♪ >> this is bloomberg. these are your first word headlines from around the world. goldman sachs is planning to make covid vaccination booster shots compulsory for staff. the bank is one of wall street's starches advocates of returning employees to offices. it will also double mandatory testing to twice weekly on january 10. apple has closed 16 stores across new york city because of rising cases. the cdc has cut its recommended period for covid-19 isolation from 10 days to five. a leading israeli hospital has

started what it says is the first formal clinical trial of its fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine. it has begun to administer the shot. 150 medical workers who received third doses before august 20 and currently have a low antibody count. the professor leading the trial says initial data will be available in a few days. the pboc has boosted its daily liquid using seven-day reverse repo. earlier, the chinese central bank repeated the exchange rate will be more flexible in 2022. although, it will stay basically stable. the pboc 2022 conference promised a focus on property finance to better meet the needs of homebuyers. former president donald trump is seeking dismissal of a suit accusing him of sparking the capitol riot.

speakers at political rallies don't have a legally enforceable duty of care to adversaries. that is a direct quote. let's get you some of the market action as more of these around the world come online and volume begins the pickup slightly. down .1%. jp morgan saying there's no selloff insight. we are seeing the rally brought her into january. 0.7.41. the bloomberg dollar index gets a marginal lift, prompting the g10 fx relatively quiet. the brent crude contract at $78.66 a barrel. let me flesh out the asian highlights. the msci pacific index a tale of positive and negative. net positive by .5%.

the hang seng with a little bit of downside, back online after the holiday. evergrande shares with a 7.5% gain coming off of coupons due. much more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ >> from the heart of where innovation, money and power collide, in silicon valley and beyond, this is bloomberg technology with emily chang. ♪ emily: i'm emily chang in san francisco and this is bloomberg technology. over the next 30 minutes, we will take you to a trip to space. 2020 was quite the great beyond, starting with billionaire richard branson's flight to the

edge of space. a voyage he called the experience of a lifetime. plus, the founder of amazon jeff bezos launched himself on a supersonic joyride. and, though elon musk did not take the trip himself, his spacex inspiration iv became the first to launch an all civilian crew into orbit. we will talk to the commander of that mission later in the show. >> 3, 2, 1. release, release, release. clean release. ignition. good rocket motor burned. . emily: this was the moment virgin galactic founder richard branson made history. becoming the first ever owner of a private space company to rocket into space aboard his own craft. the space race between branson, bezos and musk dominated headlines but it was the culmination of decades of work.

ed ludlow has more. >> richard branson, astronaut at 8:35 a.m. local time in new mexico. it took off carrying the ss unity to a height of around 50,000 feet. it released the ss unity and reached supersonic speed within eight seconds. it took an upward arc 50 miles plus above earth. it gave richard branson and his fellow crew members just a few minutes of weightlessness. they floated around the cabin. they conducted experiments. the basically try to to prove what the experience would be like for future paying customers aboard virgin galactic. >> the experience of a lifetime. now i'm looking down at a beautiful spaceport. congratulations to everybody here for creating such a beautiful thing. ♪

ed: it does market really big step, partly because virgin galactic has been doing this for such a long time. they got serious in 2004, face the number of setbacks. for a long time promised the first commercial spaceflight was a matter of months or a year away, but it never proved to be the case. we knew that on may 22, the test flight before this launch, the data was key. they handed it over to the faa and they were given a license to charge customers to experience the few minutes of weightlessness. the data gathered from this launch shows it was a strong mission, that everything had gone to plan initially. now the question really turns to when will we see that first customer paying commercial flight? it could be as soon as 2022. they are not taking new tickets right now. they have already charged $250,000 to around 600 people. there's also the question around

will it cost more than that? but, what is for sure, it marks a big step for civilians and paying customers to be able to go into space, albeit for a few minutes of weightlessness. emily: ed also caught up with richard branson shortly after he returned from his historic trip. here's what he had to say. richard: i've been practicing some words to say to kids for some time. once i have done those words, just being able to unbuckle and take off and look out of these massive windows. the spaceship was upside down. and take in the earth from space, it was something i dreamt of since i was a kid. it was completely and utterly awesome. one of those dreams come true.

i still think i will wake up any minute. it was extraordinary. ed: you are here. you said the feeling of weightlessness is indescribable. would you at least have an attempt for me? richard: it was not just floating. but then, looking at the other three beneath me floating as well. then, looking out through these gigantic windows back at the stunningly beautiful earth be o ow. pristine sky. the strength of the blues and the blacks. we were in space. you know, i have always pictured what it would be like, like the ride up there, the ride back. never realized the whole experience was going to be so vivid. woo. ed: beyond the satisfaction of your own goal being achieved,

what does today symbolize for the country and for the children present earlier? richard: for the children, we have to get building as many spaceships as we can as fast as we can so that one day, those kids will have similar experiences to what i had. that we will do. we also launched a global raffle today so two kids -- $10 for a pair of tickets. that money will hopefully enable many people to be able to go up who have never dreamt of going to space. emily: richard branson with ed ludlow. coming up, just a week after branson's trip to space, bezos followed. i was the first journalist to speak with amazon and blue origin founder after he touched down. that conversation is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ emily: amazon founder jeff bezos and three other passengers took

