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00:00 Now, some good news and some bad news for Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket.
00:05 Takeoff was successful of the enormous 120-metre long Starship prototype, but within minutes
00:12 the spacecraft exploded and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
00:17 SpaceX had cautioned that chances of success were low, saying the aim of this test flight
00:22 was to gather data regardless of whether the full mission was achieved.
00:26 Indeed, some employees at SpaceX even cheered after the rocket exploded.
00:32 Well, to discuss, I'm pleased to be joined now by the aerospace journalist Olivier Songhi.
00:38 Thanks very much, sir, for talking to us on France 24.
00:40 Hello.
00:41 Are you surprised by what we witnessed today?
00:46 Not surprised because as you said, SpaceX have warned that at the launch it will be
00:51 excitement guaranteed but not necessarily a success.
00:54 The liftoff by itself was a success.
00:56 However when you see a lot of debris have been ejected, so maybe the launch pad will
01:01 need some refurbishment and perhaps a new design.
01:06 We know big picture what Elon Musk's goal is here.
01:09 He wants to use Starship to get humans to the moon, around the moon, one day even to
01:15 Mars.
01:16 Given how spectacularly Starship exploded today, that's a pretty long way off, isn't
01:21 it?
01:22 I mean, people ask for years, but more immediately Starship is going to be the lunar model for
01:28 NASA's Artemis program with Japan, Europe and Canada.
01:32 And then the Starship will not lift off with astronauts.
01:35 It will descend automatically to the moon and will the Orion capsule with four astronauts
01:40 will rendezvous with Starship and then the Starship will go to the moon and then get
01:45 back to the Orion capsule with astronauts.
01:48 So that's the main goal for the moment.
01:50 So maybe there will be some delay after this failure in flight.
01:54 However, that's the way SpaceX is working.
01:57 They break prototypes to learn.
02:00 And they spend a lot of money doing it, don't they?
02:02 I read that somewhere between $2 and $10 billion have been spent on the Starship project.
02:08 We don't even know actually how much it's cost.
02:11 We also don't know how much of that I suppose went up in smoke today.
02:14 But do you think overall it's worth the money that's being invested into this?
02:19 Well, if it works, it will be worth some money.
02:22 I mean, you have a 5,000-tonne launcher which is able to put 150 tonnes on orbit.
02:28 That's something that does not exist actually.
02:31 And SpaceX thinks that's a way of doing space in the future.
02:34 Prices of launch could be very low if it works.
02:38 So well, a lot of money, huge risk, but eventually huge rewards.
02:44 Well, NASA has a similar plan, doesn't it, if I understand correctly.
02:47 NASA is also trying to get humans to the moon again, eventually also thinking about Mars.
02:53 Is there a rivalry between SpaceX and NASA or are they kind of working together?
02:58 Well, both a bit.
03:00 But you know, SpaceX exists because they have money from NASA.
03:03 I mean, they are a contractor from NASA.
03:05 They are transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and it is
03:10 a commercial contract.
03:12 So NASA needs SpaceX to succeed simply.
03:16 Olivier Sanghi, thanks very much indeed for talking to us today.