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Quest Means Business
SpaceX to Send Astronauts to ISS in Historic Launch; E.U. Commission Proposes $825 Billion Recovery Fund. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired May 27, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:28]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: How appropriate today, stocks are going up like a rocket. The Dow Jones Industrial is up
very sharply as you can see, Erased a lot of the losses of previous days, one and a half percent.
That nasty little dip in the morning which we need to try and understand, but it was soon reversed and it is a good day.
The markets and some of the factors, some of the things that are helping to move them.
The astronauts are on board, the countdown is on, and the historic launch of SpaceX is not far away.
Shares in social media sites are down. The President has threatened to have them shut down, or at least loads of restrictions.
And Europe lands billions of dollars in grants for countries hit by COVID- 19. Italy's Finance Minister will be on to give us his reaction.
We are live from New York. It is Wednesday, it is the 27th of May. I'm Richard Quest, and of course I mean business.
Today is a historic day for the space world, as SpaceX gets ready to launch. It's arguably one of the most important days in the last 50 years
because it is what we're going to experience today.
It's not just a rocket launch, but also a shift in the way things are looked at and viewed, arguably since Apollo 11, the moon landing, this is
all different. Because if weather allows it in Florida, Elon Musk's SpaceX will launch astronauts into orbit.
It's a 50-50 shot today for liftoff today. Half by half. First time for a commercial company to be taking astronauts into space and it's also the
first liftoff with astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle nearly nine years ago. That's when NASA retired.
It is the Crew Dragon and the NASA -- let me say that again. Aboard the Crew Dragon, it is the astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken.
President Trump was on hand for the event. He arrived at the Space Center a short while ago. Mike Pence is there, too. And they will tour the Kennedy
Space Center ahead of the launch.
Miles O'Brien is with me and will be handholding me right the way through the time as we work out whether or not it will take place, this launch.
Before we get that far, Miles, I want you to listen to what the NASA administrator told me earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BRIDENSTINE, ADMINISTRATOR, NASA: We are ushering in a new era in human space flight, where NASA is a customer and we want to be one customer
of many customers in a very robust commercial marketplace in low earth orbit.
But we want to have numerous providers that are competing on cost and innovation.
When I say we're a customer, NASA used to purchase, own and operate all of its hardware to get to the International Space Station. But now, what we're
saying is hey, we want to buy a service and we want you as the provider to go get customers that are not NASA to drive down our costs, but we also
want to have numerous providers that are competing on cost and innovation, again to drive down costs.
So, this is a new era in human space flight where it's going to be done commercially, and of course NASA is ready to step up to the plate and be a
customer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: How realistic is this, Miles O'Brien. We'll talk about the magnificence of the moment in just a second. But bearing in mind what the
administrator just said, considering NASA is the main customer, are they fooling themselves with this idea of commercializing -- that it is a
quantum leap difference.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE SPECIALIST: Yes, the commercialization of space is something that all of us who are enthusiastic about space have dreamt of
for decades, Richard, but the question is, how do you make it work? And what is the business that does well there?
Is it a well-healed tourist who can write a check for $50 million or $90 million for a ride at the International Space Station or is it ubiquitous
small satellites that can provide all kinds of layers of sensoring of our own planet?
QUEST: Miles, let me interrupt you just briefly, if I may. We're looking at pictures of the President and the First Lady who have just arrived at
the Space Center. They're greeting officials.
[15:05:10]
QUEST: Now, the officials are all wearing masks. Neither the President, nor the First Lady, nor apparently the Secret Service person who is guiding
them there is wearing a mask. We are a little bit obsessed by that aspect of it.
They're going to take a tour of the Space Center. Let's turn to today's events, Miles. Put into context why they are so significant.
O'BRIEN: This particular event is significant, Richard, because after all of these years of NASA building its own rockets under these lucrative cost
plus Pentagon style deals, they have moved into an era which makes it possible for a company like SpaceX to provide a service, not just to NASA,
but if Tom Cruise wants to go shoot a movie on the International Space Station, they can do that.
Now, that's kind of a limited market, obviously. But there are other ways that there could be businesses built in space. What if there were
destinations for people to go to? Commercial space stations, or for that matter, private interest hotels, if you will in low-earth orbit.
