NASA's Artemis II Launched, But It Should Have Been a SpaceX Mission

Josh: Last night, a rocket left Earth carrying four human beings towards the moon, Josh: which hasn't happened in 53 years. Josh: In 1972, back the last time we did this, the computer that landed Apollo 11 Josh: on the lunar surface ran on 43 kilohertz. Josh: That's less processing power than the chip inside of a $5 USB-C cable that charges your iPhone.

Josh: And they landed on the moon with it. Last night, the most powerful rocket NASA Josh: has ever built, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty, launched four astronauts Josh: into a 10-day loop around the moon. Josh: We're not going to the surface. We're just going to fly by, take some photos, Josh: and then come back home. And I got to be honest, this is incredibly exciting. Josh: I sat there all day watching the live stream. I cheered them on as it took off.

Josh: But it's a little embarrassing because we're not even reaching the point in which we left off Josh: a full generation ago. So there's a lot to unpack here with this mission, Josh: how amazing it is, how impressive it is, what it enables with the future partnerships Josh: with companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, and also how it kind of, to some extent, Josh: was just a colossal waste of money. Josh: So there's a lot to unpack here, EJS. But to start with, oh my God, this is amazing.

Josh: We're going back to the moon and the astronauts are currently, Josh: as you're listening to this, flying into space, getting ready to orbit around the moon. Ejaaz: I had friends yesterday that I hadn't spoken to in like months message me and Ejaaz: be like, dude, are you watching? Ejaaz: Did you know we're launching like people to the moon again? Ejaaz: People were just like encapsulated by this entire thing. I think a bunch of Ejaaz: people all over the world were watching this stream.

Ejaaz: And it's nuts. The mission is nuts. It's 10 days. Ejaaz: We're sending four astronauts around the moon. So, you know, Ejaaz: again, we're not landing on the moon, but we're going further than any space Ejaaz: mission has gone before. Ejaaz: 4,700 miles to be specific, a 10-day mission. Right now, the crew are being Ejaaz: propelled around Earth using Earth's gravity, and they're going to be launched Ejaaz: towards the moon in about, I believe, a day and a half from now.

Ejaaz: They're going to reach the moon six days after that, traverse it for about, Ejaaz: I believe, maybe half a day or so. Ejaaz: They're going to view the dark side of the moon, and then they're going to come straight home. Josh: And there's a lot of firsts for this, too. This is the farthest away humans Josh: will have ever been from Earth.

Josh: By a couple extra thousand miles, but still the furthest away they've ever been, Josh: there's also going to be a new record happening upon re-entry where this is Josh: going to be the fastest humans have ever moved before at 25,000 miles per hour on re-entry. Josh: And this is thanks to the free launch trajectory that they get from this mission. Josh: So basically what happens is we send these humans,

Josh: up into the low earth atmosphere. We whip them around earth and then send them out into deep space. Josh: The gravitational pull of the moon pulls them into its orbit, Josh: wraps them around the backside and shoots them right back to earth totally for free. Josh: No additional propulsion needed. And I have a post here that kind of walks through Josh: the highlights, right? We have 252,000 miles from earth.

Josh: These astronauts are going re-entry at 25,000 miles per hour, Josh: incredibly hot, incredibly fast and scary. Josh: And then it just kind of shows the trajectory of this, which is, it's really amazing. Josh: It's something that has been discovered in the past. I believe they've even Josh: done this exact trajectory, a very similar one, but just a little bit further Josh: this time and a little bit more exciting because it's happening in real time.

Josh: We have computers that can live stream. We have real-time video feeds of these Josh: astronauts and we get to actually watch and participate in this pretty unbelievable Josh: thing that's happening.

Ejaaz: So I've been watching the live stream since yesterday and there's Ejaaz: a tracker which tells you how far away from earth they Ejaaz: are right now and just as of recording it's around 50 Ejaaz: 000 miles now if you're wondering how far away Ejaaz: that is that's around four earth's diameters away Ejaaz: from us so they are a long long way uh away from home but the live cast is still Ejaaz: going on and people are generally just pumped about this josh um there was a

Ejaaz: hilarious video um where a cnn report i believe asked this kid hey um you know Ejaaz: why are you here Why are you here to watch the launch? And his response was pretty hilarious. Josh: Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Ejaaz: Why do you love being a part of history? We're going back to the fucking moon. Josh: Hell yeah, brother. Ejaaz: That's how I felt. That's how I felt. We're going back to the damn moon.

