if we ever need it, but the expectation is that would be primarily for Falcon Heavy launches where we have two return to launch site side boosters.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Thank you. I believe we do have another question here in the room.
Moises Avila (30:29):
Thank you very much. Good morning. My name is Moises Avila. I work for Agence France-Presse. Considering the medical concern you had to deal with the Q11, is there anything you can do to avoid an issue in the Q12, or does it just depend on the physical condition of each astronaut or maybe it was just something unexpected?
Dina (30:50):
I'll just say, so we're not talking about the medical situation on Crew-11. Nothing has changed in our way of doing business. I'll leave it at that maybe.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
We do have another question on our phone bridge from Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press.
Marcia Dunn (31:10):
Hi. Yes, Steve, could you run through the dates again versus when you could launch, depending on the scenarios, you said maybe 13th and then you switched to the 19th. I'm not sure what... I followed what the difference there is in when you could launch either. Is there any way, if Artemis II is totally out of the picture, can you move it up before the 11th, or is that the absolute soonest you can go?
Steve (31:36):
Yeah. Good question, Marcia. Right now, the 11th is the soonest we could launch. When we laid out all the hardware processing for Dragon, Falcon 9, Crew training, and that whole activity of preparing with certification, the 11th is the earliest that we could launch. We have no intention of planning to accelerate off the 11th. There's a couple different scenarios with Artemis. One would be, they go to wet dress and they have a successful wet dress and they launch and they've said right now no earlier than the 8th. If that happens, they would be in free flight and land roughly 10 days later. Then we would move our launch after Artemis to no earlier than the 19th.
(32:23)
If Artemis got into a countdown and had some challenge in the countdown and then needed more time, we could go earlier than the 19th. A little later than the 11th, but more like probably the 13th, 14th. We have, depending on what launch date they launch on, we know as what our earliest launch date would be, and then we also know if they get into a countdown and were to have an issue, how early we can go.
(32:52)
We've laid out all the timelines relative to crew quarantine, when SpaceX will move their hardware to 40, when we get into a static fire dry dress. I would say those timelines will be a little dynamic because in particular, if we get out to the launch pad and we're trying to static fire around Artemis operations, we will work around Artemis in all those scenarios. It depends, and we have a table that we have built, that's what I'm reading from, that lay out all those different options. Hopefully that was more clear, Marcia.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Thanks, Steve. We do have another question from someone here in the room.
Richard Tew (33:29):
Richard Tew with The Post Newspaper. A question for either Steve or Dina. Can you describe what the EVAs that Crew 11 was going to do have now been pushed forward for Crew-12? Have they been modified in any way with a little bit of extra time, or are they the same in scope? Thank you.
Dina (33:42):
Okay. I think that's a question for me. Right now, we're planning to keep the EVAs the same, but if you recall, and there was a briefing on this in early January, one of them is to install a modification kit in order to put one of the new rollout solar arrays out. Then the other one was, we were calling it the triple jump EVA where we have some jumpers that we're installing as well and a camera, some reflector in that particular one.
(34:11)
Those two EVAs would still continue probably intact, although of course we can look at modifications now that we have time, but we also want to do another AVA as well that installs another modification kit, which would be used for a second rollout solar array. We're looking to fly those solar arrays in August. Ideally, we'll complete all three of those EVAs before then, but of course, we'll look at what the priorities are, and like you said, if there's a modification, it's more of a shuffling of tasks. We don't really have a lot of new tasks coming up, other than the one I just mentioned with the modification kit.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Thank you. We'll go to another question here in the room. Eric Berger.
Eric Berger (34:55):
Yeah. Hi. Eric Berger with Ars Technica. Just a question on cargo delivery to ISS specifically regarding Cygnus. Can you maybe update the status of NG24 after there was the minor engine issue on the previous Cygnus flight and then NG22 was damaged in transit? I'm just curious what the cadence of those missions, which I think one's on a Falcon 9, one's on the new Antares rocket, just how that slots in with your manifest. Thank you.
Dina (35:28):
Okay. Let me first address the engine problem. We are continuing to look at what... Basically, follow that technical investigation and make sure we flush out everything. We are looking pretty good on that investigation, but are still working with Northrop Grumman on that. The next flight that we have is NG24, and that's currently on schedule. They've been through Thermal-Vac as well, and that particular missions launch date
Dina (36:00):
It looks like, I think it's April 3rd. And so we are working through of course, as we always are, pre-flight items with Northrop Grumman on that one. So again, we're clearing up some of the final discussions on those, but right now the hardware's progressing well. In terms of the cadence, we'll then have another mission after that towards the end of this year. For the NG-22 particular vehicle, we're still working with Northrop on where we're going to slot that particular vehicle in and as well as the maiden firefly voyage. So we don't have as many cargo flights as we used to have, and a lot of that is driven by budget. So we want to very carefully figure out where we would put the maiden voyage of a new rocket and where we want to put that particular ... Essentially, it's a different sized type vehicle for the container and where we want to put that in the manifest.
(37:02)
And so we're still discussing all of that with Northrop, but we are intending to slot that in and we're just trying to find the right time for that.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Thank you. We'll go back to the phone bridge for our next question. This question is from Rebecca Helwill.
