00:00Ed, I want to start with something really important, and that is the space toilet.
00:04Because, first of all, it was repaired by the astronaut named Christina, who I'm obsessed with because narcissism.
00:09But also, our Bloomberg reporter asked a really good question about this toilet that was really expensive and then broke.
00:15We've got the sound for you.
00:19I'll take that one. I'm the space plumber. I'm proud to call myself the space plumber.
00:24I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board.
00:28So, we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine.
00:33It was just an issue, I think, of sitting for a long time and needing a little time to warm
00:36up.
00:38All right. Other than that, Ed, how did the liftoff go?
00:40Was it mostly okay and everything? I'm assuming the other systems worked.
00:45Yeah. I mean, the liftoff itself from Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, was perfect.
00:51And it came very early in what was a two-hour window.
00:55The window had opened at 6.24 p.m. Eastern. Liftoff was about 35 minutes past.
01:00And, you know, there's always some last-minute concerns.
01:05You know, they had some sensor failures in the battery of the launch abort system.
01:10And, you know, it's fascinating to listen to the communication between KSC in Florida, Houston, Mission Control, the crew going
01:19through all of the checklist.
01:20But they did it really early. And, you know, Joe's absolutely right.
01:24Where the crew are at now is probably a little closer to the moon than they are from Earth.
01:29It's a 250,000-mile distance.
01:32And an interesting development overnight.
01:34The course that the Artemis II crew and the Orion spacecraft were on was so perfect that they actually canceled
01:42one of the correction burns.
01:44There were three opportunities to do correction burn.
01:46Yeah, and that shows you how well engineered and planned this has been.
01:52That was a really important moment last evening, Ed.
01:54I watched that in real time, and it made me think of the many delays and the tens of billions
01:59of dollars in overbudget that have become hallmarks of the Artemis program.
02:03You and I have been talking about this for years.
02:05Why did it take so long to get that rocket into orbit?
02:10You know, you have to be fair and you have to state that the Artemis program overall is overbudget and
02:17it is behind schedule.
02:18You know, the original system initial planned launch was 2017.
02:23It ended up going uncrewed in 2022.
02:26And, you know, that has a cascading effect, of course.
02:29It's highly complicated.
02:30I mean, one of the reasons that the Artemis program is taking time to enact is that you have changes
02:40in administration in the White House and then you have changes in leadership at NASA.
02:44But the launch system and spacecraft has so many different hands touching it.
02:49So, Boeing makes the rocket, SLS, the European Space Agency and various European companies make the service module, which is
02:57still attached to Orion as we speak, provides life support, water, oxygen, propulsion.
03:03The spacecraft itself is Lockheed Martin.
03:05And then that spiky bit at the top at launch, which is jettisoned in low Earth orbit, the launch abort
03:11system, is Norfolk Grumman.
03:13And there are many other hands that get into it besides.
03:15And that's added to complexity for sure.
03:18The spiky bit.
03:19This is space talk I can follow.
03:20I really appreciate you dumbing this down for me.
03:23I also want to ask you about the astronauts because I was surprised to learn that they're older than me.
03:29I think of astronauts as being in their early 30s, but these are like proper grown-ups.
03:33They're in their late 40s.
03:34I think one of them is 50.
03:36How did they get selected?
03:37Victor Glover is the first black astronaut to travel into deep space.
03:41How did you get a seat on this trip?
03:43Yeah, and Christina Cook, you know, the first woman to go the lunar distance as well.
03:49And, you know, I would say that the astronauts themselves kind of downplayed those personal milestones.
03:54It's a rigorous selection process.
03:57They're all highly decorated.
03:58Earlier in their careers as a range of Navy fighter pilots or test pilots in the military, et cetera.
04:07They have all done time in space, you know, missions and significant time on the International Space Station.
04:15I don't have my notes in front of me, but I think Christina Cook did something like 328 days.
04:21So, you know, you have to have had some experience.
04:25And what was so interesting being at KSC throughout the week is there were many other astronauts there, highly decorated,
04:32who weren't going to the moon.
04:33And when you speak to them and the importance they assign to these four colleagues actually going to the moon
04:40and the credentials that they have, it's fascinating.
04:43And, you know, it takes a lot of personal sacrifice.
04:46There's quarantining involved, rigorous training, and also, you know, participation in the system's design.
04:54You know, Christina Cook fixed the toilet, the vacuum-based toilet.
04:58But, you know, that's the reality if they're going to be in a 330 cubic feet capsule for 10 days
05:04together.
05:05Victor Glover is a star, by the way.
05:07I predict he will be a media sensation when they come back.
05:10He's got an incredible personality to go along with his incredible talents.
05:13Is that the guy who goes with his dogs?
05:14I don't know, but maybe that would help.
05:17You mentioned the Kennedy Space Center in the week that you spent there, Ed.
05:20Your coverage was great.
05:21Just seeing you in front of that countdown clock was so iconic.
05:24And I remember being there.
05:25I talked to you about this earlier this week, covering the end of Shuttle, when the economic recession that hit
05:31because of the lack of a space program did a lot of damage to the space coast.
05:37A lot of people left.
05:38There was a brain drain.
05:39And I'm wondering how you would describe the local economy and the availability of talent, everything outside of the space
05:45complex that's happening now.
05:47One thing I'd reflect on is when I left KSC on Wednesday night, post, you know, post liftoff, I pulled
05:56out of the launch complex, turned left onto the Highway 3.
06:01It took me two hours to go 10 miles.
06:04Wow.
06:05And that is largely because of all of the people that came to Kennedy Space Center visitor complex to watch,
06:12right?
06:13The hotels packed out, you know, restaurants packed out.
06:16So that's a near-term thing.
06:18Something you and I discussed, Joe, is that in the last decade, maybe 15 years, the private sector's come in,
06:24right?
06:25And so just down from launch complex, you have SpaceX Hangar X2.
06:30Blue Origin has a very large footprint now on the space coast.
06:35And those two also in the running for great participation in this program, right, as we've reported.
06:40But the history of it is just, again, highly correlated with the attitude of the administration of the day.
06:48You know, George W. Bush, 2005, launched a program that probably gave birth to Artemis, as we know it today.
06:55Obama just wasn't interested in the moon or focused on the moon.
06:58So that's been a big part of that economics.
07:01Mm-hmm.
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