Historic manned SpaceX launch set for Wednesday

Yahoo Finance's Myles Udland, Seana Smith, Melody Hahm, and Dan Roberts discuss the upcoming SpaceX rocket launch.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: Now from what's happening here on Earth to what's happening in space-- and tomorrow, SpaceX is going to be the first private company to send actual humans into orbit. It'll happen during our show-- scheduled for 4:33 Eastern time tomorrow. That rocket set to take off from Cape Canaveral. And, Seana Smith, there's been a lot of-- and we joke on this show, every day we have to talk about an Elon story. So here we are discussing something Elon related. But you know, this isn't just his tweets. This is his company putting people in a rocket, sending them into space.

I think I'm as skeptical as anybody about the Elon sphere of influence. But I don't know, I know there is the famous tweet like, you don't have to hand it to him. But like, I think you do have to hand it to Elon Musk when it comes to him sending humans to space.

SEANA SMITH: You do. But, Myles, my question is, would you be willing to risk your life-- I mean, I bet you I know your answer to this is going to be, no-- and put it in Elon Musk's hands? Just because he's obviously not the most reliable person-- just his lofty goals that he has had really since he started these companies years ago, it always seems like he puts out these statements, and then there's a huge asterisk, there's a huge butt, and then we see what he actually delivers.

So I mean, this is going to be a huge test for Elon Musk tomorrow. It's his most important mission yet. It's the first time-- the first launch of the NASA astronauts from the US since 2011. He's going to quite the audience. We know President Trump has said that he's planning to be there in person to watch the launch. I don't know. I mean, a lot is riding on it. It's taken them a while to do this. You hope for everyone's safety. But I think I'm a little-- there's a lot of questions out there just as to how successful this launch will actually be.

MYLES UDLAND: I mean, look, sending people in rockets into space, very difficult work. But I mean, I think-- the thing is, Elon Musk has been on this project for 20 years. And, like, the people-- like, the astronauts don't get in the SpaceX rocket unless they think they're confident in the process. And it's not just like Elon sits there by himself. There are thousands of people around this launch. And so I think it's a completely different animal than, you know, are they building Teslas in a tent, right? It's not even close to those situations.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, lives are at stake.

MYLES UDLAND: Yes.

DAN ROBERTS: Yeah. And, guys, the thing with Musk at this point is that I feel like we're talking about Tesla so often, you sometimes forget the importance of SpaceX and the future significance. I mean, if you at valuation, SpaceX, $36 billion private valuation. Obviously, Tesla something like $150 billion market cap. And yet, there's the very real possibility that the company that ends up being more important, more significant will be SpaceX.

And I actually have a suspicion that Musk would say the same. Maybe he's already commented on that. But you know, the idea that this is the first one that will be manned by human beings for SpaceX, I feel like it does put a new level of attention, a new level of eyeballs, a new level of awareness of SpaceX for the general public. There are a lot of people out there who, you know, they may love Tesla and know about Elon Musk and be very unaware of SpaceX.

So I think this is a huge moment, a huge litmus test. And we know that's his real passion-- you know, same with Jeff Bezos. So in the space race with Bezos, Branson, and Musk, this is a big one for Elon.

MELODY HAHM: Yeah, there was a litmus test yesterday, of course, with Branson, as Dan mentioned-- the Virgin Orbit actually failed in its first attempt to launch that test satellite into space. And to be honest, guys, I mean, I would say I'm a little bit more into this-- or I would be more open to this, potentially, by the end of my lifetime than someone like Myles. But I am not feeling particularly optimistic.

Or even if I had all the money in the world, I don't really have confidence in any of these folks across the board. I actually have to say, having heard Bezos speak about space being the next frontier, being the new internet where it's going to be the kind of ecosystem and portal for new innovations to appear, I think he's talked about it in the most coherent way or most relatable way, I guess, than even the Bransons and the Musks of the world. But at this current moment, just like autonomous vehicles, just like a lot of these moonshot ideas, I don't really think this is in our reality right now.

DAN ROBERTS: I, too, guys, fall on the Myles side of caution. I'm happy right here on Earth-- on terra firma. I think it's very cool that these are eventually going to have consumer passengers, although I find it very hard to imagine that happening in any kind of scale except for one-offs in our lifetime. I think it's going to be a long time before people can pay up and pay through the nose and hop on one of these space voyages. But if and when we're allowed to, I'm good. I'm good here on solid ground.

SEANA SMITH: Well, guys, and also just real quick, it's going to be interesting just to see the price point. We know, obviously, it's exorbitantly expensive right now. But if this is a success and we do see this actually-- I know you guys are very skeptical, as I am too-- but it's going to be very interesting just how available this is to the people on Main Street-- whether or not the price will significantly come down, if this is something like which happened with planes originally, how it was only elite who were able to fly in planes, and as they become more and more available and safety measures-- obviously, we saw the prices of plane tickets come down. So it'll be interesting just that whole aspect of it-- exactly who is able to afford it just taking advantage of this if, in fact, it does happen in our lifetime, which I think we're all very skeptical about.

MYLES UDLAND: Maybe if there was a great rewards program, I'd be more--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

SEANA SMITH: You never know.

MYLES UDLAND: SpaceX Miles. You know, Comfort SpaceX-- whatever you want to call it, I could be talked into it, perhaps.