Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn into office on an Inauguration Day unlike any in history on Wednesday.
Biden will officially become the nation's 46th president, while Harris will be sworn in as the first female vice president and first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office.
It will be a much different atmosphere than usual, without the throng of hundreds of thousands of supporters usually in attendance. The crowd will be small and many of the events virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic. There will also be more than 20,000 National Guard members in Washington due to threats of violence in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Here's how the day will unfold:
Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden will start the day at the Blair House, a short walk from the White House, before attending a morning church service at St. Matthew's Cathedral with top congressional Democrats and Republicans.
At 11:15 a.m., the ceremony will begin with Harris being sworn in as vice president by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Lady Gaga, who was seen greeting National Guards members near the National Mall on Tuesday, will be singing the national anthem during the ceremony. There also will be performances from Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks.
At noon, Biden will be sworn in as president by Chief Justice John Roberts on the Capitol's West Front and then will deliver his inaugural address.
Instead of the massive crowd that is usually present during the ceremony, the National Mall has been filled with nearly 200,000 flags as part of an art display called “Field of Flags," which represents all of the Americans who were unable to be in attendance.
Following Biden's speech, he and Harris will be joined by their spouses to conduct a review of the military troops, a longstanding Inauguration Day tradition.
Shortly after 2 p.m., they will be joined by former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton at Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
That solemn moment will be followed by the inauguration parade, which will look much different this year. Instead of walking down Pennsylvania Avenue, Biden and Harris will receive a military escort from 15th Street to the White House at 3:15 p.m.
You can watch all of the day's events live on television on NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox, and PBS. An official livestream of the events will also be shown by the Biden Inaugural Committee on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Twitch and its website. The White House will also stream the inauguration live.
For the first time, there also will be a special Inauguration Day livestream just for children, hosted by Keke Palmer. The "Our White House" program will feature commentary from historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Erica Armstrong Dunbar, as well as excerpts of student voices from PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs’ “We the Young People” programming.
The event will be livestreamed beginning at 10 a.m. EST.
The historic day will then be capped off by a star-studded event hosted by Tom Hanks, starting at 8:30 p.m. EST. The "Celebrating America" program will feature performances by Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato, Ant Clemons, Foo Fighters, John Legend and Bruce Springsteen as well as appearances by actors Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria.
The special will be broadcast live on NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and CNN and will also be streamed live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, NewsNOW, DirectTV and U-verse.