0:00:11 > 0:00:17This is BBC World News America, reporting from Washington. Mark
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Zuckerberg admits Facebook made mistakes in protecting the data of
0:00:21 > 0:00:24its users. After reports that millions of people had their
0:00:24 > 0:00:28information used for political ends. The suspect in the Austin, Texas
0:00:28 > 0:00:34bombings blows himself up as police close in. And the question is, what
0:00:34 > 0:00:39motivated 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt? And they are using their
0:00:39 > 0:00:43billions to become space parents. How an elite, ambitious group on a
0:00:43 > 0:00:53quest to find frontiers. -- space pioneers.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Welcome to our viewers on public television in America and around the
0:01:02 > 0:01:07globe. After increasing pressure, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has
0:01:07 > 0:01:10broken his silence on the controversy surrounding his company.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14In a statement tonight he admitted they had made mistakes. He allowed
0:01:14 > 0:01:20the data of tens of millions to be shared with UK political consultancy
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Cambridge Analytica. Action was taken years ago that would prevent
0:01:23 > 0:01:28this happening again, said Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, a former
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Facebook MP testified before Parliament committee. He was
0:01:31 > 0:01:34impressed by British MPs on how the company handled user information.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39Would that be a fair analogy, for the way in which Facebook has
0:01:39 > 0:01:42approached data, that it has approached it like the West
0:01:42 > 0:01:52frontier?I think its approach to regulating data was the wild West,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57is an appropriate analogy.It's those descriptions that have raised
0:01:57 > 0:02:02even greater concerns on Capitol Hill. While lawmakers are keen to
0:02:02 > 0:02:05have a from Mark Zuckerberg and those at Cambridge Analytica. Early
0:02:05 > 0:02:10today my colleague Katty Kay spoke to a Democratic congressman who sits
0:02:10 > 0:02:17on the intelligence committee for her programme beyond 100 days.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Congressman Castro, you have had members of Facebook staff coming to
0:02:20 > 0:02:25speak to people on the intelligence committee on Capitol Hill today. Are
0:02:25 > 0:02:29you getting any more answers from them than we have had so far about
0:02:29 > 0:02:34what was going on in their role, in terms of their users' data being
0:02:34 > 0:02:38used in political campaigns?I can't speak directly to what they have
0:02:38 > 0:02:42told us, or the committee, but I can tell you there are still a lot of
0:02:42 > 0:02:45unanswered questions we have about, for example, how many different
0:02:45 > 0:02:50groups may have got access to the same data that Cambridge Analytica
0:02:50 > 0:02:55got, and whether Cambridge Analytica, to the best of Facebook's
0:02:55 > 0:02:57knowledge, shed that information with any other groups, and what
0:02:57 > 0:03:02safeguards they have now put in place to that happening again in
0:03:02 > 0:03:06future.Do you think Facebook now recognise the seriousness of this
0:03:06 > 0:03:11situation?I think they have come a long way from where they started
0:03:11 > 0:03:14right after the election when the CEO and executives really denied
0:03:14 > 0:03:21that Facebook as a platform was abused or misused in anyway. I think
0:03:21 > 0:03:25it's become very clear that if they are going to continue being a news
0:03:25 > 0:03:28source, and major news source, in the United States and around the
0:03:28 > 0:03:31world, then they will have to safeguard their platform a lot
0:03:31 > 0:03:37better than they have.They sat on this information Cambridge Analytica
0:03:37 > 0:03:41had 50 million users' profiles for two years. What prompted a change of
0:03:41 > 0:03:45heart on the part of the company?I think all the revelations that have
0:03:45 > 0:03:52come out, the wonderful journalism, the reporting about how exactly the
0:03:52 > 0:03:55platform was misused. And also the investigation is conducted in public
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and in classified settings. Our investigation was not classified,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03but it was a sensitive setting. All of that work has been helpful in
0:04:03 > 0:04:07getting Facebook to come to the table and realise that they have a
0:04:07 > 0:04:13real role to play in helping protect American democracy.At one point in
0:04:13 > 0:04:17the latest report from Channel 4 News, one of the members, and I