their own trip to space week after virgin galactic. it was blue origin's very first crewed spaceflight. we watched from the launchpad in texas. the crowd holding their breath and hearing a safe return. i was the first to interview bezos and his brother back on earth. here's what they had to say. welcome back to earth. [laughter] how do you feel? >> good. thank you. emily: wow. i mean, wow. this is your first interview since landing. we all want to know the reality of seeing the earth from above. didn't live up to the dream? jeff: i am not talented enough to describe this in words. it was much more than i expected. it is awe-inspiring. do you have words? mark: i don't have words. jeff: it was one of the most beautiful sites i have ever seen. emily: now that you have accomplished this, what is blu'' next moves?

how does this fit into the long-term mission? jeff: we are building a vehicle. it's our tourism vehicle. we will fly that over and over. every time we fly it, it is practice for the orbital mission. it gives people a chance to see what we just saw, which is this fragile beautiful earth which you cannot imagine. until you see it with your own eyes -- i don't know somebody else would be better at describing it. what i can tell you is it is this thing -- you can see it is one place, no boundaries, no national lines. the atmosphere. it's so big, we live in it. it seems gigantic but when you get up there, it is this teeny little thing we need to protect. for me, it was definitely incredible. mark: it was amazing. i was surprised that out easy it was to move around at zero g. jeff: it felt almost normal. it felt like we were somehow --

it felt so good. emily: for the people wondering why we are investing all this money in space, talk to us about how you believe this will actually help benefit us on earth. jeff: what we are doing is we are building infrastructure. we are building a road to space so future generations can build the future. we live on this beautiful planet. it is the most beautiful planet in the solar system by far. and we have to keep it safe and protect it. the way to do that is slowly over decades, move all heavy industry, all polluting industry into space. that is what we are going to do so we can keep this planet the gem that it is. we need reusable spacecraft, low-cost spacecraft. to get that, we've got to practice. that is what this is about. emily: we saw your kids. for the kids watching, how do you want this to inspire them? jeff: kids, they are -- every kid has so much potential inside of them. what i hope what we are doing a

little bit is unlocking that. for kids everywhere, the way you unlock potential is with inspiration. i was inspired as a little boy by the apollo astronauts. this is the next stage of commercial space development i hope that inspires little kids too. emily: amazon founder jeff bezos and his brother mark. we also caught up with a former blue origin employee and current ceo of relatively space. this is what it was like for him to watch that flight. >> it was a pretty awesome moment. i first started as an intern at blue origin. starting in 2011. the whole company was about 150 people at the time. and because of the small size, i have kept in touch with jeff during the years. he even came out to visit us not too long ago at relatively. i have been a huge fan ever since i left. it is pretty amazing, not just

to see blue origin fly, but to see virgin galactic. two pretty huge human spaceflight milestones right next to each other. pretty amazing. emily: what does this all mean? obviously having worked here, understanding more how jeff bezos thinks -- when he landed, he articulate this vision of building a road to space. building up a space economy and a way to protect the earth. what did you imagine the next move for blue origin will be? what is the next priority? tim: yeah, so, definitely the new program. i think jeff made a bold move to fly on the first human capital flight. of course, this has been in testing for a long time. also developing an orbital -- blend which will be reusable for the first stage. it is huge. the rocket they are launching from cape canaveral. that will be a huge milestone.

to your point on vision, i have heard him speak as well. it is really about having millions of people living and working in space and moving heavy industry off planet earth into space itself. i think that is what really inspired me to start relativity. this idea that we need to build an industrial base on mars and other planets. it is a really important vision to go after. i think there's a lot of conversation around this, that this is silly, they are launching themselves into space and are so many problems on earth. we do have to think about what is the future vision of humanity? what is this all about? it is very worthwhile to have a small fraction of a resource go into making such amazing feats happen. emily: now, the key to building up a space economy is obviously reusability. it is something i know occurred to you while you were working here.

you are focused on 3d printing rockets. if you could achieve that, what with that pave the way for? how would that go towards building up the future space economy? tim: first off, i think they are not mutually exclusive. relativity is designing fully reusable, entirely 3d printing rockets. the first stage, second stage and payload will all be reduced. -- reused. the 16-foot diameter dome, we are already building it. 3d printing is at the forefront of software driven manufacturing. i see it as an automation technology. i started the program at blue origin before i started relativity. i think they are still doing amazing things. rocket engine chambers and parts of their products. but i really saw the future being a whole new type of

rocket space. throw away all of the old factory and build a new way of doing things. this would really be the future of space. seeing that happen much faster. going from raw materials in less then 60 days is the target i have set for the team and we will definitely see that. emily: if there's one thing we have learned about space is that these milestones take a long time to hit. obviously, this is a long journey for blue, and certainly if you go back in space development history, we are going back decades. i'm curious if there are times while you are working here that you thought this is so hard, i don't know if we can pull this off. do you have those moments today working on such hard, difficult technology where literally lives are at stake? tim: yeah, for sure, it is hard and challenging. that is partially would drive some of the best engineers in

