1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from stuff 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: dot Com either everyone, and welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm 3 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren Bolkum, and today we're going 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: to look at a topic that we've touched on in 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: the past in related episodes. You know, we've talked about 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: a fellow named Ellen Musk or Elon Musk, depending upon 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,599 Speaker 1: your pronunciation of his name. Always said yeah, but we've 8 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: been hearing yeah. So um, Mr Musk, if I've been 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: mispronouncing your name all this time, I do apologize very sincerely. 10 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: But we did do a previous episode called tech Stuff 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: looks at Elon Musk, and we published that back on 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: March thirteenth, two thousand thirteen. So, you know, back in 13 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: back in the days when we were young and idealistic 14 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: and we looked at tech with bright fresh eyes. I'm 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: not sure if I was ever idealistic even when I 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: was young. Well, uh, I can't speak for you. Actually, 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: I still consider myself both young and idealistic, so I 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: don't know why I even framed it that way. But 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: at any rate, during that old episode, we did mention 20 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: his work in privatizing space. Yeah he um, he developed 21 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: an interest. Some would argue it bordered on obsession with 22 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: the idea of creating a private company that would get 23 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: America really back into the space exploration game. And you 24 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: may think, wait a minute, you know, NASA has been 25 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: around and been working for for decades, what does he 26 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: mean get back into it? And the reason, you know, 27 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: his reasoning was that it turns out a lot of 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: the stuff that we require, the stuff we use to 29 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: get things up into space, come from other countries. So 30 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking a lot about the United States 31 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: in this episode and part two. It's going to be 32 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: a two partner. So just warning all of our friends 33 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: from other countries. This is very US centric. But it 34 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: also is an interesting example of how a private company 35 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: can ache some pretty bold steps into an industry that 36 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: for a long time was dominated by very, very large 37 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: and very kind of closed off silos. Oh sure. Well, 38 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: and also, as we will talk about, I think a 39 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: lot of Musk's concept in starting up this company was 40 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: for very American reasons. And that's with a like shake 41 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: fist shaken in the air, kind of American sort of 42 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: the America. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I don't I 43 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: don't know that that's a that's a loaded intonation. That's true, 44 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: that's true. I I mean it. I mean it with 45 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: a sparkle in my eye. I actually think that that 46 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: he's done some incredible work. And there are a lot 47 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: of people who talk about his personality and his driving 48 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: ambition and like his inability to imagine failure. I've actually 49 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: seen that quoted a few times different people, that when 50 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: he when he sees a goal, he can't imagine not 51 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: achieving it, which I guess as long as you do 52 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: achieve your goals is okay. So let's talk about space 53 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: X and how it came to be. And it's really 54 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: not that old of an organization. Oh no, it only 55 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: really started up in two thousand one. Yeah, this was 56 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: before there was an official organization of an official company. 57 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: This was back when Elon Musk, who was freshly super 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,359 Speaker 1: duper rich from his work with PayPal uh I, started 59 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 1: to think, what am I? What am I going to 60 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: do with this money? I've made all this money and 61 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: that's fantastic, but what do I do with it? And 62 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: he started talking with another Internet millionaire named Adeo Ressi, 63 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: and they were talking about the possibility of funding a 64 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: space mission. They both had this fascination with space exploration. 65 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: You know, they they both thought of it as this 66 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: amazing thing. It kind of makes me think of like 67 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: the kids who you know, like, what do you want 68 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: to be when you grow up? I want to be 69 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: an astronaut? Yeah, yeah, no, the whole Final Frontier kind 70 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: of concept exactly. So I think for him, he was thinking, well, 71 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: I might not be an astronaut, but I sure as 72 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: heck can make sure I can fund someone to go 73 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: up there. And so they started talking about what they 74 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: could do, and they pulled in an aerospace consultant named 75 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: Jim Cantrell to talk about it. Now, the original plan 76 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: was not to form a company and privatize space in 77 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: that way. They thought about buying all the components as 78 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: if they were in NASA, essentially buying them from the 79 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: existing infrastructure that's out there, putting it all together, and 80 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: funding a private mission to Mars, which is a lofty 81 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: and awesome goal. Yes, very good pun there is quite lofty. 