Ejaaz: Now, that sounds amazing. But when you put it into context as to when our last Ejaaz: moon mission was, and there's been quite a few. Ejaaz: We've put about, I think, 11 or 12 people on the moon. We've been to the moon, Ejaaz: maybe 12 people. and we've been to the moon maybe, what was it, three times or so? Ejaaz: You know, all American manned missions.

Ejaaz: I asked the question, why has it been 53 years since we've been back? Josh: That's a great question, EJ. And here's a timeline that should make you moderately Josh: uncomfortable. Because in 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Josh: We walked on it, planted a flag, and came home. Three years later, Josh: Apollo 17, Gene Carman becomes the last person to walk on the moon. Josh: And his final words on the surface, We leave as we came, and God willing,

Josh: we shall return. Well, God was apparently not willing for 53 years because it Josh: has been a very long time. Josh: And it's funny. Like I mentioned in the intro, we did that on a computer that Josh: only ran 145,000 lines of hand-optimized code. Josh: It was 1,100,000th the power that sits in your iPhone in your pocket and 350 Josh: times more than, you know, those TI-84 graphing calculators you used in high school? Yeah.

Josh: It's 350 times more powerful than that. And we landed on the moon twice.

Josh: So clearly there has been this disconnect in progress between then Josh: and now but nonetheless we are headed back Josh: and this does actually begin to open up Josh: the door for why this actually matters i mean this is fun we're learning we're Josh: doing science experiments like testing for radiation out in deeper parts of Josh: space but the reality is is that this is mission number one on a multi-step Josh: plan towards actually colonizing the moon building a lunar base on the moon

Josh: thanks to companies like spacex. Ejaaz: This is where I kind of want to transition into the numbers because they sound Ejaaz: impressive. It's a lot cheaper than it used to be back then. So that's one win. Ejaaz: But when you compare it directly towards a company like SpaceX, Ejaaz: which is using groundbreaking technology and cutting the cost down to a fraction Ejaaz: of what this mission cost, it starts to look pretty bad on NASA and on this Ejaaz: space mission in particular.

Ejaaz: Now, the headline number is $4.1 billion. dollars. Ejaaz: That's how much it costs to launch this rocket and man this mission. Ejaaz: And, you know, it's understandable. There's a lot of bureaucracy in the government. Ejaaz: There's a lot of mouths to feed and jobs to pay. But the fact that SpaceX can Ejaaz: do this for $10 million, and hey, if they blow the rocket up, Ejaaz: what is it, like $40, $50 million, Josh?

Josh: Yeah, so the way it works is, I mean, reusability is a big thing, Josh: but even in the absence of it, it is a huge delta. Josh: So like you mentioned $4.1 billion per launch for the SLS, which is this Artemis II mission. Josh: The total mission cost, by the way, about $93 billion. Josh: So quite a bit was spent on this. For Starship, Josh: it can launch for about $100 million. And that's if the Starship rocket blows up.

Josh: So if Starship explodes, the total cost to build in materials is about $107 billion. Josh: If it does land, which they're planning to do just in a couple of months, Josh: that cost goes down to $10 million. Josh: From $10 million to $4.1 billion per launch. Josh: And actually, EJ, if you scroll a little bit further down in this article here, Josh: there's a visual that shows the difference in size too as it relates to payload.

