Neil deGrasse Tyson says this Chinese move is putting pressure on NASA

Is back on. Love it. All that applause because, well, this is your morning moment. Splash down a SpaceX capsule carrying a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers came home from the International Space station splashing don’t down off the coast of Panama City. It is only the second all private mission to the I S that as a Chinese rocket launched from earth to their own space station yesterday, carrying the country’s first civilian astronaut into orbit. Let’s talk about all this and a lot more with world renowned astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City, Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson, also the author of Starry Messenger, Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Let’s let’s start with, we’ve been talking about China a lot this morning and now in space too, obviously in the space race launching uh and working to, to uh put more pressure I suppose on NASA to put humans on course to walk the moon by 2025 2 years away. Does this increase the pressure on NASA? What does, of course, how could we think not right and just look at the rebirth of our interest in returning to the moon with the Artemis program, which by the way, not everyone knows yet. I mean, some people know, of course that Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. And so NASA was like, woke early in this effort. Be careful throwing that word around. That’s right. That’s right. But the, uh you know, we could have stayed on the moon in 1972. We didn’t, we could have gone back in 1980 or 1990 or 2000 or 2010. No, we have rejuvenated our Lunar Space program right around the time when China says that’s what they want to do. So who are we kidding? If we’re going to say, oh, we’re just doing it because it’s time to do it again. No, we, there are forces operating out there that rival a little bit what we felt back in the space race with the Soviet Union. So that’s just the reality to stand in denial of it would be naive. So as we wait, as we watch for all that to play out, as if we see if it will happen by 2025. In, in terms of the moon, I was really fascinated the James Webb telescope. Oh, I love it. Any time we get a little nugget all that and all that and more so now it’s observed a doughnut of water as I understand it around Saturn beyond the rains. What does this actually mean? What is the doughnut of water? Just to say the search for water is a major objective of NASA. Because every place on earth we find water, we find life. Even the Dead Sea, it was called the Dead Sea because no one then had microscopes or the James Webb space telescope. So, yeah. So, so if you, if we know that life and water go together and we want to find life elsewhere, you’re gonna look for water, any place you can find it in any shape form at what always. So these outer planets, so not only Jupiter but Saturn as well, there are conditions there that can support water and in many cases, it’s frozen on the surface of moons, but then it’s liquefied inside because the, the moons are stressed by the tidal forces of, of the main planet and other moons. And it’s like when you, you hit a racket ball, they say let’s warm up the ball. You’re literally warming up the ball by stressing it and popping it back into shape. That’s what’s happening with moons in the outer solar system which renders what would otherwise be frozen water liquid. So when you find water in the outer solar system, um it, it, it widens the net that you cast in your search for life. Can we talk about what we’re seeing in New York that apparently everyone knew about? Except for me, you gotta get out there, you gotta get out the true statement, you know. Yeah. So there it is. Yes. Manhattan Henge. Yes. So, what, what is it? Yeah. I mean, we know, explain that term and it’s not in the Oxford English dictionary. I’m happy to say, yeah, it’s like an official, it’s not official until that happens, you know, in the. Exactly. Exactly. Because anything is in the urban dictionary but on two occasions a year around Memorial Day and I time this up with baseball’s all Star break. That’s what I found these on the calendar. Uh On those two occasions, the sunsets exactly on the grid of Manhattan and it makes for spectacular sunsets. Sunsets are beautiful regardless. Now, you name them with the steel and glass structures of the city. Thousands of people now crowd the streets and I’m delighted to announce we finally stopped traffic for reasons other than coned, digging holes or police activity. So if the universe can call to us that way, it’s just a reminder that we are participants in the great unfolding of cosmic events, building of cosmic events. I love that. I love it. Um Before you go, since you have a term in the Oxford English dictionary, I don’t mean to brag or can we also get your bag? This is CNN this morning because you were doing it in the commercial and it was pretty darn great. This is CNN this morning. There you go. That’s all you need to know. Hi. Hi. All right, Doctor Neil Degrasse Tyson. What a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the universe. Even, even better. So great.