'If it goes wrong, it's my fault': Elon Musk is feeling nervous hours before SpaceX's historic mission to launch its first astronauts into space, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore
by Shona Ghosh, Business Insider US- SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acknowledged feeling pretty nervous ahead of SpaceX’s historic mission to send its first astronauts to space.
- SpaceX was scheduled to launch its first people into orbit on its new Crew Dragon spaceship on Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- Speaking on “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday, Musk said the safety of the astronauts was SpaceX’s top priority and noted that many things could go wrong during the mission.
- NASA is working with SpaceX on the mission, called Demo-2, which will see the astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley fly inside a Crew Dragon spaceship.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Update: SpaceX scrubbed Wednesday’s launch due to potentially unsafe weather conditions. The next launch attempt is on Saturday at 3:22 p.m. ET.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has opened up about his nerves ahead of SpaceX’s first planned launch of people into orbit – and said the blame lay with him should anything go wrong.
Speaking with “CBS This Morning” hours ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled launch, Musk said: “I’m the chief engineer of this thing, so I’d just like to say that if it goes right, it’s credit to the SpaceX-NASA team. If it goes wrong, it’s my fault.”
He added: “This is the culmination of a dream. This is a dream come true. In fact, it feels surreal. If you’d asked me when starting SpaceX if this would happen, I’d be like ‘1% chance, 0.1% chance.'”
SpaceX is due to launch its first astronauts into space on Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, weather permitting.
All going to plan, a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket will carry the NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.
NASA is working with SpaceX on this mission, called Demo-2. President Donald Trump has said he will attend the launch.
The astronauts’ safety is the “the only priority” for the SpaceX team during the mission, Musk said, adding that aspects of the mission had given him sleepless nights.
The responsibility, he said, was “really all I can think about right now,” adding: “I have to kind of mentally block it because otherwise it would be emotionally impossible to deal with.”
Demo-2 will launch from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. It’s the same launchpad that sent Apollo 11 to the moon, with Musk describing it as the “Times Square” of launchpads.
“Thirty-nine-A is like Times Square – it’s not like opening a play on Broadway, it’s like opening a play on Times Square, OK, it’s the best pad in the world,” he said.
At the time of the interview with Musk, there was heavy rain, and it’s possible storms could delay the launch.
Here’s how you can watch the historic launch Wednesday, though a brewing tropical storm might delay the crewed test flight to Saturday or Sunday.