82 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't really intend it to be a pun. 83 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: But that's but I'm glad that I made one um 84 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: for the sake of the show. Uh, And I do 85 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: want to put in that there there were indeed a 86 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: lot of private companies that were maybe not launching stuff 87 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: into space here in the United States at any rate, 88 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: but certainly helping create stuff for the exploration of space 89 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: at this point, Like you know, if you remember from 90 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: our A, T and T episodes, private satellites go back 91 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: to the nineteen sixties and by the late eighties and 92 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: early nineties here in the States that the government was 93 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: not just allowing, but encouraging and enforcing commercial space endeavors 94 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: and uh and we were actually kind of way behind 95 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: Europe and all of that. So this kind of thing 96 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:12,480 Speaker 1: had been going on. Yeah. In fact, if you if 97 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: you look at all the NASA launches, it's not that 98 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: NASA was It's not like they had these enormous manufacturing 99 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: plants where they were churning out the rockets and the 100 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: engines and everything, and they were buying them up in 101 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: private company. Yeah, largely in the US that would be 102 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: Locked Martin or Boeing. Those would be the two big 103 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: companies that NASA would get equipment from. And in fact 104 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: that it's interesting because that's still sort of how things 105 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: are today for the most part. And we'll talk about 106 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: how that's become kind of an interesting conversation around the 107 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: whole SpaceX thing. Oh yeah, yeah, it's very much. NASA 108 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: is very much threaded through everything that space X does. 109 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: So what happened with this private plan to try and 110 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: fund a mission to Mars, Well, they kind of hit 111 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: a little bit of a stumbling block a little bit. Yeah. 112 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: It's imagine that you are on say Amazon dot com, 113 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: and you see enormous launch rocket offered, and it's offered 114 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: for you know, you could get seven of them for 115 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 1: twenty million dollars, and you think, hey, you know, I'm 116 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: I got this plan. I'm gonna need seven of these things. 117 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: I got twenty million, let's put that in my cart. 118 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: And then when you put it in your cart and 119 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: you go and you check out, and then says, oh, 120 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: oh you know what, I know what we said, but 121 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: instead of seven for twenty million, each of these is 122 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaker 1: now going to be twenty millions, So your your total 123 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: has gone up. That's kind of what happened. When Musk 124 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: and crew went to Russia to look at purchasing the 125 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: launch vehicles they would have used for this mission. They 126 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 1: ran into all this red tape, There was all this 127 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: corruption they had to deal with. They talked about bribery issues. 128 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: When they had Russians come over to UH to the 129 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: United States, they would end up having to throw these 130 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: like lavish parties and stuff in order to keep the 131 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: Russians happy. And eventually Musk said, this is not how 132 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: I want to do business. He said, I think I 133 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: see where the real problem is with the space industry. 134 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: It's not it's you can't just point a finger and 135 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: say this enormous organization is inefficient and and and byzantinean 136 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: and it's just enormous and no one knows what's going on. 137 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: It's not just that, although that's probably a factor. It's 138 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: also that the different entities this organization is dealing with 139 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: aren't always on the up and up, or aren't are 140 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: maybe perhaps are able to leverage their position as being 141 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: this one company that produces the thing you need and 142 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: kind of holding the whole industry hostage as a result. 