Good Monday morning, friends. It’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero and what a historic moment we’re about to witness.
When the countdown clock strikes zero tonight at 10:34 p.m., Boeing’s Starliner will become just the sixth new American spacecraft to launch with astronauts.
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I’ve had the privilege over the last two weeks since Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at Kennedy Space Center to ask the crew and the mission managers about the years of delays to their historic flight. (I often read your comments concerning Starliner’s safety on ClickOrlando.com and our YouTube page).
My key takeaway from the press conferences I went to is Butch and Suni and everyone working behind the scenes to pull off this mission are all ready to leave the past headlines behind them and chart another new course in human spaceflight. Butch, himself, has called being the first to fly a new spaceship a greater risk than usual, but he also talked a lot about the incredible opportunity that risk presents.
When the Space Shuttle retired, NASA wanted two new spacecrafts to end America’s reliance on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Since 2020, SpaceX has launched 50 people to orbit, while Boeing has launched zero.
Should Butch and Suni reach the space station and return home in about a week without uncovering any new major problems with Starliner, then NASA will start flying six-month missions with crew members onboard Starliner every year, rotating ISS missions with SpaceX’s Dragon.
Before you join me and Erik Von Ancken for our live team coverage tonight, check out when I had the chance to walk the same path that Butch and Suni will walk when they arrive at the launch pad and take the elevator to the crew access arm. United Launch Alliance gave me the very cool opportunity to take the same footsteps as the astronauts, five years ago ahead of Starliner’s first launch without crew.
📧 Email me if you have any space topics you’d like me to address.
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👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!
