Episode 895: Rocket Dreams – The New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race

Newt's World

Gingrich 360

News, Politics

4.7 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newt talks with award-winning Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport, about his new book, “Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race.” They discuss the new space race, focusing on the competition between countries and private companies to return humans to the moon and explore beyond. Davenport highlights the advancements in space technology, particularly SpaceX's Starship, which represents a significant breakthrough with its fully reusable design and potential to revolutionize space travel. Their conversation also touches on the competitive landscape, with China making significant strides in space exploration and the United States' efforts to maintain its leadership. The potential for the moon to serve as a refueling station for deeper space exploration is also discussed, along with the need for a less bureaucratic and more innovative approach to NASA's operations to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the new space race.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:08.8	On this episode of News World, in the new space race, what will happen when human ambition
0:15.1	outpaces government regulation? Which country will win the race back to the moon and beyond? A fleet of powerful
0:23.0	new rockets is poised to take humans into space, and the world's two richest men have engaged
0:28.8	in escalating brinksmanship. Space has entered a golden age, and this is just the beginning.
0:35.4	In his new book, Rocket Dreams, Musk Bezos,
0:39.2	and The Inside Story of the New Trillion Dollar Space Race,
0:42.4	award-winning Washington Post reporter, Christian Davenport,
0:46.1	details the plans that will shape humanity's off-planet future.
0:51.0	I'm really pleased to welcome my guest, somebody that I really admire,
0:55.4	Christian Davenport.
1:00.3	He's a staff writer at the Washington Post covering NASA and the space industry and the author of The Space Barons, which is a terrific book.
1:02.8	He's been on reporting teams that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize three times
1:06.6	and is a recipient of an Emmy Award for his work on the Discovery and Science channels covering SpaceX's first human spaceflight mission.
1:30.9	Chris, welcome and thank you for joining in the newts world.
1:33.5	Oh, thanks so much for having me. It's such a treat.
1:40.2	Your book opens with SpaceX launching the starship on October 13, 2024,
1:45.7	which you stated was a daring feat that had never been accomplished or even attempted.
1:47.8	Why was this launch such a breakthrough?
1:51.6	Well, Starship itself represents a breakthrough.
1:56.7	I mean, just how big it is, the amount of mass it could be capable of taking to orbit.
2:00.0	Just on the first stage alone has 33 engines.
	...

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