July 11, 2021 |On GPS: A special hour as billionaire Richard Branson blasts off to space

Fareed Zakaria GPS

CNN

News

4.2 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fareed sits down with the renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson to discuss the science behind the billionaire race to space and contextualizes this moment in the history of human space exploration. Then, CNN’s space and defense correspondent, Kristin Fisher, whose parents were both astronauts, explains the political dynamics between Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and describes the history of these types of space flight tests. Plus, Rachel Crane, CNN’s innovation and space correspondent, reports on all the details surrounding Virgin Galactic’s test flight from the field at Spaceport America near Truth and Consequences, New Mexico. GUESTS: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Kristin Fisher, Rachel Crane To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is GPS, the Global Public Square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.
0:06.5	I'm Farid Zakaria coming to you live from New York.
0:09.9	In this hour, the billionaire Richard Branson is set to go to space.
0:14.7	In just 30 minutes, he is scheduled to take off from Space Board America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico,
0:21.7	in a space plane called VSS Unity.
0:24.8	The Unity will go up to the sky, not in the traditional way you are used to seeing rockets launch,
0:30.8	but rather a board of mothership called the VMS Eve.
0:35.2	At the height of his journey, Branson is expected to be more than 50 miles above the Earth.
0:40.8	The whole mission to space and back will last just one hour and five minutes, according to Virgin Galactic.
0:47.1	We'll bring it to you live when it happens and I will be joined by the one and only, Neil the Grass Tyson.
0:53.9	And we will talk about the billionaire's space race, about whether they are really going up into space,
1:00.4	and whether the interest from the mega wealthy is good or bad for the cause of space.
1:05.5	And we will have the latest from CNN reporters on the ground in New Mexico,
1:09.9	where the launch is happening, Rachel Crane and Kristen Fisher.
1:13.3	Rachel, what are you hearing about what is going to happen, and what are we going to see?
1:27.2	I think we're going live now.
1:29.6	Well, we just had a really exciting moment happen just a few short moments ago.
1:33.9	We saw Richard Branson and his fellow mission specialists come out of the hangar here at Space
1:39.1	Port America behind me, get into their vehicles and head out to the runway where a VSS unity,
1:43.8	their spaceship, and their mothership eve are parked right now, made it ready to take off in about 30 minutes.
1:50.7	Now this lift off, the mothership eve will take VSS unity to about 40,000 feet.
1:56.4	That's when the spaceship will be released and the rocket engine will ignite,
	...

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