143 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: And that's when Musk said, you know, maybe we should 144 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: look at some other alternative to just purchasing stuff from 145 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: other people. What could we do instead of that? And 146 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: in UH in two thousand and two, that's when he 147 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: kind of came to the conclusion that instead of trying 148 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: to to buy all this stuff out and uh and 149 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: then have a private launch. Maybe forming your own company 150 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: and building the stuff yourself is the better idea. So 151 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: by two thousand two, Musk had decided that buying these 152 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: components and then having a privatized mission just wasn't going 153 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: to work, and so instead he looked at the possibility 154 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: of creating a company that would build its own rockets, 155 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: which is a big, big deal, especially to to do 156 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: that here in America. So he founded a company called 157 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: Space Explorations Technology, but everyone calls its space X. That's 158 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: essentially the name now. It really no one refers to 159 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: it by its old name. Now. According to The New 160 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: York Times, Musk invested about a hundred million dollars of 161 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: his own money into the company, so you could say 162 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: that he was pretty determined to have this happen. I mean, 163 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: that's a huge investment. Keep in mind, that's one third 164 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: of the money he made from his sale of PayPal 165 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: to eBay. Now that whole sale was about one point 166 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: five billion dollars, but three hundred million of it went 167 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: to Musk. So he gets three hundred million dollars and 168 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,200 Speaker 1: immediately one third of it he invests in the take 169 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: this thing. Yeah, that's that takes guts, and that's a 170 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: huge No one has ever argued that Musk doesn't have guts. 171 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: So one of the things he wanted was to have 172 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: this new company lower the cost of putting stuff up 173 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: into orbit, particularly small payloads such as smaller satellites, because otherwise, 174 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: if you were a company and you had built a 175 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: satellite for your business, whatever that business might be. Let's 176 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: just say it's a telecommunications company and they've got a 177 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 1: small satellite they want to put up in space. Normally 178 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: you would have to wait until you could have that 179 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: piggyback onto another payload because it's so small that the 180 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: expense of launching it would be too great. Now, this way, 181 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: Musk is hoping to bring price down to be more 182 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: attractive to customers that are making these smaller satellites. You 183 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: still might piggyback several together, but overall, the the price 184 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: tag drops and then you don't have to you know, 185 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: have all the you end up having an increase in innovation, 186 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: is really what it comes down. Yeah, So he starts 187 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: to look at how companies get stuff up into space, 188 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: and like I said, in the US, you had Boeing 189 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: and Locked. Those were your two companies that you could 190 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: really work with if you wanted to try and get 191 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: stuff up into space, and they built the rockets that 192 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: were necessary to get payloads up there. At Boeing produced 193 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,559 Speaker 1: the Delta four rocket and Lockeed produced the Atlas five. 194 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: And so you had a duopoly, meaning that there were 195 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:27,840 Speaker 1: only two companies who had to choose from. And by 196 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: the way, Boeing and Lockeed work in partnership together in 197 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: the United Launch Alliance or u l A. So when 198 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: I say duopoly, you know, essentially you're it's it's similar 199 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,079 Speaker 1: to a monopoly that you just have these two entities 200 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: that can determine exactly how much things cost. And UH 201 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: they have all the contracts with lots of big customers 202 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,160 Speaker 1: like the United States military for example, which means that 203 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,079 Speaker 1: a lot of their stuff, although you know, certainly worth purchasing, 204 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 1: was very expensive. Yes, so that meant that UH, an 205 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,119 Speaker 1: orderization like NASA or smaller companies that had these satellites, 206 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: they had a real incentive to look around for an alternative. 207 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: The problem was that for the longest time, there was 208 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: no alternative. Right. Meanwhile, the Russian and Ukrainian space programs 209 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: offered rockets at a lower cost, which was driving business 210 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: out of America, his driving business overseas, and Musk wanted 211 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: to reverse that trend by creating a real competitor in 212 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: the United States that could be in the space industry 213 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: and offer competitive prices to bring jobs and money back 214 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,319 Speaker 1: into the US. So that really was kind of the 215 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: driving force of his sales pitch when he was going 216 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: around getting investors early on in SpaceX UM. He also 217 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: wanted to do more than just since satellites up. I mean, 218 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: that's that's a money maker right there, because people are 219 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: going to be producing these for various industries and they 220 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: gotta get up there somehow, sure, and cargo as well 221 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: for the for the space station. Absolutely, because we have 222 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: astronauts aboard the International Space Station and occasionally they need 223 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: to either say and stuff back that needs to be 224 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,079 Speaker 1: repaired or maintained, or it's the result of whatever experiments 225 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: they've been doing, or they of course need more stuff 226 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: to come up, you know, supplies, that kind of thing. 