1 00:00:00,390 --> 00:00:05,509 I'm Bob Richards. I'm founder and CEO of Moon Express, Inc. 2 00:00:05,509 --> 00:00:09,600 So we've been partnered with Kennedy Space Center for about a year now. We started discussions 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:15,400 of our need to find a place in this country to flight test our lunar lander vehicle. And 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,310 if you're going to the moon, there's no better place to be than the Kennedy Space Center. 5 00:00:19,310 --> 00:00:24,759 So Kennedy Space Center has an enormous footprint in support for any space company, especially 6 00:00:24,759 --> 00:00:30,150 a commercial space company like Moon Express, that is aspiring to create new propulsion, 7 00:00:30,150 --> 00:00:34,750 new vehicles, that can fly into space and go to the moon. The infrastructure around 8 00:00:34,750 --> 00:00:40,989 Kennedy was built to go to the moon. So everything that we look for is here. And it's been a 9 00:00:40,989 --> 00:00:45,059 tremendous benefit to us to actually be in this environment. 10 00:00:45,059 --> 00:00:47,980 So if another business owner wants to come to Kennedy, I'd say, if you're in the space 11 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:54,000 business, then this is the place to be. This is where we went to the moon, this is where 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,920 the infrastructure and the talent is, and there's room to grow here. And I think the 13 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:05,920 most advantageous thing about Kennedy is the people, the people that support us. Every 14 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:11,030 time we touch Kennedy, whether from the director down to the service person, everybody's positive 15 00:01:11,030 --> 00:01:14,840 and welcoming, and we feel like we're part of a family here. 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,600 So Moon Express is creating a series of private robots that we're going to send to the moon. 17 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:26,600 This is a new era of commercial space. And what was only possible by superpowers back 18 00:01:27,020 --> 00:01:32,070 in the 60s and 70s can now be attempted by small, entrepreneurial groups like Moon Express. 19 00:01:32,070 --> 00:01:37,189 So we're creating a robotic vehicle that can launch into space and travel all the way to 20 00:01:37,189 --> 00:01:42,000 the moon. Our big vision is to open up the resources of the moon to the benefit of humanity. 21 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,200 But we're solving a transportation problem between the Earth orbit and the lunar surface 22 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,840 that is yet to be solved: to make it economical, to lower the cost of access to the moon so 23 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,450 all of us can have access to a brand new world. 24 00:01:56,450 --> 00:02:01,340 So we're here at the Shuttle Landing Facility. There aren't any shuttles landing anymore, 25 00:02:01,340 --> 00:02:06,520 but there's a brand new type of technology being built, like the lunar lander test vehicle 26 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,860 that's behind me here. And we're testing here at the Shuttle Landing Facility. So what was 27 00:02:10,860 --> 00:02:15,290 formerly just a landing strip for vehicles coming back from space is now a test area 28 00:02:15,290 --> 00:02:21,970 for vehicles that will go to space. And this has just been a fantastic area. We have the 29 00:02:21,970 --> 00:02:27,660 infrastructure here, with communications, with safety, with people who have done it 30 00:02:27,660 --> 00:02:34,370 before, so we're in a great environment here. And the hazard field that was created for 31 00:02:34,370 --> 00:02:40,440 one of the NASA programs, called Morpheus, that provides an area like the moon, to try 32 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,629 to test landing, all that infrastructure's there and we're able to take advantage of 33 00:02:44,629 --> 00:02:50,010 that and fly our own vehicle. That's just stuff we don't have to create ourselves. So 34 00:02:50,010 --> 00:02:53,200 that's part of the great advantage of being here at the Kennedy Space Center at the Shuttle