0:04:17 > 0:04:23think it was Alexander Nix says, we went to speak to members of
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Congress, but frankly, you know what, they didn't even know what
0:04:26 > 0:04:30questions to ask us. They were ignorant and didn't understand the
0:04:30 > 0:04:35technology. Is that a therapist and patient on why it has taken
0:04:35 > 0:04:39lawmakers, not just on this side of the Atlantic, but in the UK as well,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43so long to address this situation?I think part of the challenge we had
0:04:43 > 0:04:47with some witnesses is that they have not been honest and they have
0:04:47 > 0:04:53not been candid, and they have played hide the ball. I would put
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Alexander Nix in that category. The problem is, when we have asked
0:04:57 > 0:05:00questions, the majority of the committee, which is controlled by
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Republicans, have been unwilling to issue subpoenas for phone records,
0:05:03 > 0:05:09travel records, to verify what has been told to us or to contradict
0:05:09 > 0:05:16anything that has been told us.When I watch these two reports, I caned
0:05:16 > 0:05:20came away, and it sounds grandiose, that Western democracy has
0:05:20 > 0:05:26fundamentally changed. The way votes are cast, the way elections are won
0:05:26 > 0:05:30lost has changed fundamentally, in a way that is worrying and degrades
0:05:30 > 0:05:35the concept of one person, one vote. Is that too extreme, or is that the
0:05:35 > 0:05:40direction we are heading?I think the big concern many of us had was
0:05:40 > 0:05:45that for bad actors, whether it's Russian operatives who plays
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Facebook adverts, fake Facebook adverts, or Cambridge Analytica,
0:05:49 > 0:05:54social media has become a perfect platform for their propaganda. And
0:05:54 > 0:05:58we are in a full social media age now where people get more of their
0:05:58 > 0:06:02information from the social media companies than they do from
0:06:02 > 0:06:07traditional sources in broadcast and print. So, to the extent that these
0:06:07 > 0:06:11platforms can and are being abused, that's a big hit to our democracy.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16Congressman Castro, thank you for joining us. We are in a full social
0:06:16 > 0:06:21media age. Thank you. STUDIO: In part of the statement released by
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Mark Zuckerberg today he urged users to stay with the company as they
0:06:25 > 0:06:30work through these issues. He will appear on US television tonight. The
0:06:30 > 0:06:34suspect linked to a series of deadly package bombs in Austin, Texas has
0:06:34 > 0:06:38died. The man identified as 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43blew up an explosive as police closed in on him earlier today.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Officials say other completed devices had been removed from the
0:06:46 > 0:06:50suspect's home, but there is a reasonable level of certainty no
0:06:50 > 0:06:54more bombs remain out in the public domain. Two people were killed in
0:06:54 > 0:06:57six separate attacks in the state this month. The BBC's Gary
0:06:57 > 0:07:02O'Donoghue reports.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Police closed in on the suspected bomber in the early hours,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11tracking him down to a hotel north of Austin.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14While they waited for extra back-up, he drove off and then
0:07:14 > 0:07:16pulled into a ditch at the side of the road.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19As the police approached his car, he set off another bomb.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21As members of the Austin police Department SWAT team
0:07:21 > 0:07:22approached the vehicle, the suspect detonated
0:07:22 > 0:07:23a bomb inside the vehicle.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Knocking one of our SWAT officers back, and one of our SWAT officers
0:07:27 > 0:07:28fired at the suspect as well.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30The suspect is deceased, and has significant injuries
0:07:30 > 0:07:32from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb
0:07:32 > 0:07:36inside his vehicle.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39CCTV in the past couple of days appears to show the man believed
0:07:39 > 0:07:42to be the suspect dropping off a package at a FedEx office
0:07:42 > 0:07:44in Southwest Austin.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47He has not been named officially, but thought to be a 23-year-old
0:07:47 > 0:07:50man called Mark Anthony Conditt.
