And liftoff. The final liftoff of Atlantis. When NASA retired its Space Shuttle Program in 2011,
the U.S. didn't have a way of getting to space itself. Since the government agency no longer
developed its own spacecraft, it turned to private companies for a ride to the International Space
Station by creating the Commercial Crew Program. Think of NASA as a customer looking for an Uber
ride and its Ubers of choice were Boeing and SpaceX. They've been developing and perfecting
their infrastructure for a decade before this moment. Five, four, three two, one zero, liftoff.
Go NASA, go SpaceX, godspeed Bob and Doug. No one thought SpaceX would be first to send NASA
astronauts into orbit. This is the story of why Elon Musk's company won the race against Boeing.
The classic tale of David and Goliath is about a young shepherd who defeats a giant.
Although many believe the moral of the story is that the underdog won,
Malcolm Gladwell makes the case in his book that we're misunderstanding who had the upper hand.
The giant was the weak one. He was slow and half-blind. David was powerful because
he was quick and agile. SpaceX was the new kid on the block, the David in the story.
Boeing was the giant of the aerospace industry with a legacy stretching back more than 100 years.
It seems NASA was banking on Boeing when deciding the amount to give the companies to develop
spacecraft that would fly astronauts to the ISS. NASA handed Boeing a $4.2 billion contract
compared to $2.6 billion for SpaceX. Its Office of Inspector General, the oversight division for
the agency, put it this way: NASA was willing to pay $90 million a seat to ride with Boeing
but only $55 million for a seat with SpaceX, assuming four astronauts for six missions. Musk
pointed out it's not fair that Boeing gets so much more for the same thing while Boeing disagreed
with the OIG's report, explaining it will fly the equivalent of a fifth passenger in cargo
so the per seat calculation would be less. With the funding, Boeing manufactured the Starliner.
Please enjoy the tour. This is its pressure vessel which is the
underlying structure of the spacecraft's crew module that houses the astronauts.
And SpaceX developed the Dragon 2, an upgrade from its previous version.
Hello, everyone. Welcome aboard Dragon. When astronauts boarded Crew Dragon in May 2020,
it meant the space agency no longer had to rely on the Russians to send Americans into orbit.
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley spent about two months at the ISS conducting science experiments before
returning to Earth. Splashdown. Thanks for flying SpaceX. Boeing actually had the chance to win the
race to space if it were not for an incident in December 2019. And liftoff. The rise of Starliner
and a new era in human spaceflight. But it didn't quite usher in a new era of human spaceflight.
The Starliner had a test flight without crew to see if it was ready to fly astronauts.
It was supposed to go to the International Space Station, deliver cargo, and return. Instead,
there was a software problem, and that caused the engines to fire at the wrong time,
and that put Starliner in the wrong orbit so it never made it to the ISS but it did make it home.
NASA realized it had put too much trust in Boeing which had a long history of supporting the space
agency's missions. The head of NASA's Commercial Crew Program admitted: "we were, I would say, a
little more used to the Boeing process." Musk once put it in a harsher way, telling the Washington
Post Boeing was arrogant and complacent and doesn't get out of bed for less than $1 billion.
Boeing shot back by saying it helped NASA build the ISS before SpaceX was even born
and "...will deliver on our commitment to America's journey to Mars. That's what we get out
of bed for." While NASA didn't scrutinize Boeing enough, it paid a lot of attention to SpaceX's
software development and that's where SpaceX shined. Musk came from a software background.
He co-founded PayPal and is the CEO of Tesla which is developing self-driving software. SpaceX's
status as a startup also played to its advantage which might seem counterintuitive but being new to
the rocket business meant it had to keep improving rapidly to stay alive. SpaceX nearly died in 2008
after three failed rocket launches but persevered for a fourth attempt which was a success.
Because of that launch, NASA awarded SpaceX $1.6 billion to resupply cargo to the ISS. Without that
contract, SpaceX would have gone bankrupt. On the other hand, Boeing brings in a lot
of profit every year as the leading producer of commercial airlines - making $10 billion in 2018.
But recently, the company hasn't been doing so well. The grounding of the 737 Max planes caused
Boeing to report a loss in 2019 for the first time in over 20 years and the pandemic isn't
making it any better. Although space only makes up a small portion of its annual revenue, for now,
that could change in the future. Starliner will be launched again, possibly later this year,
and if that goes well there could be a manned mission to the ISS next year. That would still put
Boeing a year behind SpaceX. Regardless of who is ahead, they both benefit from contracts with NASA
because it helps fund their infrastructure that they can use elsewhere. The Crew Dragon will bring
three private tourists to the ISS in 2021. You can take a ride if you have $55 million to spare.
And more importantly, NASA's funding has helped SpaceX develop reusable rockets.
This is where SpaceX has made a name for itself. The one that launched the Crew Dragon was the
Falcon 9 - a partially reusable rocket because its booster lands back on Earth. But things haven't
always gone smoothly. In 2015, the Falcon 9 exploded two minutes after liftoff during a
resupply mission to the ISS. The following year, it blew up before it was supposed to launch
Facebook's $200 million satellite into orbit. And landing hasn't always worked out either.
But those trials appear to be in the past. SpaceX has landed the Falcon 9 booster many times in one
piece, paving the way for the ultimate goal of developing a fully reusable rocket and spacecraft
called Starship. This is, I think, the most inspiring thing that I've ever seen. The plan
is to use Starship to send people to the moon, build a city on Mars, and for travel from one
point to another on Earth. Reusability is crucial for keeping costs low in order to
make space travel possible for everyone. This is the biggest difference between SpaceX and Boeing:
the rocket that launched Boeing's Starliner into orbit cannot be reused. The Atlas 5 was developed
by United Launch Alliance or ULA which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
ULA has mentioned possibly reusing the booster engines of another rocket, the Vulcan Centaur,
by catching them in the air with parachutes and a helicopter, although the company hasn't
mentioned when testing will begin. Musk recently called ULA a complete waste of taxpayer money
because their rockets are not reusable. It's clear that SpaceX has a big lead over Boeing
to the surprise of many industry veterans. But examined another way, it's not a surprise at all.
SpaceX, like David, is not the underdog. It has the advantage because it's quick and agile.
Goliath never stood a chance. And as of right now, neither, it seems, does Boeing. Thanks so much for
watching, I'm Cindy Pom. So, do you think that Boeing can catch up with SpaceX? Is there room
for more than one company in space? Let me know your thoughts. You can leave a comment in the
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