You mentioned the arrival of the President and the First Lady. These tiny little satellites which are now all throughout lower-earth orbit providing
amazing sensor data and democratizing the ability of space to provide information of our own plant.
So there are ways that low-earth orbit can be a business and that is where we're headed.
QUEST: Listen to Elon Musk who just spoke to NASA a moment ago and give me your thoughts on what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: This is a dream come true, I think for me and everyone at SpaceX. This is not something that I ever thought would
actually happen, so when starting SpaceX in 2002, I really did not think this day would occur.
I expected 90 percent chance, we would fail to even get to low-earth orbit with a small rocket. So somebody told me in 2002 that I would be standing
here with a NASA administrator and meeting astronauts and we were going to rocket a spacecraft on Pad 39-A, the best pad in the world, which is just
an honor to be there, I would have thought man, I don't know what you're talking about.
But it's not -- like no way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It's extraordinary, isn't it, that this private enterprise, the first time since the space shuttle and it's being organized and primarily
run by a private company?
O'BRIEN: You know, it's easy to forget, Richard, on this day where we're celebrating what has occurred to even get to this point. The level of
skepticism and controversy that occurred at the outset of this idea.
It was during the Obama administration when a NASA program called Constellation was canceled. It was a traditional old style cost plus rocket
program to fly to the moon and maybe eventually Mars.
And then instead, Obama said, let's shift. Let's try to create a market in space.
Well, the Old Guard wouldn't have it and their allied politicians blocked this as hard as they could. But there was a certain inevitability to this
because in the end, it is by an order of magnitude cheaper. And if you think about a seat on -- a space shuttle flight was about $1.5 billion a
flight, so this is cheaper.
QUEST: Miles, finally, we're looking at some pictures there just of the weather systems that are going through the region.
From your knowledge and understanding of the thunderstorms, they still say 50/50 for takeoff. What is the risk? I mean, this is so naive in many ways
of me, but hopefully you can explain it.
Planes fly in bad weather. Not very bad weather, but planes do fly in bad weather. I mean, a rocket is exceptionally powerful and it will be through
the bad weather quite quickly. What is the risk here?
O'BRIEN: Well, let's go back to Apollo 12, if you will, the second moon landing mission, as it happens, a President was present there, President
Nixon. They launched into some very thick and cumulus clouds and the rocket plume itself going through the atmosphere created induced lightning.
It created its own lightning, Richard, because of the friction with the atmosphere, causing a massive electrical failure. They nearly had to abort
that particular mission, were it not for a smart flight controller in Houston who knew which switch to push at the right moment to allow the
flight to continue.
So things like that are what you have to worry about, and then of course if there was ever an abort scenario, you want to make sure the parachutes open
well.
[15:10:09]
O'BRIEN: And if the crew ends up bobbing in the ocean, that the sea state is not too high so that they're safe.
QUEST: I knew you were the man to ask that question. Thank you, sir. You're going to be around. We are going to be coming back to you as we
understand further.
So, there you are. We understand now from NASA that the astronauts are inside. The two astronauts are inside. They are locked in there now.
They're wearing -- the suits they're wearing are one-piece, very different from the sort of suits that were worn in the past.
And now, we just await to see whether they will actually launch today. The window for launch starts, you'll see on the screen, it says 3:10.
The window launch is about 3:40, 3:42, and it goes right the way through until 4:30, when the launch is supposed to take place.
While we wait and watch, let's turn our attention to our other agenda. Donald Trump says he may well take action against social media in terms of
regulation and may even shut some of it down. He is threatening Twitter after tweets labeled his -- the President's tweets potentially misleading.
It's the first time Twitter has checked the President when he said -- now, Donald Trump says we will regulate or close them down.
Twitter stocks down by five percent. Jeremy Diamond is with us. Look, Jeremy, let's not enmesh ourselves in a constitutional discussion about
whether or not he can do this. The issue really is whether he would do it.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and also what it does for his base, Richard. I think you can't look at this if not by looking at
it through a political lens.
Social media has been really a lightning rod for conservatives who are part of the President's base and the President and members of his base have
frequently used Twitter, Facebook, these various social media platforms as a way to kind of ignite controversy and to call attention to what they view
as kind of a broader bias in media and in social media.
