Will Humans Be an Interplanetary Species? NASA Chief Weighs In | Amanpour and Company

SpaceX made history this week with the launch of Inspiration4, the first-ever all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth. This milestone initiative offers a glimpse into the future of space exploration, and few are better qualified to speak on the new era than NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The former senator is one of just a handful of members of Congress ever to travel to space, as he explains to Walter Isaacson.

Originally aired on September 17, 2021

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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.

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[mnsuzuki]

Humanity can’t even get along with each other. What makes these people think aliens would want anything to do with us?

[stardust]

We cant even look after our home planet.

[theobserver]

Mr. Nelson is a great representative of space travel and science! I think he speaks well to average Americans. I hope he succeeds in making tiny Minds a little bit bigger.

[jerrtann]

What grand visions for Humanity. Full speed ahead!

[woopityscoop]

Walter looks as excited about this as I am.

[MyWissam]

We paid for the research, they pocket the profits.

[edward]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.
Humans cant be a solitary planetary species, here, now.
Baby steps.

[noluthando]

Just here to remind Americans that Elon Musk is a South African- born and bred

[struglmadevudu]

Will humans be an interplanetary species... Are we listenin to some reptiles??? Look at em... Hmm😳

[bettym]

Walter asked about how space travel is affecting climate change and I thought finally someone is asking that question. But, instead of talking about the immense use of fuel needed per rocket, which must be doing a lot to heat the earth, the interviewee talked about how weather and climate reporting had been improved by space exploration. That's not answering the question that was asked.

[noluthando]

Elon Musk is one of South Africa’s best exports to the USA.

[Noms_Chompsky]

Yeah, capitalism in space, just a lot of people dying or trying to get the f back to Earth.

[andrewfarrell]

It's aaallll about competition. Commercial synergy. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Man ... Ad Astra and the Expanse were documentaries of the future. Humans are just gonna bring all their shit out to space and find more reasons to wage wars.

[tekannon]

Thank you Mr Isaacson for your very interesting interview with NASA Administrator Mr Nelson, this is about the Earth and not space, but it would be great if Mr Nelson had something to say about it. I am an inventor and artist and here is an idea I have for the drought conditions in California and the American west and other parts of the world. It is an idea about getting water to drought-stricken regions. Here is my idea. What about having water pipes installed under the major highways and/or train tracks from the water-rich regions to the drought-stricken regions in your state and other parts of your country and the world? It would make roads and train tracks get two things done at the expense of one thing; roads and train tracks would have a dual purpose and save money tearing up more land to make room for yet another ugly eye sore of endless piping that would mar the landscape and cost a fortune to install and maintain. These would be the new equivalent of the ancient Roman aqueducts that could be concealed under roads and rail lines. Hydraulically pumps could vacuum in water---like in the recent NYC flood and send it out west, or simply pumping water from, say, the Great Lakes. Concealed pumps could be set up all along the underground aqueduct system at specific intervals to be able to keep the water moving on uneven terrain, over hills and overpasses etc. There are already train tunnels and car tunnels so they wouldn't have to build more tunnels, in fact, the infrastructure in your country is going to get a make-over soon it seems, so they could add the water pipes under the already existing highways and rail lines and bridges they are going to be renovating. They could outfit the new bridges they're going to be building with the water piping encased and concealed under the tracks and road. The underground aqueducts could be activated at a moment's notice and it would be a win/win situation because money would be saved from regions that had extreme flooding avoided and drought-stricken regions would be saved by getting the water to parched farmlands and dangerously low reservoirs that is badly needed. Environmentalists might be convinced it won't harm the natural world and if they get on board, it could help at least in a small way to get needed water to regions that are experiencing drought conditions. It's an idea to solve the fresh water problem and maybe even prevent future water-wars

[povesen]

I don’t know this guy well, but Bridenstine was a much better face of that organization. This guy must almost be Biden’s age.

[mrrecluse]

With our track record of destructiveness, I sure hope humans don't become an interplanetary species. With our invasive tendencies, we'd probably, eventually, rape the entire galaxy of other life forms, with a little dumb luck. Our proud invention, referred to as A.I. might even accomplish that mission for us.
This should be obvious. What astounds me, is that I've never heard this factor mentioned before, in any discussions on this subject.

[cynthialester]

Why? We haven't even been able to take care of this planet and us humans. Do we really trust all these people doing this, or all of the militaries on earth to do the right thing? I know I don't.

[BenSmith-mgjv]

Why am I the only one who is alarmed by a lot of our most sophisticated current and future leaning departments and or agencies run by ppl who have one foot in the grave and can't humanly possibly be as "sharp" and "with it" as say 35, 45, 55yr old would be...Hell, the interviewer is pushing the age id prefer much less Country Crip Keeper hes interviewing.

[cristianerehem]

1. "It's the new frontier..." for colonialism, space colonialism
2. "To find habitable planets..." to do what? Destroy them as you're doing with Earth (US is a big ECOCIDE stakeholder, including ppl like Musk and Bezos, big polluters and slavers
3. The demagogue saying at the end about environment and the oneness of humanity it's completely contradictory to the entire interview about making space and other planets exploration just "commercial enterprises"... What about the oneness with the Universe? Would you treat yourself or ppl you care about as a commercial enterprise?

This guy frightens me because he seems a robot, he can say the most threatening and the most gentle things with the same tone and smile...
I think I saw a look of embarrassment in Walter when asked about Earth... and climate change. Maybe he remembered of Einstein - I have his biography by Isaacson and I can just guess what the madly good professor would think about all this...

Sampa/SP, Brazil - 18/september/2021 - 13h28 (-3GMT).