227 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: So those would both be you know, money making endeavors. 228 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: But he also wants to send people up there, which 229 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: is much more complex and expensive venture. Yeah, I mean, 230 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: you can design a spacecraft to carry cargo and not 231 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: have to worry as much about things like life support 232 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,839 Speaker 1: systems because there's nothing alive necessarily in that cargo. I 233 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: mean you might you might have some mice, or there's 234 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: usually some microbes at the very least. Yeah, but I 235 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 1: doubt that. I doubt they're very concerned about it. Yeah, 236 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: the microbe you know, the microbe supergroups are really poorly funded. 237 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: But anyway they are, they are in fact microscopic, one 238 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: might say. But uh, Musk really wanted to to you know, 239 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: this idea of of sending people not just to the 240 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: International Space Station, but further. He had a dream early 241 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: early on of this being kind of a stepping stone 242 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:12,439 Speaker 1: toward getting people off Earth and onto other planets or moons, 243 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: and the idea being that, you know, in order to 244 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: do that, the first thing you have to do is 245 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: solve the transportation problem. And so SpaceX so far has 246 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: really focused on the transportation part of it, but they 247 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: have not lost sight of this extended goal to get 248 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: people onto the surface of Mars, onto the moon, maybe 249 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: even have the foundation for further exploration, which is really hard. Yea, 250 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: that right there is going to take I mean literally, 251 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: it's gonna take a long time, Like it's gonna take 252 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: a long time to develop the technology and it's gonna 253 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: take a long time to get there. But yeah, this 254 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,559 Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff he says is necessary for 255 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 1: that to ever be part of our future. So kind 256 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: of a kind of an inspiring thing if you're really 257 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: into space right now. It was really cool that he 258 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: was thinking about that this early in the company. Yeah, 259 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: So meanwhile he was saying that, you know, it's necessary 260 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: for this company company to exist because NASA has seen 261 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: its budget cut multiple times over the last couple of decades, 262 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: and so they have to do more with less, and 263 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: so it would be good to have the option to 264 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: work with a company that could potentially launch things for 265 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: much less money than what their competitors could do. Right. Although, 266 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: you know, okay, despite these budget cuts, the the U 267 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: S shuttle program at NASA was going pretty strong during 268 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: this period. There would be a five or six shuttle 269 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: launches each year in two thousand and two thousand one, 270 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: and two thousand two, which ain't too shabby, right, So 271 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: we still at this point had a shuttle program which 272 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: was nice. Yes, we will get more into the fate 273 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: of that later. Yeah, But over the next few years, 274 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: SpaceX started to work on developing that rocket technology. I mean, 275 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: it's a brand new company, so they started really hiring 276 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: people either straight out of school or people who were 277 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: former engineers at at NASA Laboratory Worries, and they first 278 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: started developing a rocket called the Falcon one, which is 279 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: a two stage vehicle. H Now, if you ever hear 280 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: that the two stage vehicle or three stage whatever, and 281 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: you wonder what that means. Those are the rockets that 282 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: have segmented parts, right, and your first stage is the 283 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: one that's closest to the ground when the rocket is 284 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: standing upright. That first stage is designed to launch the 285 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: rocket off the launch platform and at a certain altitude, 286 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: detached from the rest of the vehicle and fall back 287 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: to Earth, which will also trigger stage two, which will 288 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: continue firing the rocket further out right and until it 289 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: gets to whatever destination orbit it's supposed to go to. UH. 290 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: And then you might have multiple stages depending upon the 291 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: design of the rocket, but this particular one was a 292 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: two stager UH and it