And so that is kind of the lens through I think -- through which I think we need to look at this issue that the President is doing, not necessarily
whether or not he would actually in fact take these steps to go through with it, but certainly what it does to animate his supporters.
But there is no question that what the President is threatening here would be a stretch here and would certainly be going beyond what his powers as
President are.
But again, it does raise these questions of fairness, which is what the President's base -- sorry, what the President's supporters are talking
about, which is this notion that if you're going to fact check the President, who else are you then going to fact check?
This was certainly an extraordinary step that Twitter did take to take this action. The question now is whether they will apply it to others and
whether they will also apply it to other tweets by the President?
QUEST: Okay, now, answer the question, is it likely that the President will do anything? Because at the moment, he has a very nice whipping boy,
as they say, the way he can just keep attacking. He can just keep attacking without any fear of consequence.
However, if he does take action and the courts rule against, then he's in trouble.
DIAMOND: Yes, look, the President certainly foreshadowed potential action coming on that front in a tweet this morning when he said there could be
strong action to follow. But Richard, I think that this is probably more likely in the category of President Trump's rhetorical bluster rather than
something that's actually going to happen.
I could be wrong here. Who knows? But again, I think that this is more important in the lens of what the President is threatening and what it does
to animate his base, rather than an action that's actually going to take place and that will actually have an impact on how Twitter functions as a
company, and more broadly how other social media companies are regulated by the government.
QUEST: Jeremy Diamond is with us. Jeremy Diamond, thank you. We'll talk more, as in when, if necessary. Thank you very much.
Now, U.S. stocks have crossed several milestones which we need to mark in terms of the recovery.
First, the Dow is up more than -- it is up and above 25,000, comfortably so. It's the first time since the start of the bear market. So that's quite
an extraordinary thing.
But we're still several thousand, 4,000 or so below where we were. So, there's still some gray issues to watch out for there.
It's up 1.5 percent, the best of the day as you can see, despite the pandemic and rising tensions with China. Boeing is up 2.5 percent after
announcing quite a large number of layoffs.
The European Union is putting forward a major recovery plan that will cost billions -- hundreds of billions of -- maybe a trillion in fact.
Italy, Greece and Spain stand to be the biggest beneficiaries. After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:36]
QUEST: A moment of truth for AT&T's -- parent company of CNN. Today, AT&T launched HBO Max, the company's new streaming system. They've put it into
the front of the league, hopefully against the competition. HBO Max launched in the U.S. on Wednesday and if you look and see how it went, this
was the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been waiting for this moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: There are 10,000 hours of content and the difference is it is curated by humans, not algorithms. All of your favorite hits such as
"Friends," "Lord of the Rings," and "Game of Thrones" are there. There will also be new Max originals.
Now, the cost for consumers in the United States is $14.99 a month. That's higher than the rivals as you can see on the screen of Netflix and Disney
Plus, which has just launched, of course. But it is the same as the old HBO was, so that's the way it's all been priced.
The goal is 50 million subscribers by 2025. Bob Greenblatt is with me, the Chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct Consumers. Bob joins me
from Los Angeles. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. Congratulations.
BOB GREENBLATT, CHAIRMAN ENTERTAINMENT AND DIRECT CONSUMERS, WARNERMEDIA: Thank you.
QUEST: Whichever part of the family has something new to tell, but this is more than just something new. AT&T is putting huge amounts of store in HBO
Max. WarnerMedia is, too. How significant do you see it for the future of the company?
GREENBLATT: Well, this is a huge moment for this company. You know, WarnerMedia and Warner -- the Warner Companies have been around for a long
time. This is the first time we're bringing them altogether and taking them direct to the consumer with the help of AT&T.
So, it's a pretty big moment for this whole entire company.
QUEST: Who are you aiming at? In terms of Disney Plus is here, Hulu is here. A variety of others, Amazon Prime, obviously, and Netflix. But do you
see it as an instead of these or as well as?
When we know that consumers will only have three or four streaming services.
[15:20:02]
GREENBLATT: Well, good point. I think we want to be one of those three or four streaming services. I don't believe it's instead of.