Josh: And Starship is a monster compared Josh: to nasa's sls it sits i want to say 25 30 Josh: taller it has much more payload capacity it is Josh: just a far more impressive rocket and the fact that Josh: it costs a fraction of a percent less than Josh: one percent to launch and it can be reused and it can be overflown again and Josh: again and again it's a testament to the gap that has been built between i guess Josh: government funded industries and private industry and part of the reason is

Josh: the the contracts are such a nightmare when nasa builds these things. Josh: They use it, they build them based on cost plus contracts, meaning that. Josh: The company decides a cost. They mutually agree on how much something is going to cost them to make. Josh: And then they add a fixed rate on top of it. So they get a premium. Josh: So Lockheed Martin says, this piece is going to cost a million dollars. Josh: Well, cost plus means, well, NASA will pay you a 20% premium on that.

Josh: But there's no incentive for them to bring it down because the premium gets Josh: higher as the cost goes higher. So there's all the incentive in the world to Josh: make these things incredibly expensive. Josh: Where SpaceX, a private company that does not use our taxpayer dollars to fund Josh: its launches, has every incentive in the world to remove the costs.

Josh: And that's why you get this thing called the Idiot Index, which is the delta Josh: between the cost of materials versus the actual cost it takes to get these things into orbit. Josh: And the Idiot Index on NASA's SLS is pretty freaking high.

Ejaaz: I'm starting to think that this entire mission should just have been handled and managed by SpaceX. Ejaaz: I'm pretty sure the future missions, which NASA is going to enable putting people Ejaaz: on the moon and setting up a moon settlement, is going to be enabled by SpaceX. Ejaaz: There is no are the way that they can do it. They need reusable rockets. Ejaaz: They need cheaper costs to get into outer space and to the moon and back.

Ejaaz: Now, I know they say never judge a book by its color, but I'm going to judge Ejaaz: these two ships directly together. Star Trek. Ejaaz: 25% taller. It is two times heavier. It can take 4x more payload than this current rocket. Ejaaz: It is completely reusable and both stages are designed for reuse. Ejaaz: So the point I'm trying to make here is I think that NASA taking 53 years is Ejaaz: kind of a big discredit towards the agency and what they've achieved.

Ejaaz: Not to discredit that the mission itself is very impressive, Ejaaz: but I think the future is going to be with companies like SpaceX that is able Ejaaz: to lower down the cost for things like this and produce better efficiencies Ejaaz: versus what we just watched yesterday. Josh: Yeah, it's totally right. And it's so important not to discredit what's happening

Josh: here because this is amazing, right? It's like we do have humans that are on Josh: their way to the moon right now built by an unbelievable engineering team that did this. Josh: It's not their fault. A lot of these people weren't even alive 53 years ago. Josh: They are doing their best to get these people to the moon and they're doing Josh: a great job. The mission so far outside of that one little toilet anomaly has been a wild success.

Josh: Everything is working really well and that serves a tremendous amount of credit.

Josh: But like you mentioned, SpaceX is just far superior and we're going to see that Josh: handoff happen as we progress through this artemis program so artemis 3 which Josh: is scheduled for mid-2027 so a year from now uh the crew is going to test docking Josh: with the spacex starship or perhaps blue origin but i would imagine that spacex Josh: is probably going to win over that contract there's no. Ejaaz: Way bezos gets this no way Josh: Unlikely unlikely but possible they have the

Josh: option then artemis 4 is the big one that's happening in Josh: early 2028 and that's when we are targeting for the first lunar Josh: lander to actually land on the moon with human beings inside so spacex is probably Josh: going to be handling that one that's coming in two years and then just a little Josh: bit later in the year in the second half of 2028 there's going to be a second Josh: crew landing planned in which nasa is going to target twice per year landings

Josh: on the moon going forward. Josh: And this is going to begin the production and the building of our lunar Mars Josh: base, which is really cool. Josh: I mean, NASA's administrator, Jared Isaacman, he's the new guy. Josh: Everyone loves him. He's amazing. Josh: He announced a $30 billion decade-long plan to build a permanent lunar outpost Josh: on the South Pole of the moon by 2036.

Josh: So the Artemis launch today, while we may have some choice words to say about Josh: it, is very much the gateway to a lunar base. Josh: And this is step one in a multi-step process that's going to happen. Josh: And they're going to bring in SpaceX. Josh: They're going to bring in Starship. The costs are going to decrease. Josh: It's just, you know, it took a little while to get here.

