SpaceX’s first astronaut launch might be delayed due to stormy weather. Yahoo Finance’s On the Move weighs in on all upcoming events for the space industry.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We are looking ahead to Wednesday afternoon. That's when SpaceX is set to launch a rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the first public-private partnership of its kind, and I know space geeks like Adam Shapiro are very excited about it. Adam, what's at stake here? I mean, SpaceX has big ambitions.

ADAM SHAPIRO: What's at stake here is, one, the private takeover, you might say, of space. It's not going to be within the next decade or even two. But the US back in 2011 made the decision that the private sector should now start come into play for space travel.

And then we were all concerned at one point about maybe China-- and they are-- planning to go to the moon, but can you imagine what happens if the private sector can get past not just getting into space but there are plans to go back to the moon with not only SpaceX but also with Honeywell and with Boeing, different private companies. So this-- if this is a success tomorrow, the rest of the world, which is still going government-backed spaceflight, the private sector could take off.

JULIE HYMAN: And, Jess, you know, from a public perspective as well, it seems as though this administration has some interest in spacey things, like the Space Force, for example, but also, you know, not sort of totally cutting NASA either.

JESSICA SMITH: Yeah, President Trump and Vice President? Mike Pence have shown interest in this. I think it shows just how important it is to them that they are planning to go to the Kennedy Space Center to watch this launch. And I think if this goes well, this is obviously a huge win for President Trump and Vice President Pence. They're saying that they want to unite the country around this at this point.

But if it doesn't go well, I think that hurts the chances going forward as they try to get more funding for NASA, more funding for these types of programs. So it's a big risk, and lots-- there is a lot at stake politically as you watch this as well.

DAN ROBERTS: I also think guys, you know, on what Jess said about a lot at state politically. There's a lot at stake for Elon Musk. You know, and I think a lot of people still first associate him with Tesla, but a look over here with his SpaceX which, in the end, might be the more valuable company and might be the company that has a larger impact on the world in the future. I mean, I think that's what he hopes.

And this being kind of the first one with people on board like this, I think there's more awareness of and more eyeballs on this than anything SpaceX has done before.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah. And we should mention, by the way, we'll be speaking to Neil deGrasse Tyson tomorrow ahead of that launch to get his thoughts on what all of this means.