I mean, Netflix is an amazing product and Amazon and I don't think they're going anywhere. We just want to be in that ecosystem alongside them and I
think we have some differentiating points for our platform.
We also have something for everyone, from kids through adults of all ages. So, we're happy to coexist in this new ecosystem.
QUEST: Original content seems to be one of the crucial fighting grounds. Amazon -- sorry, Netflix, which hasn't made a penny, is still managing to
spend what seems like an obscene amount of money on production. Where do you hope to put your production budget?
I mean, how high? If they're up at $13 billion and others like Disney are down at $2.5 billion, where are you going to put your production budget
when production comes back online for Max Originals?
GREENBLATT: Well, we're definitely in the billions of dollars range, although we don't really like to specify that. But it takes billions of
dollars these days to be on this world stage.
We have Max Originals, which is all this new content that we're making, but there's also several billion dollars of original programming from the HBO
service, which is part and parcel of HBO Max.
So when all is said and done, it's several billions of dollars and that's the game that we're all in these days.
QUEST: Is there going to be -- I mean the CEO of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar recently said and talked about the significance of global markets and one
imagines and one knows that the idea is to expand HBO Max globally.
From your point of view, Bob, how significant is it to speed that globalization of HBO Max? In other words, the traditional viewer of U.S.
media was the U.S. market is large enough. That's changed.
GREENBLATT: No, you're absolutely right. You have to go global and you have to go as soon as possible. Because really that's the only way to
amortize these billions of dollars. You have to have many more subscribers than you can just get out of the domestic market alone.
So, we're going and we're going aggressively and we want to go around the world. HBO and the Turner Companies already have great footprints across
Latin America and in countries in Europe and the Nordics, but we are planning to go global and be everywhere within the next few years.
And as you said, it's really important to do that as soon as possible.
QUEST: Bob, finally, I mean, give me a feel for the heat that you're under at the moment. Top executive, you've launched what is seen within the
company as being absolutely must succeed.
Disney Plus is out there, Netflix is just churning it out. All the other players are waiting and starting to come in. Are you feeling the heat?
GREENBLATT: I am feeling the heat. This really is a high stakes game and a huge, significant moment for AT&T and WarnerMedia, and at the same time, we
feel really confident because we have these assets.
The story telling of this, this company goes back nearly a hundred years. HBO is 50 years of great story telling. Between the Warner's assets and all
the brands of this company, we feel really, really good about this value proposition.
So yes, the heat is on, but we really, really do feel like we have a great product to bring to customers who only want more and more extraordinary
content.
QUEST: Bob, make a note in your calendar, 365 days from now, let's meet up again on "Quest Means Business" and we'll review how it has been. Do we
agree?
GREENBLATT: Happy to come back, but we can come back much sooner than that as well. It was nice to be here today.
QUEST: Good to have you, Bob. Thank you. Congratulations on today. Thank you.
Let's turn now to Huawei and the CFO of Huawei, who of course as you know, is languishing in a Canadian -- well, I'd say she is not languishing in a
Canadian prison, but she is under arrest and still out on bail in Canada.
Well, Huawei's CFO has lost the bid for freedom. Canadian courts say the extradition case against her will proceed as planned. She is facing bank
fraud charges in the U.S. allegedly to help Huawei evade Iranian sanctions.
She is the daughter of Huawei founder of course. She denies the charges. Paula Newton is in Ottawa.
Paula, Canadian courts are above reproach in all of these matters. I'm guessing their decision was based firmly on Canadian law and the case just
wasn't made.
[15:25:05]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and at issue here, Richard, during the court case was whether or not the crime that the U.S. government claims
that she committed was a crime in Canada and the judge determined very much solidly yes.
This is just round -- let's call it two or three in something that is going to go ten rounds, perhaps years and years and years and years. We've seen
these very high-profile extradition cases go very long.
She has a very good legal team and can afford them. You mentioned languishing. She's actually under house arrest toggling between two
multimillion dollar mansions in Vancouver.
That is not to say that she is not suffering from stress from all of this. She has expressed that several times. Really, Richard, this is really a
side show in a much larger geopolitical battle between the United States and China and not only is Meng Wanzhou caught in the middle, but Canada is
significantly now.