0:07:50 > 0:07:59He lived in Pflugerville, just outside the city.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Since the beginning of the month, there have been six separate bombs,
0:08:03 > 0:08:08five of which have exploded.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11School friend of the suspect I spoke to did not want to be identified but
0:08:11 > 0:08:16said he seemed like a normal boy.I would definitely say I am completely
0:08:16 > 0:08:20surprised. I wouldn't have been this shocked if it was somebody I didn't
0:08:20 > 0:08:24know, but seeing as this is somebody who I share memories with, even
0:08:24 > 0:08:28though it is just a little bit, is crazy to me. Regardless of his
0:08:28 > 0:08:32personal reasoning, it was an act of evil and not excusable.Since the
0:08:32 > 0:08:38beginning of the month there have been six separate bombs, five of
0:08:38 > 0:08:41which have exploded. Two men have died and half a dozen people have
0:08:41 > 0:08:48suffered serious injuries. A number are still in hospital. During the
0:08:48 > 0:08:54day, the police, with dogs, searched a number of addresses associated
0:08:54 > 0:08:58with Mark Conditt, evacuating buildings and cordoning off areas.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01They questioned both flatmates, but neither has been arrested or
0:09:01 > 0:09:05charged. Police still don't know the motive for this bombing spree, that
0:09:05 > 0:09:09has categorised Austin for the past three weeks. They are also telling
0:09:09 > 0:09:13the public they don't know where the suspect has been for the past 24
0:09:13 > 0:09:17hours, so there could still be devices out there. Gary O'Donoghue,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21BBC News, Austin, Texas.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26STUDIO: Boko Haram militants have returned most of the schoolgirls
0:09:26 > 0:09:31abducted in north-east Nigeria in February. Parents say the insurgents
0:09:31 > 0:09:35drove into the town of Dapchi and dropped off at least 76 students
0:09:35 > 0:09:39outside the school. Local media reports the girls are exhausted and
0:09:39 > 0:09:42underfed. It's reported five of the 110 students kidnapped may have
0:09:42 > 0:09:46died. For the first time, Israel has admitted destroying a suspected
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007 with fighter jets. Israel has never fully
0:09:51 > 0:09:54acknowledged it was behind the attack on the facility. Syria has
0:09:54 > 0:09:58denied it was a nuclear rector. A statement from the Israeli military
0:09:58 > 0:10:04said the strike in the desert area of north-eastern Syria removed and
0:10:04 > 0:10:08emerging existential threat to Israel and the entire region.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Everyone else may have had a snow day in Washington, but not the
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Federal reserve. They raised the interest rates by a quarter of a
0:10:16 > 0:10:20percent. The economic outlook has strengthened, said the all powerful
0:10:20 > 0:10:23economic body, and inflation is expected to move up in the coming
0:10:23 > 0:10:28months. To explain a living, our business correspondent joins us now.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Kim, is this the first of several rate rises we can expect this year?
0:10:33 > 0:10:39This is the sixth interest rate rise we have seen in the Federal reserve
0:10:39 > 0:10:42since 2015 so many people expected Jerome Powell full will continue his
0:10:42 > 0:10:47predecessor's Janet Yellen's mission to slowly but surely raise interest
0:10:47 > 0:10:54rates as the economic situation gathers steam. The main Dummett was
0:10:54 > 0:10:57about Kammy times they should raise interest rates this year. Eight
0:10:57 > 0:11:00members of the policy committee thought they should raise rates
0:11:00 > 0:11:03three times, seven thought they should increase four times this
0:11:03 > 0:11:07year. Essentially it shows the Fed is a little divided over how strong
0:11:07 > 0:11:11the US economy is and whether or not it needs to put the brakes on more
0:11:11 > 0:11:15forcefully.What did the new chairman have to say about tariffs?
0:11:15 > 0:11:19We are hearing the White House might announce new tariffs against China
0:11:19 > 0:11:23later tomorrow. What impact could that have the otherwise extremely
0:11:23 > 0:11:27healthy US economy?Jerome Powell said this is one of the main risks
0:11:27 > 0:11:30that they weren't quite paying attention to act the Fed until
0:11:30 > 0:11:33recently. Now they have increased their attention to what it might do.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38Many members of the open market committee of the Fed were hearing
0:11:38 > 0:11:41from business community leaders saying they were worried about the
0:11:41 > 0:11:45prospect of a trade war, and the Fed is paying attention to the trade
0:11:45 > 0:11:49policies coming from the White House but it is not a cause for concern
0:11:49 > 0:11:54yet.What is the worry for business leaders speaking to the Fed about
0:11:54 > 0:11:58tariffs?It's tit-for-tat, retaliation. If the US was to have
0:11:58 > 0:12:02significant tariffs on imported Chinese electronics, then China
0:12:02 > 0:12:06would retaliate in kind, which could hurt many American industries that
0:12:06 > 0:12:10are significant on the Chinese economy for a significant portion of
0:12:10 > 0:12:14their business.How did the new Fed chairman do at their press
0:12:14 > 0:12:16conference question mark for once you are succinct and to the point.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21He said the Fed does not do trade policy. Five words in a sentence,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25you almost never get that from a Fed chair. He earns marks for being
0:12:25 > 0:12:29clear that we will see how he does with investors down the road.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Anything bothering him apart from tariffs and the risk of inflation?