Ejaaz: I think it's also important to set the context as to why on Earth we have two Ejaaz: major companies or agencies trying to land humans and set up a supplement on the moon itself. Ejaaz: Elon has his own specific reasons for SpaceX. He wants to get closer to the sun. Ejaaz: He wants to train AI with data centers out in space and harness sun's energy Ejaaz: and turn us into a Kardashev 2 or Type 2 civilization.

Ejaaz: With NASA, it is part of that, but they've also realized that some parts of Ejaaz: the Moon is potentially habitable. Ejaaz: You know, they've found or confirmed water on the South Pole. Ejaaz: They've got drinkable water, breathable oxygen. And one of the reasons why this Ejaaz: is so important is it gives us more access to resources that we didn't have Ejaaz: access to before, more space. Ejaaz: And also, it's easier to manufacture things with one-sixth of the gravity of Earth.

Josh: Yeah, well, it's also, I mean, mass driver, dude, we're, we're doing AI in space. Josh: Don't forget that. So the plan for, I mean, space extensively is to help build Josh: this Mars base, but also to build that mass driver that we talked about in an episode prior, Josh: which is a way of distributing satellites into orbit very cheaply and very quickly Josh: and harnessing a lot more energy.

Josh: There's essentially unlimited free energy on the moon because we're able to Josh: capture all of it via solar and when you apply that at scale it's it's a really Josh: amazing way to begin to scale.

Josh: Intelligence energy capture we start to build these mini Josh: dyson storms because the cost per satellite becomes so low Josh: and this is going to happen over this phased structure they Josh: have like phase one which is happening through 2028 they're planning 25 Josh: launches 21 landings to deliver 4 000 kilograms Josh: of equipment that's going to include like rovers Josh: drones communication systems things of the nature phase two

Josh: happens in the following years between 2029 and 2032 where Josh: they're going to start building power systems and communications and Josh: habitat modules where humans can actually live on the moon for weeks Josh: or months at a time phase three happens just after that Josh: which is 2033 to 2036 which is Josh: the fully operational lunar outpost so this happens fairly Josh: quickly a decade from now there's a very high probability Josh: that's or i guess not very high there's a

Josh: strong probability that we have humans permanently stationed on Josh: the moon with rocket chips that go back and forth on a regular basis and we Josh: see it doesn't take that long this whole mission for these astronauts takes Josh: 10 days if you go direct i think it's way less than that it's probably half Josh: or something um so the moon is going to change a lot and this is very much the Josh: gateway mission that enables that that change to start happening.

Ejaaz: That still is almost a decade away. And I want to bring us back to the mission Ejaaz: that's happening right now. Ejaaz: We've talked about a lot of impressive things. The tech, the ship itself, Ejaaz: the crew, very accomplished. But I want to talk about the thing that impressed me the most. Ejaaz: The menu that they have for the next 10 days. Oh boy.

Ejaaz: Artemis 2 crew menu was leaked. And they have 189 unique menu items. Ejaaz: They also have spice levels for those who prefer spicier versus something more Ejaaz: milder. And I have to say, this is more impressive than any space mission or Ejaaz: arguably anything that I eat on a daily basis at my local restaurant, Ejaaz: my neighborhood restaurants. Ejaaz: We've got coffee, green tea, mango, peach, smoothie, chocolate breakfast drink. Ejaaz: I've never had that before.

Ejaaz: Apple cider, pineapple drink, cocoa, strawberry bread. Like that's just a drink Ejaaz: section, by the way. Then you've got common food items. Ejaaz: This seems like a lot for 10 days, but it is my favorite ever thing. Ejaaz: You've got to keep the crew happy. I don't think the space station has this Ejaaz: variety of different things. Ejaaz: Five Canadian products by the way I just want to point out it's not just all America but

Josh: I love this. And to my understanding also, this is the first time there's like Josh: a fully functional toilet bowl in a spacecraft. So that's pretty... Ejaaz: Questionable. Josh: Okay, questionable. Why do you say questionable? Ejaaz: Well, the good news is that we launched with everyone being saved. Ejaaz: The rocket did not explode. Thank goodness.