The Justice Department reacted here in Canada saying, look, we uphold our judicial system is as you said, Richard, independent. Try telling that to
China which has already signaled in the last few days that because Meng Wanzhou now remains in custody, Canada will suffer tremendously.
Two things to look out for, Richard. One, unfortunately is what we call the two Michaels here in Canada, Michael Spavor and Michael Covrig. One, a
diplomat, the other a businessman.
I mean, basically, Canadian business people were saying they were snatched off the streets in China. They remain under very different conditions in
China, in prison in fact, without a lot of access to counsel services.
The other thing, Richard is, Chinese trade retaliation against Canada. It's already happened. Expect more.
QUEST: Right, and now we have Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, saying that the U.S. no longer regards Hong Kong as being two systems with
China. But they now regard it as a unitary system.
Now, that is going to be -- bearing in mind, we know the reasons, of course, of what's happening with China and the new law. That's going to be
a red rag to China, basically not to do any accommodation on any other issues.
NEWTON: Absolutely not. We already know that Donald Trump appealed personally to China to see if he could get the release of the two Michaels.
I mean, there is no question that China is foiling for a fight here. The fact that they would even try to pass these laws in Hong Kong and the fact
that Mike Pompeo reacted so swiftly on something that you and I know, Richard, would deeply damage Hong Kong in terms of its business and the way
it's able to conduct business going forward.
We are in an election cycle, of course, China figures prominently and expect to see more signs from China that they will hit back harder when
they feel they are being hit in this way.
And that really is the message from experts, whether you're on the business side of things or on the diplomatic side of things, a real chilling effect
a lot of these issues are having.
And Mike Pompeo says he will stand firm in telling Congress that, look, any kind of hope that in his words, those special trading and special treatment
status that Hong Kong has, that in any way, shape or form Hong Kong remains autonomous from China he says is just not true.
QUEST: Paula, it is go to see you. You're looking well. Thank you. Paula Newton is in Ottawa for us today.
Now, when we come back, the European Commission has announce add recovery plan of 750 billion euros. It will be a combination of grants and loans.
The main recipients are likely to be the countries, Italy, Spain, and Greece.
The Italian Finance Minister will be with me after the break.
[15:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: We're one hour away from the launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. We know that the astronauts are in the capsule and the hatch is
closed. President Trump, the First Lady Ivanka and Jared Kushner, along with two of their children are also there. And here we have -- I mean, the
bizarreness. Everybody else wears a mask, except the President, the First Lady and the Vice President, but there we are, such as -- such as life. And
they are touring the facility ahead of the launch. Do we have Miles O'Brien with me to just give me -- Miles O'Brien with me to give me an idea of what
-- there you are, Miles. Just talk me through the tick tock of briefly of now to when launch is expected at about 4:30, give or take?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE ANALYST: Well, Richard, we're expecting the now legendary and famous polling of all the various positions in the Launch
Control Center to indicate go or no go further particular system. And so far, we have no reason to believe that the rocket and the spacecraft itself
will pose any problems, although, we'll be listening to that poll very carefully. What we're going to run into a no-go today, right now, at least,
is because of the weather. Now, there's, as you say, about an hour before this instantaneous launch window opens up, it's 4:33 p.m. local time, or
they wait, they try again Saturday.
They have a very specific timing in order to reach the International Space Station as it passes overhead. So, the weather has to be good. Only at that
moment for about eight minutes to get them to space. And it is possible in spite of how bad it's been seeming all day, the trend does seem to be
improving. There could be the proverbial patch of blue in time for them to get into space at that time. But these are things that the steely-eyed
missile men cannot control. The things they can control appear to be go, Richard.
QUEST: Right. But how soon do they have to make that decision? If the launch is supposed to be at 4:33? I mean, at what point -- I mean, if
they're looking at it now and they say, yes, there's no way, really -- we'll let's just scrub it for today now, or do they get say, let's keep
trying, let's keep waiting. Let's keep waiting. Let's get closer. Let's get closer.
O'BRIEN: Yes. The way it's occurred over the years and the shuttle program on flights when they were trying to go to the International Space Station,
which very -- with very narrow or instantaneous windows, is they would frequently get up to the point of what we call terminal count, which is the
inside 10 minutes in the countdown. And that point they would make a decision. Because that's when things start happening more automatically via
computer. The human being is more in the monitoring mode because things happen so quickly and so dynamically. And so big decisions about weather
are typically made before they get into that mode.