had a Merlin engine for 293 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: its first stage, and the second stage had a kestral 294 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: engine designed by a guy named Tom Mueller, and mueller 295 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: Head gained Musk's attention because he had he had taken 296 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: on a d I Y project. You know, the kind 297 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: of thing like you know when you're in school and 298 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: you just you're really interested in something and you just 299 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: want to build a version of it for yourself. Yeah, 300 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: you just decided to do it. You just decided to 301 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: go out there and build a thirteen thousand pound forest 302 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: liquid fuel rocket in a friend's warehouse. Yeah, that's fifty 303 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: eight newtons you know in case. Yeah, I know, some 304 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: people like the toy with cars. This guy was just 305 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: building a rocket that would have an enormous amount of 306 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: force behind it. So today, yeah, he was. He took 307 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: d I Y to a level that is beyond my reckoning. 308 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: But today Mueller is the vice president of propulsion Development, 309 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:38,239 Speaker 1: Big shock. So they start working on this Falcon one project. 310 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: By two thousand three, they would open a testing facility, right, Yeah, 311 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: and the small town of McGregor, Texas. And this is 312 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: where all of their equipment and vehicle parts are proven 313 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: as safe as possible or scrapped and taken back to 314 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: the drawing. Right. And then we had another terrible news story. Yeah. 315 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: Also in two thousand three over at NASA, disaster befell 316 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: the Shuttle program this year. That was when the Columbia 317 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: orbiter would break apart during its re entry and and 318 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: all seven members of its crew would be lost. When 319 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: it had launched, pieces of insulating foam had broken off 320 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,679 Speaker 1: of the main engines external fuel tank and damaged the 321 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: heat protection tiles on the left wing of the craft. 322 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 1: And y'all, re entry is serious business. An orbiter will 323 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: be moving at some seventeen thousand miles per hour, that's 324 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:28,400 Speaker 1: some eight thousand kilometers per hour, and exposed to friction 325 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 1: based heat of approximately three thousand degrees fahrenheit a k 326 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:38,639 Speaker 1: a thousand six d fifty degrees celsius. So it's a 327 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: it's a dangerous time, certainly, but um so so not. 328 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: NASA would wind up grounding the Shuttle program while it 329 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: investigated this disaster and and started planning safeguards for the future. 330 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: And certainly the folks over at SpaceX we're taking very 331 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: careful note obviously. Yeah. I mean, if their plan was 332 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: to eventually put people up into space, and I don't 333 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,920 Speaker 1: mean for this to be a spoiler for part two. 334 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: But that's something that SpaceX has yet to do. They 335 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 1: haven't they haven't launched demanded mission yet. But if they 336 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: do wish to do this, they have to obviously take 337 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: these things into account and and you know, personal safety 338 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: has got to be paramount and there in their estimation 339 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: when they're building these things. Keeping in mind that. The 340 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,639 Speaker 1: interesting thing about astronauts is they talk about, Hey, you 341 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: need to ask us what if the risk is worth it? 342 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: Because many of us are ready to sign up. As 343 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: soon as something is shown to be uh, to be 344 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 1: working in working condition, I'll sign up. And I'm thinking, wow, 345 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: you are a different kind of person than I am. Uh. 346 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: It's it's inspiring, but not me um so. So, in 347 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: two thousand four, facing further budget cuts and continued fallout 348 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: from this Columbia disaster, then President George W. Bush announced 349 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 1: the NASA Shuttle programs eventual retirement. It was set out 350 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: a few years from from this announcement, right, I don't 351 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: think it was specified quite yet. We'll get there. Yeah. 352 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: It was one of those things that made a lot 353 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: of people very sad, because, of course, space exploration is 354 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: one of those things that is often very inspiring, particularly 355 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: to young people who see this this uh incredible endeavor 356 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: to learn what we do not yet know, and it's 357 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: it's got adventure wrapped up in it. I mean, you 358 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: can't deny it. Oh yeah, yeah, well you know, But 359 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,920 Speaker 1: NASA shuttle program would regain its feet the next year, 360 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: in two thousand five, they would send a single shuttle 361 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: up for the first time since Columbia's loss. And and 362 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: over the next six years, the Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor 363 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: shuttles would become active again, largely