Ejaaz: The bad news is almost immediately the toilet got clogged. It got throttled Ejaaz: and they couldn't use the toilet. Josh: Wait, did it get clogged? It didn't get clogged.

Ejaaz: It got they're troubleshooting the toilet um what does that tell you josh i Ejaaz: don't know but the important update is it has finally been fixed so the people Ejaaz: will be able to reuse the toilet but the question i have on my mind is what Ejaaz: would they have done if that was you know unfixed Josh: You know i'm actually not sure how astronauts use the Josh: bathroom in space generally speaking so that's gonna have to be some additional research

Josh: we do after that perhaps if you know you could leave a comment so i Josh: would be curious i think the menu is very funny um i Josh: they need to be careful tread lightly because we know that toilet's a little fickle so Josh: don't go too overboard on the menu but i think it's fun right it's like Josh: if you're gonna blow all this money do it have fun Josh: like make it entertaining make it fun and exciting for Josh: the astronauts make it fun for everyone to watch and i

Josh: think that's what's really interesting about having the live stream is that we Josh: get to watch and participate this participate in this in real Josh: time as it's happening now i do have some choice comments about the Josh: live stream they were standing on the launch pad and i Josh: was looking into the cockpit and it looks like it was being shot on a potato Josh: like perhaps they could have used this spacex partnership to partner with starlink

Josh: that would have been cool to give slightly higher resolution uh imagery maybe Josh: they did because the image we just watched earlier was pretty good but there Josh: was this really funny um meme that i saw that showed the cockpits comparison between.

Josh: Spacex and artemis 2 and looking at Josh: these two it is pretty stark the difference right it's Josh: like one of these looks like it is from the 1960s and the other one looks like Josh: it is out of a sci-fi movie and i think that's another testament to kind of Josh: where we've come from and where we're going where nasa's very much riding the Josh: coattails of its history which is unbelievably impressive and powerful and strong Josh: but it's a new era and they're,

Josh: There is a new kid in town who is building some really badass engineering, Josh: some really badass rockets.

Josh: And based on this photo, like SpaceX, SpaceX looks like what I would imagine the future looks like. Ejaaz: Yeah, it looks like something out of the Interstellar movie, Ejaaz: you know, where Matthew McConaughey is like, you know, we're going to land this TARS. Ejaaz: Yeah, I think it's way more advanced. It's way less cluttered.

Ejaaz: I think, I hate to say it, but I think there's been a lot of bureaucracy in Ejaaz: NASA and in government agencies and putting people focusing on space in particular. Ejaaz: I think in that time in the 53 years since we did our last moon mission, Ejaaz: private companies have caught up. Ejaaz: SpaceX being the prominent one, Blue Origin from Jeff Bezos being probably the one that is in second.

Ejaaz: I think we're going to start, like when I zoom out, I think that net net, Ejaaz: we're going to see more space launches and more space missions. Ejaaz: Before we started recording, Josh, I told you, like, I hope one day in my life Ejaaz: before I die, I get to go to the moon or into outer space in general. Ejaaz: I think that's going to become a reality. Ejaaz: Elon is targeting a launch every hour in the next, I believe, Ejaaz: five years or within a decade.

Ejaaz: I can't remember the time span, but that would be awesome. That's something Ejaaz: out of Star Trek, something straight out of sci-fi. Josh: Yeah, it feels very high conviction to say that you will have the option to Josh: go to the moon in your lifetime. Josh: And if you want to, you will have the chance to do that. And I think that's Josh: a really cool thing that this enabled and this recent focus on space is going to enable.

Josh: We are very much back into our space era. And this is unbelievably exciting.

Josh: Like right now, four humans are in a spacecraft hurling towards the moon. Josh: And by Monday, they'll fly over the side, which just for a moment, Josh: they will see a part of the moon that no human eyes have ever directly seen before.

Josh: It's really exciting. And this opens up not only the enthusiasm, Josh: because this has gotten quite a bit of publicity, but also just the velocity Josh: and all of the approvals needed to actually start building and making progress towards the lunar base. Josh: SpaceX pivoting from Mars to the moon is really important. There is now a clear Josh: path to building a lunar base.