0:12:32 > 0:12:37He seems happy with the US economy, which echoes what we have heard from
0:12:37 > 0:12:42investors, the US economy is doing well, unemployment is at a record
0:12:42 > 0:12:45low, and wages are increasing slowly but surely. Not an increase of
0:12:45 > 0:12:51concern, not yet.You are watching BBC World News America. Still to
0:12:51 > 0:12:58come... Fleeing violence at home to find prostitution abroad, a special
0:12:58 > 0:13:00BBC investigation into the trafficking of Rohingya girls in
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Bangladesh.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13North Koreans have been told by state media that the country's
0:13:13 > 0:13:16relationship with the United States is changing. It comes as informal
0:13:16 > 0:13:21talks between the US, South Korea and North Korea have concluded in
0:13:21 > 0:13:27Finland. Officials describing them as constructive. Laura Bicker as
0:13:27 > 0:13:32more from Seoul.We have been monitoring the output from the state
0:13:32 > 0:13:35media agencies in North Korea looking to see if there would be a
0:13:35 > 0:13:39change in tone or any mention of a meeting with either the United
0:13:39 > 0:13:44States or South Korea. And there hasn't been much over the past week
0:13:44 > 0:13:49and a half. The language has remained the same. And yet, in the
0:13:49 > 0:13:53last 24 hours, we have seen a slight change in tone. Again, it mentioned
0:13:53 > 0:13:59a dramatic atmosphere of reconciliation with South Korea. We
0:13:59 > 0:14:04have heard that before. But then it goes on to say that there are signs
0:14:04 > 0:14:10of change with the United States. There were no mention is made of any
0:14:10 > 0:14:14summits of any kind. No mention is made of any meetings of any kind.
0:14:14 > 0:14:20But it did go on to say that this had been a peace-loving proposal on
0:14:20 > 0:14:27behalf of North Korea and that it was all down to proactive measures
0:14:27 > 0:14:33by North Korea that has brought all sides to this stage. They said it
0:14:33 > 0:14:38was not international sanctions nor pressure from the US, Japan nor
0:14:38 > 0:14:43elsewhere that has brought North Korea to the negotiating table. And
0:14:43 > 0:14:47it warned critics, certainly, that they should exercise prudence when
0:14:47 > 0:14:53it came to that kind of rubbish talk, as they put it. A lot of
0:14:53 > 0:14:58colourful language, as ever, from the state-run media agency. To give
0:14:58 > 0:15:06a health warning, when it comes to KCNA, as we know it, we are not sure
0:15:06 > 0:15:10if it speaks exactly for the state itself, or how much people are aware
0:15:10 > 0:15:13of what's going on.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25A BBC investigation has revealed that girls from Myanmar's Rohingya
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Muslim minority are being trafficked into prostitution in neighbouring
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Bangladesh. The undercover team filmed traffic is openly offering
0:15:33 > 0:15:38the young women for sex in Cox's Bazar. The town nearest to the
0:15:38 > 0:15:40refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have ended up
0:15:40 > 0:15:48after fleeing Myanmar. The BBC's as this story. A small city on the Bay
0:15:48 > 0:15:53of Bengal where the main business was tourism, is now the hub for aid
0:15:53 > 0:15:57agencies working in the nearby refugee camps. But alongside the
0:15:57 > 0:16:01shop fronts, the beach-side bars, and the hotels of Cox's Bazar,
0:16:01 > 0:16:08there's an open secret. After hearing repeated stories about
0:16:08 > 0:16:10children trafficked into prostitution, we went in search of
0:16:10 > 0:16:16the evidence. 114-year-old Rohingya girl we met in the camps, and whose
0:16:16 > 0:16:21identity we have protected, told me what happened to her as she crossed
0:16:21 > 0:16:30from Myanmar to Bangladesh. -- one 14-year-old. TRANSLATION:Women came
0:16:30 > 0:16:34with Ah Van. They asked me if I would go with them. Not long after