collaborating with the European 364 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,640 Speaker 1: Space Agency on projects to build, maintain, and also crew 365 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: the International Space Station. And you know, I wanted to 366 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: talk about all of this NASA stuff because even though 367 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: it's not directly at this point related to SpaceX, you know, 368 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: public American opinion about space exploration is so tied to 369 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: what's going on with NASA UM and and also you 370 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: know they do vi all of their stuff from the 371 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: commercial space industry, so it's very much a part of 372 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: of what's going through SpaceX's mind right now. Absolutely. I mean, 373 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 1: this this is such a huge interconnected web, right You've 374 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,439 Speaker 1: got this thing where it's not just it's not just 375 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 1: the scientific endeavor, the loss of that that you have 376 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: to take into account. I mean, that is already an 377 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: enormous thing, but on top of it, it's business. Right. 378 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: If NASA ends up scrapping this whole program and there's 379 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 1: no replacement, there's nothing that takes the Space Shuttle's place 380 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,160 Speaker 1: in that time, and there are fewer contracts out there 381 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: for a company like SpaceX, right, or for Lockheed or 382 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: for Boeing. I mean, you've got this enormous industry that 383 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: relies upon this demand, and if the demand goes away, 384 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: then that's a problem. Meanwhile, that also meant that NASA 385 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: had to outsource a lot of work to Russia. Whenever 386 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: Russia was sending up capsules to the International Space Station, 387 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 1: they had to rely upon that. And again it it 388 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 1: illustrated that there needed to be some sort of new 389 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,920 Speaker 1: entity to allow UH the United States to be able 390 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: to operate independently of other nations. This is also the 391 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: time two thousand five, That's also the time when SpaceX 392 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: would buy a stake in a company called Surrey Satellite 393 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: Technology Limited to the company that builds small satellites. So 394 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: now they've got a stake in a company that actually 395 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,360 Speaker 1: is trying to send stuff up into space. Moving on 396 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: to two thousand six. On March two thousand six, my 397 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: wife had a birthday. But more importantly, in the context 398 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: of this particular episode, SpaceX had a test launch of 399 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,959 Speaker 1: the Falcon one launch vehicle also known as a rocket, 400 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: but launch vehicles what they call it in the biz. 401 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,199 Speaker 1: And so the launch vehicle, uh, you know it, it 402 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,680 Speaker 1: took off. Unfortunately, a fuel line ruptured and caused a 403 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: fire and massive failure of the rocket, and all launch 404 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 1: data aboard the rocket was lost as a result of 405 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: this launch failure. Now, despite the failure, SpaceX landed a 406 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,640 Speaker 1: developmental contract with NASA, and it's called a Commercial Orbital 407 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: Transportation Services or COTS contract worth a cool two D 408 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: seventy eight million dollars. Now, SpaceX's role would be to 409 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: create the launch vehicles that would shuttle crew and cargo 410 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: to and from the International Space Station. So this particular 411 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: first launch, you can actually see the video that was 412 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: shot during their their test launches, and uh, it is 413 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 1: unfortunate that they lost all the data. As I recall, 414 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: I read one report where Musk and Mueller had a 415 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: rather tense discussion after this. I would imagine Musk as 416 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: someone who cannot envision failure. Seeing a test vehicle fail 417 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: was probably a pretty rough rough especially failed that spectacularly. Um, 418 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: but hey, there's a there's another test flight coming up, right. Yeah. Yeah, 419 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: they did pick themselves back up, and on March twenty 420 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: two of two seven they would send another Falcon one 421 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:07,719 Speaker 1: which ended in failure. Yeah. The rocket it successfully launched 422 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: off the platform, but when it got to the stage 423 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 1: separation part where the first stage and second stage we're 424 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: supposed to separate, they didn't disconnect properly. So the second 425 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: engine the of the of stage two, it ignited, but 426 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,679 Speaker 1: then seven minutes thirty seconds into the launch, the engine 427 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: shut down prematurely. The rocket did not make it into orbit, 428 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: but it did retain the data from the launch, so 429 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,679 Speaker 1: SpaceX could actually take that data and be able to 430 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,360 Speaker 1: look to improve for so they called it a partial success. 