Ross Douthat

I'm just trying to calibrate.

That's fair.

You know, one of my recent interviews was with the head of an AI company.

And, you know, the amount spent on data centers for AI is, you know, extraordinary.

And so I just I have that in the back of my mind as perspective.

So is it safe for astronauts to go to the moon?

I asked because you had some really critical comments about some of NASA's failures on an earlier project, the Starliner project.

And I guess I'm wondering, just even in terms of public support, right, for the space program, how essential is it that the safety of astronauts be the paramount thing versus how important is it for everyone to just be comfortable with risk and the possibility of death?

Do you think that the Challenger disaster, which was my primary childhood encounter with the space program, and then the Columbia disaster later, do you think those created a kind of overhang of skepticism around the space program that needs to be overcome by Artemis?

All right, so let's talk about the private side of space exploration, the role of private industry.

You mentioned public-private partnerships and government contractors.

You have a pre-existing relationship with Elon Musk, and in fact, your accession to this job was delayed for a little while when Musk and the president had a falling out.

I think people perceive that to be closer relationship than reality.

Maybe, yeah, perceived.

Let's say there was a perceived delay or a perceived falling out.

But regardless...

Musk, I guess I'll say Elon because everyone says Elon.

Elon has his own vision around the moon for SpaceX.

He's recently said that SpaceX is pivoting from, you know, trying to do a direct Mars mission soon to aiming at the moon.

What is the overlap in the relationship there?