[15:35:04]
QUEST: A quick one, who is making that decision. It's NASA's astronauts. NASA is the client. But it's SpaceX's rocket on NASA's property using their
control. You can see where I'm going with this. Who is the big head in --
O'BRIEN: I see where you're heading. Yes. No, this is -- this is a very interesting scenario. This is a SpaceX launch, Richard. NASA is the
customer. NASA has the right at any moment to stop the launch from Jim Bridenstine on down, the management structure at NASA can say, no, we're
not going. But ultimately, the go, the positive side of this without any veto by NASA is the responsibility of SpaceX. It's their launch, so we'll
see how they do.
QUEST: And fascinating. There are so many unique aspects of what's happening today besides just the sheer beauty and wonder of flight. Miles,
don't go too far away, please. There's the launch, 3:45 Eastern. That's all gone. But that's what's happening two minutes after liftoff, they'll be
stage one rocket separation, 10 minutes. It'll land on the drone ship. 11 after that, Crew Dragon spacecraft separates into stage two. The E.U.
Commission is proposing a recovery fund. Anna Stewart reports on that. Anna Stewart has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: A massive recovery fund, three-quarters of a trillion euros or $825 billion. That is what the E.U. Commission would like
to raise as part of this big fund to help some of its member states exit pandemic-induced recession. Now, this has been negotiated alongside the
E.U.'s next seven-year budget. This money it sees as being raised on the financial markets, now wants two thirds of it to be given out as grants.
That is money that does not need to be paid back. The other third would be loans. The proposal, particularly the bit about grants has really been
welcomed by Southern European nations, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
They entered this crisis with very high levels of debt, they've had to borrow a lot more. They didn't want to further burden their balance sheets.
They're also, of course, nations that rely heavily on tourism, a sector that's been hit very badly by the lockdowns, it's likely not to return to
pre pandemic normals for many months or even years. The proposal however, needs the agreement of all 27 E.U. member states. Germany, which has shown
initial resistance actually came on board on the basic principles last week, along with France, another major E.U. Member State, however, there is
still staunch opposition from the so-called frugal for Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
They oppose the concept of grants. They want to see any money that is given out repaid. They didn't want the taxpayers to be bailing out countries that
they've deemed for some time now is fiscally less prudent than themselves. Plenty of horse trading to come. Let's hope some sort of compromise, some
sort of agreement can be reached by the next E.U. leaders summit that is June 18th, which doesn't give them very long, so that could be over
ambitious, Richard?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Anna Stewart, thank you. Roberto Gualtieri is the Italian finance minister, joins me now -- finance and economy -- joins me from Rome. It is
always good to see you, minister. I'm always grateful on your busy time when you find time for us. But the -- now, that we've got this plan in
place, what's your back of envelope numbers for what you think Italy might request or require?
ROBERTO GUALTIERI, MINISTER OF ECONOMY & FINANCE, ITALY (via Skype): First, it is a good proposal, which goes in the direction we have been calling for
with we've always said that, with such a crisis, it's a symmetric crisis. It was necessary for the E.U. to have a common response, which does not
mean that mutualizing our past stepped, but putting together a common response for the future. So, it is important that now the Commission has
proposed to borrow together on the markets resources for our common policies, which is necessary to enhance our economy, our resilience, and
protect our single market. And we will, of course, engage in the negotiation which should lead to an outcome which is ambitious.
QUEST: So, the idea that this balancing between grants and loans, is it your feeling that there should be more grants than loans?
GUALTIERI: We had asked, of course, 1 trillion and we have always said should be predominantly made of grants. We understand this is a need, a
reach of compromise. So, it is, we think, is a balanced proposal.
[15:40:07]
And of course, what is essential that we should not go below this line. We will be asking more, but I think the Commission has to strike a balanced
solution, but of course, it is essential that we will not water it down. Because this is really fundamental for our common future, so we will of
course, support this proposal. Try to make it more ambitious, and resist any attempt to water it down.
