‘Space Titans: Musk Bezos, Branson’ Exclusive Preview: Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket
On discovery+ tomorrow, an exciting look at the space race is streaming. Space Titans: Musk, Bezos, Branson is illuminating the details and the plans of the modern space race. TV Shows Ace has the exclusive preview below.
The billionaire boy’s club is all about their shiny upright rockets and who does what first. Just when you thought interest in outer space exploration had waxed and wanted, these ultrarich men have invested a massive chunk of money into a maverick space program, and now aerospace giant Boeing is chasing their fuel trails.
A new wave of space exploration has begun. This past year and a half were pivotal for space exploration, and this well-publicized wave of innovation is just getting started.
The Space Titans up close
The door to space is now open. This ends almost a decade-long span of no astronauts taking flight from United States soil. 2021 was a stellar success for the billionaires who went to space—their highly-publicized launches around their big-budget orbits. Actor William Shatner was Bezos’ guest, and his reaction to his flight was highly emotional. But not all celebrities are getting the Shatner discount. Last night Tom Hanks revealed Bezos asked him to fly to space, but for $28 million.
So, space travel isn’t just for NASA astronauts now. And it’s not for poor people. Or middle-class people. Or even wealthy people like Hanks. But maybe, over time, prices will drop.
Everyone is curious to know how we got here and what is next in the incredible race to space?
Meet New Glenn
Blue Origin’s new whip is a beauty. New Glenn is the rocket of the hour and is one of the most enormous rockets ever built. Part of a new class of super-heavy rockets in the works at Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) and NASA and SpaceX (Elon Musk). The New Glenn is named after NASA astronaut John Glenn and is an orbital launch vehicle.
This rocket is designed for sending humans up to space. The first stage is designed to be reused 25 times as Blue Origin has an exceptional team working to make New Glenn’s second stage reusable.
That will lower the cost to access space and maybe make it more affordable for average riders.
New Glenn’s inaugural test flight is scheduled for late 2022, and NASA will be watching. The space agency
has expressed interest in adding New Glenn to its fleet of orbital rockets to take cargo and astronauts to space
now that Jeff Bezos has stood down as the CEO of Amazon.
Bezos is more intensely focused on getting their delayed New Glenn rocket to orbit. Still, New Glenn won’t be competing with just SpaceX for NASA business as the industry behemoth Boeing is also a significant player with plans to send NASA astronauts to the space station.
The special on discovery+
Space Titans: Musk, Bezos, Branson streams on Thursday, November 4 on discovery+ and will follow the world’s most successful entrepreneurs who are putting billions of dollars on the line.
The special is in partnership with The Washington Post and staff writer Christian Davenport, whose experience allowed him to gain inside access to key players.
Davenport gets to go behind the scenes and scoop the incredible innovations taking place right now and what’s to come, including an exclusive interview with SpaceX Founder and Chief Engineer Elon Musk. And Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic are making history as well by sending private citizens to space as tourists.
Now, NASA has engaged the help of private companies: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is taking NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). But the space station is just the starting point.
Structures like the ISS will serve as transfer stations – creating human outposts off the earth.
In this new era of private space flight, NASA can focus on returning to the moon after over 50 years. And NASA has an ambitious program to land on the moon’s south pole by the year 2024.
discovery+ says:
To make that journey, NASA will use its biggest rocket ever. And with the moon as a base, Mars becomes in reach as the next goal for astronauts. Musk also has his eyes on Mars and predicts that SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026 and establish a colony by 2050.
This is the moment in time that these space titans have been building towards for decades. Old and new companies are pushing the boundaries with their limitless dreams. It’s a moment fueled by imagination, innovation, and colossal rockets — taking us into the final frontier of private space travel for all.
‘SPACE TITANS: Musk, Bezos, Branson,’ created in partnership with The Washington Post, begins streaming Thursday, November 4 on discovery+
Viewers can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #SpaceTitans and follow Discovery on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest updates.