the u.s. to making the space industry happen. at blue origin, aisleways thought jeff and the team were going to get it done. i was really confident about it. that is why i decided to work there. today, it is a huge milestone and i hope they are celebrating really hard. i really think over the last couple of years the pace of milestones in the rocket industry, satellite companies getting private funding from venture capital has accelerated extraordinarily to a pace not seen before. i think that will continue as long as people execute. it is really bringing that silicon valley ethos into an aerospace world where we test things, try things out very quickly. it is all about rate of learning, trying new ideas. you are really seeing that pay off now with the pace of innovation that's happening. emily: ceo of relativity space tim ellis. coming up, onto the next space billionaire. we will explore elon musk's

space strategy and meet new astronaut jared isaacson, the commander of the spacex's inspiration iv. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ emily: now to elon musk's turn to make space history with the first a ship to launch an all civilian crew into orbit. the inspiration iv circle the d earth for three days.

our ed ludlow caught up with the commander of that mission, jared isaacman, back at home base. jared: people talk about the overview affect, looking back on earth from an interesting vantage point and the impact it has on you. it had an impact to meet because we were a little bit higher. in fact, we went so high, this probably less than 25 people in the world right now who have seen the world from that perspective. what i saw was the space around earth and the moon rise. all that made me think about is we've got to get out there. we've got to go farther. we've got to satisfy that curiosity we have and explore the universe because we know so little about it and this probably some answers the questions we've all been thinking about for some time that are out there. we just have to find it. ed: the other mission here was the race $200 million for singh

t. jude's. you paid for this mission. you were the benefactor. how do we move beyond space of just being the domain for billionaires? jared: for sure, it is expected of -- expensive. we have to make sure every mission has a profound impact on the world until everyone can explore among the stars. this is no different than tesla roadster's 15 years ago versus elon announcing $25,000 teslas just recently. or computers in the 1960's or cell phones in the 1980's. cost will come down. while they are expensive, we have an obligation to do a lot of good with it. that is why inspiration4 set on this massive fundraising effort for singh jude's -- st. jude's. so we can make a difference while we are in such a fortunate position. ed: space x's talk about how

supply constrained they are. what sense do you get from spacex that this type of mission, civilian orbit, will ramp up going into next year? jared: what i think is going to happen is, i think with spacex pioneering reusable rocket technology and driving down costs to make space more accessible is there can be more people working in space. i think working, exploring -- i don't know if you will have too many people going on essentially sightseeing trips. but i do think as it costs less and less to put mass in orbit, we will be creating infrastructure in space and people will be working there. during our mission, we had 14 people in orbit at one time, the most in history of human spaceflight. a year, two years from now could be 140 and then some. ed: you guys were having a nice time up there. some excellent views. but you are also conducting scientific experiments, other

kinds of study on the human body, physiology. were those tests real? did they give any real meaningful data to spacex or nasa or anyone else? jared: for sure. nasa was listening in on all the communication loops. there was a high-altitude research plane filming us as we reentered. this was only the third time a dragon capsule reentered the atmosphere since this program began, since thi space shuttl retired. we were at an altitude subjecting us to radiation profiles we have not studied since the apollo program. it is way higher than the space station which is shielded with our atmosphere. if we were to go to the moon and mars and beyond, we have a lot to learn. we have the equivalent of a check ct scan in orbit for three days. imagine going to mars and back for six months, that is hundreds of ct scans. that will kill you if we don't learn how to deal with it.

we were conducting research and experiment over those days. the data with the labs, i'm looking forward to the results. ed: i have to ask you about cryptocurrencies given what we are seeing in the market. the first minted and digital nft track in space. shift 4 payments says it will partner more actively in cryptocurrencies. where did you stand on cryptocurrencies as currency in transactions and things of that nature? jared: we were happy to bring that kings of leon nft into orbit to raise funds. i'm 100% a supporter in that respect. i think we are a ways away from crypto being a mainstream form of currency. i say that as a ceo of a payment company that powers about $200 billion a year in commerce. i don't think we're there yet, it is just too volatile. we are not ignoring it either. we are making investments to make sure that consumers are able to do business with our

merchants the way they like. that is probably going to be an alternative payment method like crypto in the future. ed: in one word, will you go back up into space? jared: it's got to be more than a word, but i would say if there's a mission that can have a real meaningful impact on the world, then i would be there. emily: that was inspiration4 commander jared isaacman after one of many more private space odysseys to come. coming up, a special edition of studio 1.0 with the robinhood ceo vlad tanev. you don't want to miss it. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> this is bloomberg. here are the first word headlines. u.s. center for disease control cut its recommended period for covid-19 escalation from 10 days to five as long as people don't have any symptoms. delta airlines says this will help them manage crew shortages. thousands of flights were canceled. the u.k. health secretary says people should remain cautious them a particularly during new year's celebrations. he doesn't think further measures will be needed, but