0:16:34 > 0:16:40that in a building in Cox's Bazar, they brought two boys to me. They
0:16:40 > 0:16:44showed me a knife and punched me in my tummy and beat me because I
0:16:44 > 0:16:51wasn't cooperating. Then the boys raped me. I wasn't willing to have
0:16:51 > 0:16:59sex, but they kept going.We heard other accounts from girls of a
0:16:59 > 0:17:04similar age. A 13-year-old told me she was lured out of the camp by a
0:17:04 > 0:17:09woman from within the Rohingya community offering her work. With
0:17:09 > 0:17:11the desperate conditions the refugees are living in, her family
0:17:11 > 0:17:19agreed to let her go. TRANSLATION: She came to my home. We know her.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23She said, you are not being fed properly, come with me to Cox's
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Bazar and I will give you a job. When we got there, she put me in a
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Hotel in the morning. By the afternoon, a boy was put in my room.
0:17:34 > 0:17:42He beat me, and raped me. I asked the woman, why should I do this. She
0:17:42 > 0:17:52told me, if you don't do this, I will kill you.After only 48 hours
0:17:52 > 0:17:55on the ground, our team had identified a number of people
0:17:55 > 0:18:00offering children for sex. This was one of them, not only boasting about
0:18:00 > 0:18:04his own collection of women and children, but of a network of
0:18:04 > 0:18:10traffickers, all of whom had more than ten girls under their control.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15We had to be careful not to create a demand, and asked for girls who were
0:18:15 > 0:18:19immediately available. We were offered these three, and told they
0:18:19 > 0:18:26were all Rohingyas aged between 13 and 17. We went to the police and
0:18:26 > 0:18:31told them what we had found. They agreed to conduct an operation that
0:18:31 > 0:18:37same evening. Our undercover investigator posed as a client who
0:18:37 > 0:18:42wanted to have sex with children. And arranged with the traffic for
0:18:42 > 0:18:48the delivery of two young girls to the hotel. But as he waited, the
0:18:48 > 0:18:56traffic sent a scout.About eight o'clock, the red hoodie.He asked
0:18:56 > 0:19:01our investigator to go with him, but we needed the traffic to come to us.
0:19:01 > 0:19:09He appeared to change his mind. But when the girls arrived, it was a
0:19:09 > 0:19:17driver who was with them and who collected the money.How's it going?
0:19:17 > 0:19:2214, 15, 16... And two for Q.Can you ask, if tonight is good, can you get
0:19:22 > 0:19:31more.We handed over around £140. As soon as the deal was done, the
0:19:31 > 0:19:40police moved in. The girls were two of those we had seen in the
0:19:40 > 0:19:46photograph. As they were taken aside and into safety, they told us they
0:19:46 > 0:19:50were 15 and 21 and their families depended on the money they made from
0:19:50 > 0:19:57sex work. What the two girls told me here tonight reveals so much about
0:19:57 > 0:20:02how they and others like them get trapped in the sex industry in Cox's
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Bazar. They had never been to school and had no idea how they would
0:20:06 > 0:20:10support themselves without this work. And with the arrival of so
0:20:10 > 0:20:14many refugees in the nearby camps, there are even more vulnerable young
0:20:14 > 0:20:20people for the traffickers to prey upon. Childcare professionals and
0:20:20 > 0:20:25trafficking experts helped for us to arrange care for the girls
0:20:25 > 0:20:29afterwards. The younger one went in the care of social services, but the
0:20:29 > 0:20:3621-year-old refused. We handed over all the information we had to the
0:20:36 > 0:20:46police. But the trafficker is still at large, part of an established
0:20:46 > 0:20:59network that put buts children into sex work here, and is also further
0:20:59 > 0:21:05afield in the likes of Nepal. The refugees are providing easy pickings
0:21:05 > 0:21:09for the traffickers and another danger for the Rohingya people.
