Another Take: What the billionaire space race means for the rest of us
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every weekend, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on July 19, 2021. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, is heading to space on his own spaceship on July 20th – though he’s already been upstaged by another billionaire space tour. Where the global space race was once decided by the wealth of nations, now its future is increasingly determined by ultra-wealthy individuals worth more than many countries. Their pursuit of space could put new resources in reach, and it’s reshaping the laws of outer space – at least, the ones made by humans.
In this episode:
- Lucianne Walkowicz (@RocketToLulu), Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium and Co-Founder of Just Space Alliance (@JustSpaceOrg)
- Lisa Ruth Rand (@orbital_decay), Assistant Professor at the California Institute of Technology
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Chloe K. Li and Sarí el-Khalili. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, with our host Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi, I'm Sir Al-Khalili, Senior Producer with the Take, and this is another take, where we resurface stories from the archives. |
| 0:19.0 | Every year, the World Monuments Fund releases a list of threatened heritage sites. |
| 0:24.6 | This year, there was a new candidate, the Moon. |
| 0:28.6 | The designation was given because private exploration of the moon is on the rise. |
| 0:34.6 | Earlier this month, SpaceX launched two lunar landers to research future missions. |
| 0:41.3 | Private trips to the moon are expected by the year 2027. |
| 0:46.3 | It's all part of the new space race, and the ultra-wealthy are at the wheel. |
| 0:51.3 | In this episode that originally aired on July 19, 2021, we delve into |
| 0:57.1 | how the billionaire space race affects the rest of us. All dates and references are from that |
| 1:03.2 | time. |
| 1:07.6 | I want to go on this flight because it's a thing I've wanted to do all my life. |
| 1:18.4 | It's an adventure. |
| 1:19.9 | It's a big deal for me. |
| 1:22.4 | On Tuesday, July 20th, the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, is heading to space on his own spaceship. |
| 1:30.4 | But he's already been upstaged. |
| 1:33.2 | Any self-respecting space billionaire could not let that stand. |
| 1:37.8 | Richard Branson beat out Bezos by nine days. |
| 1:41.7 | The 70-year-old knighted billionaire became the first space baron to ride out of Earth's atmosphere. |
| 1:47.6 | More than a week ahead of Jeff Bezos and his blue origin rocket. |
| 1:51.9 | The flight on Tuesday has some big milestones, |
| 1:55.1 | including the oldest and youngest person ever to go to space. |
... |
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