--- title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office | TIME description: TIME interviewed Neil in his office and noticed a huge crate had been delivered. He was then kind enough to open it on-camera. canonical: https://time.com/video/S7Tnl3tx/ og:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office og:description: TIME interviewed Neil in his office and noticed a huge crate had been delivered. He was then kind enough to open it on-camera. og:url: https://time.com/video/S7Tnl3tx/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/S7Tnl3tx/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office twitter:description: TIME interviewed Neil in his office and noticed a huge crate had been delivered. He was then kind enough to open it on-camera. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/S7Tnl3tx/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office [Watch (HLS stream): Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S7Tnl3tx.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2008-06-24. TIME interviewed Neil in his office and noticed a huge crate had been delivered. He was then kind enough to open it on-camera._ --- Jul 27, 2023 12:53 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson Looks Back at 'Cosmos'](/video/VSiGzSHL/) ### Neil deGrasse Tyson Looks Back at 'Cosmos' [Neil deGrasse Tyson Makes Science Sexy in 'Cosmos'](/video/FEuF44pf/) ### Neil deGrasse Tyson Makes Science Sexy in 'Cosmos' [10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson](/video/1ubX2tzy/) ### 10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson --- ## Transcript >> So, it will be a 10- second part that, you know-- >> Oh, okay. >> scripting. Since that was an-- >> You're witnessing the opening of the crate. >> Yeah, that's a good statement. >> When this was-- when this was first got delivered here, I didn't know if it was a dead body or something. >> Oh God, it does look like-- >> I had no idea, and my assistant apparently knew what was in it and I asked her and she would not tell me. She didn't-- she said, " I'm not telling ", and so I didn't have time to open it 'cause I didn't have power tools to open this-- this box that came to my office. >> It does look really there will dead, doesn't it? >> You ready? >> Yup. >> Okay. >> The Saturn 5. The mightiest rocket ever launched. This and only this, is the only piece of hardware to ever take humans to another world. The space shuttle, of which I have several here. There's like another one over there. This is cool-- this is cool, okay? But this goes into earth orbit. You're still attached to the earth. This thing gets you off the earth into space to another world. >> Oh you're not really gonna-- Oh God. >> Look at that. Stand next to it. Put your arm around the body, alright? >> Whoa. Whoa. >> Is that heavy? >> It's not heavy .-- >> It's not? >> It's my rocket. Yes, it's heavy but it doesn't matter. It's the Saturn 5 Rocket. >> Oh my God >> Are we clear? >> That's impressive. >> Now, just so you unders-- you know, I don't think you understand how big this is. See these-- see these rocket nozzles at the bottom? There are five of them, hence the Saturn 5. >> Right. >> There are 5 of these. You would be about this tall standing next to them. >> Next to one of them? >> Yes. >> Oh, wow. >> I-- I should draw a little Homunculus and put him down here, okay? Homunculus, that's sort of natural history talk for little man, okay? That it'd be right, kind of, a 6- foot tall person will come up to maybe the second rung. Leaving earth takes fuel and you can't refuel in space 'cause there's no gas stations in space. So, any fuel you're going to burn, you have to bring with you. Which means the weight of the fuel you haven't burned yet requires fuel to bring that weight into space for you. In other words, this entire rocket is nothing but fuel, okay? Everything up to this point, okay? All is-- is fuel and where are the 3 astronauts-- the Apollo astronauts? They're in this little capsule right here, and this is the only thing that comes back from the moon, okay? This is gone 'cause that's the escape tower. This comes back and this is now at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, the Apollo 11 capsule that went to the moon and came back. >> So, at 4- dollars a gallon how much does this cost? >> 4 dollars a gallon? Oh, this --. >> So, like the pump, what are we looking at here? >> This probably burns-- I don't know the exact numbers. There's probably thousands of gallons per second that it burns to get you up off the-- probably more than that actually given what this thing is. So, I submit to you that this is the crowning achievement of human ingenuity and the fulfillment of dreams in the history of what it is to be human. >> And you have a model in your office? >> Ignition sequence fire. >> Were good. >> We have lift off. We have lift off, 32 minutes past the hour, Apollo 11 to the moon. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Neil deGrasse Tyson Opens a Rocket in His Office","description":"TIME interviewed Neil in his office and noticed a huge crate had been delivered. 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