431 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: It made it succeeded in part of the mission parameters, 432 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: not all of them, because it didn't make it into orbit, 433 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: but because they were able to retrieve the data and 434 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: see exactly what went wrong, they could address it at 435 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,480 Speaker 1: least learn from it. Right. So two eight, SpaceX Lands 436 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,919 Speaker 1: and NASA launched services contract that could be worth up 437 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: to about one point six billion dollars when it's all Sadden. 438 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: This is all about again sending stuff up to the 439 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: I S. S to to kind of resupply it. So right, right, 440 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 1: And on August two they would do a third test launch, 441 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:14,640 Speaker 1: which also ended in failure. Yeah, three times in a row, 442 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: so this had to be tough for everyone at SpaceX. Now, 443 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: in this case, the Stage one section, uh it's separated 444 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: from Stage two. There the two came apart, but then 445 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,439 Speaker 1: Stage one's engines flared up at the last second after separation, 446 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: which meant that the disconnected Stage one collided with the 447 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: Stage two rocket that also had the payload on it 448 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: and sent it out of control. Yeah. So, I mean, 449 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,120 Speaker 1: if you imagine that you've got a car that you're 450 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: towing behind you, and then suddenly the towing uh apparatus 451 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: comes loose and then somehow the car actually behind you 452 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,440 Speaker 1: accelerates and slams into you. That's kind of what happened. 453 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: It was not good, um, but however, again they learned 454 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: more from that and on sept n eight, so within 455 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,200 Speaker 1: the same year, they had a couple of months later 456 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: they completed a successful test launch that got the Falcon 457 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: one into orbit, yeah, which is again it's the speed 458 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,959 Speaker 1: of it that's that's really impressive to me. It's a 459 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: private company building this stuff, you know, and not relying 460 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: on other other companies to provide things like engines. They're 461 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,640 Speaker 1: building all of this, putting it together and launching it, 462 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,360 Speaker 1: and to be able to do that so relatively quickly 463 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: is really impressive to me, because I mean, I don't 464 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: know if any of you out there listeners, if you've 465 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: never gone to a space center to see how big 466 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: these things are, if you ever get the opportunity take it, 467 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,640 Speaker 1: it is awe inspiring. It is you see how tiny 468 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: you are in relation to some of these rockets, and it, 469 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,680 Speaker 1: I mean, the first time I ever saw it absolutely 470 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: took my breath away. So to think of a company 471 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: being able to turn that around so quickly, it's pretty phenomenal. Also, 472 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,160 Speaker 1: keep in mind that one of the things they wanted 473 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: to do was design a rocket like then one. Design 474 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: a rocket that could be used multiple times. And usually 475 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,920 Speaker 1: you launch these things, they separate out and you retrieve 476 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,399 Speaker 1: the stuff and you scrap it. You don't use the 477 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: launch vehicle a second time. But that's their whole goal, 478 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: is they want to be able to use the same 479 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: launch vehicle for multiple missions, not just not just the capsule, 480 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: not just the part that holds the cargo and the 481 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: possibly the crew, but the entire launch vehicle, which is 482 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: pretty ambitious considering the way that they were always dealt with. 483 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,119 Speaker 1: And it's another thing that would have driven the price 484 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: of a launch far, far down because you don't have 485 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:39,679 Speaker 1: to build. So very important for them to have this 486 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: successful launch, and I'm sure there was a lot of 487 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: celebrating in Mudville that night. So it was the first 488 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:52,119 Speaker 1: privately funded liquid rocket fuel vehicle to ever go into orbit, 489 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: So pretty amazing well done, and that same year. The 490 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:01,400 Speaker 1: story is amazing to me too. Gwen shot Well, who 491 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: was the seventh SpaceX employee, she was the former VP 492 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,200 Speaker 1: of business Development, becomes the president and chief Operating Officer 493 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: of SpaceX. So Gwen shot Well is the president, Musk 494 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 1: is the CEO, and she is a phenomenal person. You 495 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,679 Speaker 1: need to read some of her interviews or watch some 496 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: of her interviews. Very articulate, very uh, very enthusiastic, and 497 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,400 Speaker 1: very ambitious as far as the space industry goes. I mean, 498 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: just like Musk very much on We're going to put 499 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: people in Mars by I mean, that's it takes a 500 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: lot of of of gumption to say something like that 501 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: and to mean it. You know, it doesn't come across 502 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: as it's you know, like, this is a plan we 503 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: have and maybe it will happen. You really believe it? 504 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: When none not even a sales pitch. Yeah, And I 505 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: was like, well, this is what we're doing. Oh by 506 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: the way, guys, we're going to Mars and anyone want 507 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: to go. So she attended school and majored to mechanical engineering. 