QUEST: I love that last bit, try to make it more ambitious. That's sort of ministerial speak, isn't it, for more money? Let's get more -- let's make
the program bigger, but I do wonder, will the frugal four go along with this, the Germany, the Austria and Denmark. Will they go along with it?
What argument can you put in place to convince them that it should be nearer a trillion, and that the balance between grants and loans should be
weighted towards grounds?
GUALTIERI: I think the President of the Commission has made a very good speech. And that is a very clearly explained that these are resources that
we are putting together for a common investment. We have a very integrated economy and well-functioning single market integrated supply chain. So, we
need really to protect this common asset and to bet on the future. So, it's resources invested to our common future, and I'm sure everybody will
understand that.
QUEST: Right. Now, but do you at least feel vindicated that the argument that you and your government and Prime Minister got to put forward has won
the day? I mean, at the end of the day, there will be grants that will be mutualized across the European community. That is the argument you have
been fighting for for some time.
GUALTIERI: Indeed, but it's not that we are vindicated. It is the point that it was the right argument, because we are leveraging on our common
future. Nobody is transferring money to anybody else. We are doing something rational, something up to the challenge. And we are also boosting
that the future of a common capital markets union with a -- with a common safe asset. So, it's a very rational thing that the Europe is doing as
often (INAUDIBLE) in the moment of crisis in Europe. It is best. So, I think this is something rational and in the common (INAUDIBLE) it's not a
victory or anybody against anybody else; it's a common success if we will be able to implement this proposal.
QUEST: Minister, it's always good to see you. I'm so grateful. Thank you, sir. Busy days and we're glad you give us time.
GUALTIERI: Thank you.
QUEST: Donald Trump is touring NASA at the moment. You can see he's obviously just been either taking some questions or talking. He's been
there with Melania. Can we hear anything of what's being said?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very sad event. Very, very sad, sad event.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: We've got to leave it there. They are talking about domestic matters in the U.S., but we're not (INAUDIBLE) they are looking. It is less than an
hour to go before the launch in Florida. And there it is, the Falcon rocket. Look quick, the quick markets -- I was going to tell you about the
markets. Well, we do need to look at Europe and see what the markets are doing there. Because they didn't have a robot session, which only good in
Europe. I think it was Paris that had almost the best of the day. Overall, the top of the rocket the capsule with the two astronauts. And the DAX. It
was -- yes, it was the best of the day. It was in Paris where the CAC Quarante. Lots more. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. It is quarter to the --
45 minutes to the launch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back. We are just moments away from the go no go which Miles O'Brien will explain. This is launch pad 39A, used by Apollo 11. It's also
the first and last shuttle missions went off from their historic launch pad for SpaceX first commercial company, NASA's latest tweets from just a
moment ago, NASA SpaceX demo two mission is targeted to lift off at 4:33, just under an hour from now.
Miles O'Brien is our space analyst. And we're glad to, Miles, very glad to have you with us, Miles. Couple of questions, why 39A for the launch pad?
is that -- I mean, other -- another 38?
O'BRIEN: There are more than 40 launch pads when you combine the Kennedy Space Center, the NASA portion, and then the Air Force side of what is the
Cape Canaveral rocket complex, if you will, and it was -- they're built chronologically, and that just happened to be the sequence of events 39A
was the big first Saturn five, launch pad.
And then after that time, it became evident they were for a period of time, they're hoping to be launching them in such rapid succession. They built
the second one, 39B, which was its twin, and when the shuttle retired, NASA turned 39B into its operation and leased out 39A to Elon Musk.
QUEST: Wow. It's -- One other point, this go no go, I was hoping that we're going to hear it on audio, go no go, to trans amatory go, no go. But
apparently, it's all button-pushing these days.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I got to admit I'm disappointed, Richard. Sorry, I'm an old school guy. I love that poll and to hear the human beings saying one way or
another, go or no go. Sometimes quickly. Sometimes it takes a little while to get them to respond. Sometimes there's a pause. Sometimes there's a
little comment. That's part of the whole humanity of the thing.
In this case, they're going to do it electronically, and then the launch director will relay what he has learned on his screen. It's a little bit
airless, shall we say?