Rebecca Helwill (37:16):
Hey, thanks so much. I'm just wondering if you can share a little bit more about how mission controllers are planning to sort of focus on both Artemis and Crew-12 at the same time. How are they preparing to sort of monitor both things?
Steve (37:31):
I can start and then see if Dina or Ken has anything to add. I mean, the flight control teams are separate. If you just think about Artemis has been training for many months to prepare for their mission, those are a separate set of flight controllers. And the engineering teams are largely separate. The contractor teams that work, Orion, the space launch system and the ground systems at KSC are separate. Of course, with Dragon, the flight control team is really a SpaceX team at Hawthorne for Dragon and then at KSC for the launch, so those are separate. And then obviously for the last 25 years or more, we've had an ISS team controlling the space station and those flight controllers are separate as well.
Dina (38:22):
And maybe I'll just add, some groups are specialists, for example, in comm, we brought up communication as some of the assets that are shared. And so those teams work very closely. They sit next to each other in some cases. And so it's really a very well coordinated effort when there is any kind of overlap. But like Steve said, for the most part, you've got one team focused on Artemis and one team focused on Crew-12.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Thank you both. Back on the phone bridge, we have David Kerley with Full Throttle.
David Kerley (38:51):
For Lee Eckerd, can you get into a little more details about the lessons learned with Think's suit? And could you give us, if there's one bit of comfort that the astronauts would really notice, would it be the joints under pressurization or a different modification? What would somebody who's flown with the previous suit say about the new suit?
Lee Echerd (39:11):
Yeah, thank you for the question. I think we talked about the suit redesign a little bit prior to Crew-11. Primarily the changes were to make it easier to enter and exit the suit or donned off the suit, as well as add adjustability to support different personal dimensions. And so that lets us build a smaller set of standard flight suit sizes and then adjust for the individual versus building a custom suit every time. The main goal for us is to eventually build a capability to build hundreds and thousands of flight suits to support a future with multiplanet species. I think for like the individual inside the suit, the feel pressurized and unpressurized is largely unchanged from the first version.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Thank you. We do have a follow-up from Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press.
Marcia Dunn (40:11):
Hi, Steve. I just want to make sure I understand what you're saying. One last clarification. So if Artemis 2 launches first, Crew-12 will not launch until Artemis 2 is safely back on earth. Is that correct?
Steve (40:27):
True, Marcia. That is our plan.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Thank you. Next up we'll go to Will Robinson-Smith with Spaceflight Now.
Will Robinson-Smith (40:35):
And thanks for taking another one. This one's for Dina and Kenneth, you'd like to add to it as well. Maybe with the ISS scheduling in reference to Cygnus another traveling cargo vehicles, the first flight of Dream Chaser obviously is not docking to station, but with the remaining time of ISS on orbit, given a successful flight of Dream Chaser, would there be room in the manifest for it to have a docking mission with the International Space Station? Thank you.
Dina (41:10):
Okay. Well, maybe I could start. I'll just say we are looking forward to a Dream Chaser potential mission in free flight towards the end of this year. Of course, that is not coming to ISS. We'll be watching that very closely and we do have our contract mechanism open for us to purchase services as we can fit them in, as you mentioned for later after this particular demonstration with both parties in agreement. And so we would assess at that time whether we could fit it in and by when the vehicles would be ready. And we're very interested in watching, I'd say. Of course, we could probably fit it in if the turnaround time between that last landing and the next launch gives us that time, but we'll have to assess that later once we kind of understand what their turnaround time will be.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
We'll next go to Ryan Caton with NASASpaceflight.com.
Ryan Caton (42:15):
Thanks for adding the follow-up. My question's to me, just looking at the schedule, this launch obviously is going from 40. There hasn't been a launch from 39A for a hot minute and I'm not seeing anything on the immediate schedule. So I'm just wondering if there's any, kind of ... Obviously there's another Starship construction going on. I'm just wondering if you could provide any information on what's happening with 39A. I don't know if there's like an intentional stand down or something going on. Thank you.
Lee Echerd (42:38):
Yeah. Thank you for your question. It's great to have two launchpads off the Florida Coast. For our manifest going forward, we're planning to launch most of our Falcon 9 launches off of Space Lawn Complex 40. That will include all Dragon missions going forward. And that will allow our CAPE team to focus 39A on Falcon Heavy launches and hopefully our first Starship launches later this year.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Thank you. And we are going to end with a question from social media. Robert Guzman on Facebook wants to know, will NASA allow the crew on Space Station to watch the Super Bowl or will they be required to work?
Dina (43:20):
Well, I'll answer that. Absolutely. If they'd like to watch the Super Bowl, we'll give them that chance. We'll have to see how that overlaps and if there's any critical events for ISS, but certainly we could record it and if necessary, play it back. But I'm sure that if they'd like to see it, that we'll make that happen.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Great. Thank you. And thank you to our briefers for answering the questions today, as well as all the media that dialed in as well as participated here in the room. We will have the opportunity for you to hear directly from Crew-12 here in a little bit. They will be speaking at 12:00 PM Central Time and talking about their mission. So thanks again for joining us. That will wrap up today's briefing.