The current capsule target design for the first ignition experiments at the NIF Facility beginning in 2009 will be a copper-doped beryllium capsule, roughly 2 mm in diameter with 160-{micro}m walls. The capsule will have a 75-{micro}m layer of solid DT on the inside surface, and the capsule will driven with x-rays generated from a gold/uranium cocktail hohlraum. The design specifications are extremely rigorous, particularly with respect to interfaces, which must be very smooth to inhibit Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth. This paper outlines the current design, and focuses on the challenges and advances in capsule fabrication and characterization; hohlraum fabrication, and D-T layering and characterization
