00:01Andrews, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:03You've covered space for years.
00:05What does this mission mean for you personally?
00:07Well, personally, it's brilliant because it's the return to the moon, if you like.
00:11I started my own odyssey in space in 1968 when the Apollo 8 went around the moon.
00:17So it was the Apollo program was getting going.
00:18And that's what started me in science in general as well, to be quite honest.
00:22And of course, it stopped in 72 for good reason.
00:25In retrospect, there was a good reason why it stopped.
00:28And now it started again.
00:30And I thought it might have started a little earlier.
00:32Because when Apollo was going on, you had this dream that when I would be in my 50s,
00:38that we would have a base on the moon.
00:39We'd be exploring the possibility of going to Mars.
00:41And it never happened.
00:43But now it's started again.
00:44So this is a very exciting time.
00:46It's almost like being back in the 1960s.
00:49I don't think it's been this exciting.
00:50Since I was a kid as well, back in the 80s as well.
00:54What's this mission actually achieved, though?
00:56Well, several things have been achieved by this mission.
00:58First of all, it's testing out the vehicle itself, which is really important.
01:01Human rated, as it's calling.
01:03It first flew a couple of years ago without a crew on board.
01:08So they're rating the machine.
01:10That's really important.
01:11They're testing the ability of humans in the modern generation to do this mission,
01:16because it hasn't been done for 50 odd years.
01:18So no human really has done this flight for a long time.
01:22So they need to understand the processes that humans are for there.
01:25So there's a lot of tests to be done.
01:26Humans have been able to see the far side of the moon in daylight for the very first time.
01:30A pilot mission has always saw it in darkness, not in daylight.
01:33And that's been quite an important thing.
01:35One of the important things that's come out, it's coming out recently, is the fact that
01:43they were observing for any meteorite impacts on the far side of the moon while they were
01:47flying around it.
01:48And they saw four.
01:50Now, they were looking at the rate of possible impacts that we should see, and that's more
01:54than they expected.
01:55That's quite an important discovery, because if you're having a base on the moon and you've
01:58got material raining down from the heavens, you need to take protection for it.
02:02So that, I think, is a very important point that needs to be done from a scientific point
02:07of view.
02:07But from a cultural and a humanity point of view, it's devastating, because people at
02:13last can think about themselves, again, living on a planet, going through the universe, rather
02:19than just in their little, narrow suburbs.
02:22What will NASA be looking at most closely from this mission there?
02:26Mostly to make sure the spacecraft is rated correctly, it's working perfectly.
02:29They've had some problems with the toilet, fortunately, a minor issue.
02:34We've got the biggest piece to come across, we've got re-entry into the atmosphere.
02:36That's the big issue, because there was an issue with the heat shield on the uncrewed
02:42mission.
02:43Although not a fatal issue, potentially, but nonetheless a matter that they need to solve.
02:50And hopefully that's going to work very well.
02:52So it's rating the vehicle, because once the vehicle is rated, it's up and working, the launch
02:56system worked, that means they can go on to the next step.
03:00And you can only go on to the next step once you've completed everything on the first.
03:04And therefore, that's what they're looking forward to.
03:06As I said, we had a bit of a lull in space missions.
03:09Why are they back now?
03:10A couple of reasons why now.
03:12Firstly, the geopolitical system has changed.
03:14China wants to go to the moon.
03:16Natural resources is the big thing.
03:17The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is really out of date.
03:20The nuclear treaty for in space has expired.
03:25So you can use nuclear material in space now.
03:28So that's pushing it.
03:29Technology's improved.
03:30Private sector has completely overtaken governments for their quality of spacecraft.
03:35So it's going to be cost effective to go into space now.
03:37It's going to be cheaper than ever before.
03:39So that's making it commercially viable.
03:40So that's one reason.
03:43The minerals, raw materials from the moon and the asteroids, that's really quite important.
03:48Because we're running out of rare earth metals on the Earth.
03:51I say we're running out.
03:52We're running out of accessible rare earth metals.
03:54They are still there.
03:55But they're going to be really expensive to get out.
03:56And it'll actually be cheaper to recover them from the moon and the asteroids, strangely enough.
04:00So that's there.
04:00And of course, the geopolitical situation with China wanting to go to the moon.
04:04So you've got a bit of a race going on at the moment.
04:06And China will claim sections of the moon once they land on it.
04:09So America has to be back there.
04:11Finally, Andrew, and I forgive you for this question.
04:13For NASA, what's the next one small step?
04:15What will we see next?
04:16But their next step is to test the orbital docking systems they have with the lander.
04:23The lander has been produced by, well, there's three proposals, three private companies proposing it, SpaceX, Dynotex and Blue Origin.
04:32The three are developing landers.
04:34So one of those three landers will take humans to the surface of the moon in 2028.
04:39And then immediately following that, which is quite staggering, will be the building of a moon base.
04:43So permanent occupation of the moon, which from a point of view of science is what we need.
04:48We need scientists permanently there to carry out the work, which Apollo sort of scratched at the surface.
04:54Well, a wonderful and inspiring and exciting time for humanity.
04:58It's brilliant.
04:58This is the time to, and hopefully encourage young people to get involved in science, in the sciences for exploration
05:06and for research.
05:08And that's what it did in the 60s.
05:09And hopefully that's what it'll do again.
05:11Andrew, thank you so much for your time.
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