Josh: And what that unlocks is really cool in terms of technology, Josh: but also just in terms of awe and curiosity and getting excited about what it's Josh: like to explore beyond the current planet that we've lived on since the beginning of time. Josh: And the progress is, it's just so awesome to see. And even though it, Josh: sure, it was inefficient. Josh: Sure, there were a lot of mistakes. Sure, it took us a long time. We're here, we're back.

Josh: And we are back in a way that is sustainable and durable. And the window is open to do this now. Josh: And assuming things continue to go well, assuming there is no catastrophe within Josh: our country between now and like maybe 15, 20 years from now, Josh: Ejaz, you can go to the moon. Josh: I'll be able to go to the moon. And it will be very cost effective.

Josh: Because when you think about the launch costs, I mean, $10 million to send a Josh: starship to the moon today, what is that going to cost like a decade from now? Josh: Probably significantly less. And I assume it's going to be something like an Josh: airplane because at the end, at the limit, that's the only way that this becomes. Josh: Sustainable business model is if they are able to do that at a cost that's competitive.

Josh: And that seems to be the goal. And over the next 10 years, we're going to build something that, Josh: is indistinguishable from sci-fi. Like it's really going to start to look like Josh: the future. And that is so unbelievably exciting. Ejaaz: I remember last year, Elon was speaking about the launch economics of putting stuff into outer space.

Ejaaz: And he mentioned that there might in the short term be this new type of transportation Ejaaz: system for people who want to get to countries quicker. Ejaaz: So what he modeled out was going straight up in a SpaceX shuttle and coming Ejaaz: down about 44 minutes later in Japan. Ejaaz: And so you've done the journey from the US to Japan in 44 minutes, Ejaaz: where usually it would take like 13 to 19 hours, depending on airline and flight time.

Ejaaz: So there are a lot of intermediary benefits that are going to happen with all of this. Ejaaz: But hey, I'm so proud of all of this. And as a foreigner and a tourist living Ejaaz: in this country, I'm wearing my American flag here. Ejaaz: I don't know if you guys can see it, but I'm proud of us. Ejaaz: And I'm super excited to see. I hope the mission is successful and hopefully Ejaaz: it'll lead to more missions in the future.

Josh: Yeah, we got to keep but real we got a clap back where it's deserved that uh Josh: descriptor that you're saying about spacex that's Josh: the vertical takeoff and landing rockets the vetols and i Josh: believe the video where they initially pitched that idea is probably Josh: close to seven or eight years old and they made a total of zero progress towards Josh: that so damn space is hard man and priorities change like spacex was going to

Josh: build vtol rockets and go to the mars uh now they're going to the moon and nasa Josh: hasn't really had the opportunity to go to the moon no they're doing it now Josh: so priorities change things shift, but right now we have a very clear trajectory. Josh: Jared Isaacman has said, we are going to the moon. We are colonizing it. Josh: We are building a lunar base. 10 years. Josh: And we actually have momentum. There are astronauts in the air right now and

Josh: a very clear trajectory to continuing that. So, Josh: Really cool. If you're listening to this, chances are they're still in space. Josh: You can go to NASA's YouTube channel and watch this live in real time. Josh: And it's pretty amazing. Josh: You could just see these guys kind of hanging out. They were taking pictures with their iPhones.

Josh: I think the idea of this is to run some science experiments, Josh: sure, but also just to get people excited about space and to make it more relatable, Josh: to make it more accessible. Josh: And I mean, it's really exciting. So I would encourage anyone to go and check Josh: out the live stream, share maybe in the comment section what's most exciting. Josh: I don't know, Eijas, any final thoughts before we head out today?

Ejaaz: I want people's over-under on SpaceX getting us to a moon settlement fully living Ejaaz: by 2028 versus NASA doing it themselves. Ejaaz: What do you people, folks listening to us think? My bet is SpaceX. Josh: Josh, anything? Yeah, I mean, NASA, they already said they're not doing it. Josh: It's either SpaceX or Blue Origin. Josh: So Blue Origin is doing well. They're really strong in low Earth orbit.