0:21:09 > 0:21:15STUDIO: 50 years ago, the space race captivated millions around the
0:21:15 > 0:21:19globe. But after Americans put a man on the moon, the next decade didn't
0:21:19 > 0:21:24fulfil the dreams of the early years. It could be changing with the
0:21:24 > 0:21:29new class of billionaire like Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Bezos, who are using their wealth to try to reach new frontiers.
0:21:33 > 0:21:42Christiaan Davenport has written about this phenomena. Why are
0:21:42 > 0:21:45billionaires drawn to the space race?We haven't gone far since the
0:21:45 > 0:21:52Apollo era. We went to the moon in 1969, and since then we go to the
0:21:52 > 0:21:56International Space Station, an amazing orbiting lab rhetoric, but
0:21:56 > 0:22:01it is only 250 miles away. Right now, Nasa and the US government does
0:22:01 > 0:22:05not have the ability to fly astronauts from US soil. I think
0:22:05 > 0:22:09these billionaires are looking at the pace of progress. They are used
0:22:09 > 0:22:11rapid innovation and thought they should do something about it.And
0:22:11 > 0:22:22they are. Elon Musk of SpaceX says if you get to the moon and make it
0:22:22 > 0:22:26your home, you can get to Mars more easily.I think he ultimately wants
0:22:26 > 0:22:29to get to Mars. The moon is seen as a good stepping stone for that
0:22:29 > 0:22:33because there is water on the moon, hydrogen and oxygen, and that's
0:22:33 > 0:22:37rocket fuel. It's a good stepping stone. We went there and planted a
0:22:37 > 0:22:41flag in the 60s and left some footprints but then we left. The
0:22:41 > 0:22:47idea now, particularly among the Trump administration, is to go there
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and stay there.Your blog is so interesting, how it goes into ego,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54ambition and Twitter wars, especially between Elon Musk and
0:22:54 > 0:22:59Jeff Bezos. Why is that relationship so confrontational?It is important.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02They have toned it down since then, but there is a long history there
0:23:02 > 0:23:07and they know they need each other. Competition is good. Competition got
0:23:07 > 0:23:11us to the Moon and the Apollo era, the race against the Soviet Union.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15These billionaires know they are competing against each other on many
0:23:15 > 0:23:18different fronts in order to do that. Elon Musk told me when I sat
0:23:18 > 0:23:22down with him, if he had a button, despite the twitter wars you talk
0:23:22 > 0:23:27about, if he could press it and make Jeff Bezos's company blue origin go
0:23:27 > 0:23:32away, he wouldn't press the button. You do reference the concerns about
0:23:32 > 0:23:37safety and accountability, if we are basically outsourcing the space race
0:23:37 > 0:23:43to these billionaires. There was that virgin Galactic crash.There
0:23:43 > 0:23:47was in 2014. That's a huge concern, and for all the progress these guys
0:23:47 > 0:23:51have made flying to space, particularly with SpaceX. We have
0:23:51 > 0:23:55seen dramatic launches and landings, bringing the boosters back to Earth.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00The fact is that SpaceX has not yet flown human being and that will be a
0:24:00 > 0:24:03huge challenge. Flying cargo and satellites is one thing, but putting
0:24:03 > 0:24:08a human being on board as a whole different ball game.President Trump
0:24:08 > 0:24:11spoke recently about creating a space Force and may be going to
0:24:11 > 0:24:17Mars. Can Nasa compete?What Nasa wants to do is partner up with these
0:24:17 > 0:24:20guys. They have a lot of money and resources and attract an enormous
0:24:20 > 0:24:25amount of talent to their companies. Nasa has essentially had a flat
0:24:25 > 0:24:29budget for many years. Different administrations come in. They say
0:24:29 > 0:24:32that one year they will go to the moon, the next administration wants
0:24:32 > 0:24:36to go to Mars, and they want to partner with companies to do that.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Is there something incredibly American about this story?I think
0:24:40 > 0:24:45so. American entrepreneurs are doing things nobody thought possible.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Thank you so much, Christian Davenport, it's a fascinating story
0:24:49 > 0:25:00of the space billionaires trying to reach new frontiers. Thank you for
0:25:00 > 0:25:03watching BBC World News America.