SpaceX's plan to fly you across the globe in 30 minutes | Gwynne Shotwell
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2018
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's up at SpaceX? Engineer Gwynne Shotwell was employee number seven at Elon Musk's pioneering aerospace company and is now its president. In conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson, she discusses SpaceX's race to put people into orbit and the organization's next big project, the BFR (ask her what it stands for). The new giant rocket is designed to take humanity to Mars -- but it has another potential use: space travel for earthlings.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This interview features space leader Gwen Shotwell in conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson, recorded live at TED 2018. |
| 0:11.0 | So two months ago, something crazy happened. Can you talk us through this? Because this caught so many people's attention. |
| 0:17.9 | I'll stay quiet for the very beginning, and then I'll start talking. |
| 0:21.1 | Five, four, three, two, one. |
| 0:28.4 | Lift off to Falcon Heavy. So this was such an important moment for SpaceX. With the Falcon 9 and now |
| 0:36.6 | the Falcon Heavy, we can launch into orbit any payload that has previously been conceived or is conceived right now. |
| 0:45.3 | We've got a couple of launches of Falcon Heavy later this year, so this had to go right. |
| 0:49.7 | It was the first time we flew it, and the star of the show, of course, brother and sister side boosters landing. |
| 0:56.9 | I was excited. |
| 0:59.5 | Thanking my team, by the way. |
| 1:01.0 | There's maybe a thousand people standing around me right there. |
| 1:05.5 | And Starman. |
| 1:07.0 | Starman did not steal the show, though. |
| 1:09.0 | The boosters did. |
| 1:11.2 | There had to be some payload. |
| 1:12.7 | Why not put a Tesla into space? |
| 1:14.6 | Exactly. |
| 1:15.7 | It's perfect. |
| 1:16.9 | Quinn, let's wind the clock back. |
| 1:19.3 | I mean, how did you end up an engineer and president of SpaceX? |
| 1:23.7 | Were you super nerdy as a girl? |
| 1:26.0 | I don't think I was nerdy, |
... |
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