Elon Musk crashes SXSW panel to talk about space travel

Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, made a surprise appearance on the Westworld panel at SXSW. After getting cued up by Jonathan Nolan, the co-creator of HBO series Westworld, Musk walked out on stage to people cheering and one person screaming, “Elon, we love you!”

During his stage time, he spoke about the excitement of space travel, sending a Tesla into a space and what a time it is to be alive. Musk kicked off his quick on-stage appearance with discussing how there are a lot of negative things in the world.

“There are a lot of terrible things happening all over the world, all of the time,” Musk said. “There are lots of problems that need to get solved. Lots of things that are miserable and kind of get you down.”

“But life cannot just be about solving one miserable thing after another,” he added. “That can’t be the only thing. They need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. That’s why we did this.”

Musk is referring to SpaceX’s recent launch of the Falcon Heavy. You know, the rocket that carried a red Tesla with a dummy in an astronaut suit.

The SpaceX CEO also gave a shoutout to Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who talked about how earth is the cradle of humanity but that you can’t stay in the cradle forever.

Musk said he felt really excited by Tsiolkovsky’s ideas around needing to be out there among the stars, and to expand the scope and scale of human consciousness.

“I found that incredibly exciting,” Musk said on stage. “That makes me glad to be alive. I hope you feel the same way.”

Nolan and Westworld series co-creator Joy Lisa had previously worked with Musk to create a short video of the Falcon Heavy’s recent launch into space. You can check that out here, courtesy of Musk’s Instagram.

Featured Image: Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW/Getty Images