JOHN YANG: And finally tonight, we simply
can't leave without a longer look at today's
liftoff of a huge new rocket from SpaceX.
MEN AND WOMEN: Three, two, one.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JOHN YANG: The world's most powerful rocket,
the Falcon Heavy, took off from Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
That's where NASA has long launched spacecraft.
But, today, it was from the private company
started by Elon Musk.
At least two million people watched it on
the company's livestream on YouTube.
Our own science correspondent and resident
space expert is here, Miles O'Brien.
And it's the focus of our weekly segment on
the Leading Edge of science and technology.
Miles, welcome.
Let's get the serious stuff out of the way.
What is the goal of this effort?
MILES O'BRIEN: Well, Elon Musk wants to go
to Mars and colonize Mars.
That's the top-line goal.
And this is one of the big, important steps
along the way.
But part of getting to Mars and making that
a practical idea is making it more easy to
get to space.
And this is a lot cheaper.
It's a fraction of the cost of anything NASA
has built.
We used to say in the shuttle days, it was
about $10,000 a pound for any pound of anything
you put into space.
Elon Musk is down around $1,000 a pound.
So, we're talking about an order of magnitude
improvement on cost, and that has to do with
the reusability of these boosters.
JOHN YANG: So these boosters actually landed,
re-landed after the liftoff.
MILES O'BRIEN: It was quite a sight.
Two of them made it back.
And they landed in perfect synchronicity.
It almost looked like animation.
And it was really rather spectacular.
But those are fully reusable boosters.
The shuttle tried to do reusability, but because
of a lot of compromises in budgets along the
way, it was only partially usable, and ultimately
a very expensive craft to fly.
JOHN YANG: And Elon Musk, being the showman
that he is, what is he using for a payload?
MILES O'BRIEN: If NASA were doing this, they
probably would have put in ballast, which
have been a bunch of bricks or concrete or
something for weight.
He put in a Tesla Roadster, which he actually
drove, used, with a dummy sitting in the seat
with his arm on the window.
And on the screen on the Tesla, it says, "Don't
panic," David Bowie playing, of course.
Now, you have got to appreciate the cross-marketing,
number one, Tesla, of course, his company
as well, and, number two, just the good, plain
fun of it.
JOHN YANG: Absolutely.
Now, you have covered the space program for
a long, long time.
What was it like for you to watch this today?
MILES O'BRIEN: John, it caught me by surprise,
as obviously I wasn't there.
I wish I had been there, couldn't get there.
But just watching it, I really got emotional.
I miss that event, seeing the shuttles launch
from those launchpads.
That launchpad was where Apollo 11 launched
from.
Lots of history there.
And there's something very moving and emotional
about it.
I got into covering space because it's one
of the few events that binds us all together
in an uplifting way.
We can think of a lot of things that bring
us together and bring our focus together in
a negative way, but space has a way of literally
and figuratively taking us above the horizon.
JOHN YANG: And the beaches and the stands
of the Kennedy Space Center is filled with
spectators.
MILES O'BRIEN: It was reminiscent of the old
moon shots or some of the more celebrated
shuttle missions.
I'm thinking of the John Glenn flight in 1998,
STS-95 on Discovery, where there were a huge
amount of people on the beaches, the hotels
sold out, and the enthusiasm.
And then, of course, the enthusiasm of these
young people at mission control in Hawthorne,
California, for SpaceX, 20-somethings.
And it reminded me that we got to the moon
on the backs and through the brains of 20-somethings.
It's just a new generation.
It's their grandkids.
And they have taken the torch.
They're carrying the torch and, hopefully,
taking us to Mars.
JOHN YANG: And Elon Musk has already booked
a commercial flight with this?
MILES O'BRIEN: Two unnamed people apparently
will do an Apollo 8-style mission, that is
to say, a lap around the moon, using the Falcon
Heavy as a way to get them there.
So ,stay tuned for that.
I can tell you it's not me.
But I'm available if spot number three comes
up.
JOHN YANG: And there was -- people may not
know this, but there was a journalist in space
program, and you were supposed to be a part
of it, or may have been part of it.
MILES O'BRIEN: In my days at CNN, we worked
out a deal for me to fly on the shuttle to
the International Space Station.
Unfortunately, we lost Columbia right about
the time we were going to announce that, and
that was the end of that.
So it's a big long-held dream of mine to have
reported from space.
I'm tan, I'm rested, I'm ready.
That's all I can say.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN YANG: So, Elon Musk, if you're looking
for the third, here he is.
And for a fourth, I will carry your notebook.
MILES O'BRIEN: I'm in, brother.
Let's go.
JOHN YANG: Great.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN YANG: Miles O'Brien, thanks a lot.
MILES O'BRIEN: You're welcome, John.
JOHN YANG: And if you can't get enough on
"NewsHour" online right now, you can watch
the full rocket launch.
That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.