QUEST: Not all change is good, Mr. O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
QUEST: Not all the change is good. So, speaker -- right. But it does appear the (INAUDIBLE) top of the rocket. And we're under an hour to go. When we
come back, we're going to talk more about it. We're going to understand exactly what it is all about, and why it is so historic. It is QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS on a day of amazing science taking place. Look at that.
Now, it's pulling back from the gantry. And there you see the dragon as it gets ready and it looks as if -- I mean, everything we see, so far,
suggests it is going to be a go at 4:33. And certainly, they are continuing towards that goal, which seems to be a propitious for a launch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: There you are. We have a countdown clock. Launch America showing 41 minutes 30. Well, you can see that on the screen. Miles O'Brien, not even
little dot lights, like the old-fashioned way, but a nice big LCD screen where the countdown clock, I'd only -- I did a launch, a shuttle launch.
That thing can actually stop counted as they're counting down. They have the ability to build pauses into it.
O'BRIEN: They do, Richard. And you know, that actually goes back to the days in Gemini when they first started to do orbital rendezvous and they
actually launching two missions in sort of synchronicity in order to rendezvous in space, and they were concerned that one, there'd be a problem
on one and not on the other, and they need to sort of catch up to each other.
And so, they built in all these holes, which remain through the shuttle era, in this case, it's a new era. So, we're doing a different kind of
countdown now, which is more chronological and not as confusing, frankly, to people because you would tell them it was t minus nine minutes when it
was an hour away, and we were in a hold. So, this is probably a simpler way to communicate all this to the public.
QUEST: Right. So, there's no hold here then. This is -- this is really the time that it's going to go.
O'BRIEN: This will take you to 4:33 p.m. Eastern Time, and we will watch it -- there are significant moment here. There'll be the decision to whether
they should fuel the rocket. Historically, NASA rockets have been fueled before the astronauts get on board, in this case, they fuel underneath
them, which there was some concern about the safety of doing that. But they don't have that crew abort system.
QUEST: Listen to Elon Musk. He's just spoken. I'll need your reaction after.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: We want to inspire kids to say that that one day, they want to wear that uniform. They want to -- they want to wear that
spacesuit and get them fired up. But yes, I want to be an astronaut. I want to be -- I want to work on aerospace engineering. I want to advance
spaceflight. And I think what that's -- what today is about is reigniting the dream of space. And going to -- going to get them fired up about the
future, and excited.
This is one of those things that I think everyone, you know, from all walks of life, from all across the political spectrum in the United States and
elsewhere, should be really excited that this is a thing that is made by humans for humans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So, reinvigorating the joy of space, the beauty of space, the excitement, do you agree?
O'BRIEN: I do agree, Richard. I -- and I think he's hit on something here that I don't know those of us who followed space like you and I, all these
years, really would have expected.
[15:55:12]
But if you think about it, it makes sense. When you have civil servants designing vehicles and spacesuits with big aerospace players, with cost
plus contracts, there's not much attention paid to how it looks, to the style, to the je ne sais quoi, of the whole thing. And in this case, this
is a commercial enterprise, right? And Elon Musk wants to make a business of this and he's from California, not Houston or Florida.
And so, how it looks counts. And so, you know what? I think to the extent that that gets kids engaged, that's a great thing. For years and years,
people have gone to see Star Wars and Star Trek and wondered why NASA fell short.
QUEST: Miles O'Brien, marketer extraordinaire, thank you. Thank you for talking with us and helping me through this. We'll take a profitable
moment. Miles really gave me something to think about there, we'll talk about it after the break. Profitable moment coming up next. Miles, thank
you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment, General Motors used to have a car advert that used to say it's not your father's Oldsmobile. Well, this is
not your space, Allah, NASA, a new countdown clock, astronauts who are wearing brand new single piece, well-designed modern-looking space suits.
There you see them being put in, not big clunky things, even the launch pad designed for simplicity, for elegance, the black coating around the
superstructure, the rocket standing powered off to the side.
We're going into propellant moment. At the moment, they're loading the fuel onboard. So, Elon Musk has added more than just engineering brilliance and
an element of commercial reality to space. He's brought the marketing in it as Miles O'Brien said, and that's become extremely important because in
tight budgetary times, if people are going to ask for money, well, you better be able to make a good argument that you should receive it.
That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York.
END
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