508 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: She went into the auto industry for a while and 509 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,399 Speaker 1: then later went to the aerospace industry. She met with 510 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: Elon Musk in two thousand two, had had like lunch 511 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: with him and immediately was thinking this is kind of 512 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: a cool organization. So she came on as the seventh employee. 513 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: Shot Well is credited as being largely responsible for some 514 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: of the biggest deals SpaceX has landed in its history, 515 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 1: and she's also on the company's board of directors. So 516 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: if you've never heard about her, because I think most 517 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: of the time when we hear about SpaceX, we tend 518 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: to hear about Musk mask he's so closely identified with 519 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:35,879 Speaker 1: the organization understandably so. And he's also kind of a 520 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: one man show a lot of the time. He's a 521 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 1: very dynamic personality. This is true. But but shot well, 522 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: she she has a lot of responsibility for the success 523 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: of the company, I would say, and uh, I hope 524 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: maybe I'll be able to do an episode about her 525 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: in the future tech stuff that would be great. Now, 526 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: in two thousand nine, we are less than one year 527 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: away from its first successful test. SpaceX launches a low 528 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: earth orbiting set, a light called the Razak SAT. That's 529 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: are a Z A K S A T, and it's 530 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: a Malaysian satellite and it has a high resolution camera 531 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: on it. Pointed, the purpose of it was to point 532 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: at Malaysia and to provide high resolution images of Malaysia. 533 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: Because here's the thing about Malaysia, it gets cloudy a 534 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: lot and a lot. Of the the dedicated UH satellites 535 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: that get satellite imagery of various regions, they're dedicated for 536 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: enormous areas. Right, So the satellite actually goes through an 537 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: orbit that makes makes it pass over different parts of 538 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: Earth taking pictures along the way. Well, if that means 539 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 1: that this you know satellite only occasionally passes over your country, 540 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: and your country is often under cloud cover, then you 541 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: might not really have very many pictures exactly. So by 542 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: having a dedicated satellite with a dedicated camera, the hope 543 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,800 Speaker 1: was to be able to get much better images because 544 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: it'd be concentrating on a smaller region. Uh. And so 545 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 1: this was the first mission where a SpaceX rocket actually 546 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: took a working payload up into space. Uh. Follow up, 547 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: the satellite failed after operating for only a year, but 548 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: it still was a proof of concept that SpaceX could 549 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: actually do business. Yeah. So at that time, because they 550 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: had had this success, keep in mind they had a 551 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: successful test and one successful launch of the Falcon one 552 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: carrying a payload, they retire the Falcon one to to 553 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: focus on building a more powerful vehicle. Yes, and we 554 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 1: will talk all about that more powerful vehicle in our 555 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: next episode where we will continue the story of SpaceX. 556 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: It's it's funny because we're getting up to the year 557 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: two thousand ten, and you'd think, you know, we just 558 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: covered two thousand one through two thousand nine, and how 559 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: can two thousand, two thousand fourteen have enough for a 560 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:54,959 Speaker 1: second episode. Let's get so much. Yes, it picks up 561 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: so much, and we're really excited to talk about this 562 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 1: in our next episode. Meanwhile, guys, if you have any 563 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, maybe there's another 564 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: company you want to hear about, or a specific kind 565 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: of technology, or maybe you're just wondering, Hey, what was 566 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 1: tech like in the year nineteen SI no reason, just 567 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: let us know. Will be glad to look at that 568 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: and consider it for an episode and maybe even do one. 569 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: But in order for you to let us know, you 570 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: gotta gotta contact because just shouting it out the window 571 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: does not work. So send us an email or addresses 572 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop 573 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: us a line on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumbler, or handle it. 574 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: All three is text stuff H. S W and we'll 575 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon for more on this 576 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: and bousands of other topics. Does it has to Works 577 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: dot Com