Josh: They're less strong anywhere else. i think starship is going to i'm almost 100 Josh: positive starship will be the rocket and perhaps blue origin could do stuff Josh: with space station like falcon heavy is doing with the dragon cat how far.

Ejaaz: Behind is blue origin on spacex now relatively do you think Josh: It depends how you measure it Josh: but blue origin does not have a starship and Josh: okay a starship is really the only thing that matters in Josh: space because again the cost of kilogram is is the singular Josh: metric that matters and the cost per kilogram of starship Josh: is dramatically lower than anything that blue origin has Josh: or will have in the near future so blue origin will have

Josh: the capacity to do specific things it could send satellites Josh: into low earth orbit kind of like what starlink's doing they're trying their own thing in Josh: fact amazon um just recently purchased yesterday global star telecommunications Josh: which is a satellite company to help compete with starlink so there is going Josh: to be this competition for low earth orbit in terms of lunar orbits or moving Josh: mass further out or moving large amounts of mass so these Starlink V3 terminals

Josh: that are coming are huge. Josh: Blue Origin cannot carry those, but SpaceX and Starship can. So there's going to be. Josh: I wouldn't say Blue Origin is behind in the sense that they're behind on getting Josh: to orbit. They're just behind on getting mass to orbit, large amounts of it at a cheap quantity. Josh: And that's what makes the big difference. So SpaceX is very far ahead in that Josh: sense. But there's a lot of companies that are now competing.

Josh: And there's a ton of public stocks that actually have been doing incredible Josh: recently in the market over the last few weeks. Josh: Because people are starting to realize the space race is back, baby.

Josh: And it's all America. It's all the USA. all these companies are fighting for Josh: getting mass into orbit creating these networks putting stuff into space so Josh: it's a really exciting time i'm feeling very optimistic about the future of Josh: space travel and i'm glad that everyone's aligned government private industry Josh: the people everyone's stoked about this. Ejaaz: You would think that AI is like the hottest stock in industry to invest in right

Ejaaz: now, but SpaceX just filed for a discretionary IPO. So it's happening. Ejaaz: They're targeting a June launch and the valuation that they're going for is $1.75 trillion. Ejaaz: It'll be the biggest, largest IPO that we've ever seen before. Ejaaz: The over-under that I've seen on a lot of websites as well is it's going to Ejaaz: be valued above $2 trillion by the close of day on its initial day. Ejaaz: So people are excited about space.

Ejaaz: They realize that there is so much of a bigger opportunity outside of Earth Ejaaz: than just constrained to Earth's resources. Ejaaz: And I'm excited to see this manifest and become real. Ejaaz: Just truly a great day for the world and America in general.

Ejaaz: I wish the astronauts and the mission the best of success. I'm going to be tracking Ejaaz: this for the next six days. Ejaaz: Sorry, the next 10 days. There's not going to be anything else I'm going to be watching. Josh: That's great. Big week for the optimists, man. Space is back. Josh: We are so back. And we got 10 days to enjoy this.

Josh: 250th anniversary of the united states painted on both Josh: of those boosters that are going to be burning up in orbit Josh: as they return back to earth and it's really cool i Josh: mean this is awesome this is exciting it leaves me optimistic i'm curious your Josh: takes on whether you are also joining us in the optimism Josh: or not but anyways thank you so much for watching Josh: if you enjoyed this episode do not forget to share it with your friend who

Josh: is also perhaps a space nerd or maybe you just Josh: want to joke about how inefficient nasa is or how their Josh: menu is more sufficient than the menu at the restaurant you went Josh: to last night whatever it is don't forget to rate us Josh: um however you believe we deserve to be rated five stars is pretty awesome on Josh: your favorite podcast player we have a newsletter i just published a new issue Josh: that went live yesterday all about this mission in a little bit more detail

Josh: so if you're interested in that you can go subscribe all of the links are found Josh: in the description below and yeah i think that wraps up our episode today thank Josh: you guys so much for watching.