Blue Origin launches 6 tourists to edge of space, including couple making their second flight

November 22, 2024 Benjamin Hughes

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company’s west Texas flight facility.

Science popularizer and TV host Emily Calandrelli shed tears of elation after landing, telling an interviewer “oh my gosh, when we got to weightlessness, I immediately turned upside down and looked at the planet, and then there was so much blackness, there was so much space! I didn’t expect to see so much space!”

New Shepard passenger Emily Calandrelli raises her arms in elation after the 10-minute sub-orbital space flight ended with a smooth parachute descent to touchdown.

Blue Origin webcast

“And I kept saying, like, that’s our planet,” she added, wiping away tears. “That’s our planet. It was the same feeling I got when my kids were born, and I was like, that’s my baby, that’s my baby. I had that same feeling like where I’m seeing it for the first time. It was just beautiful. Oh my God.”

William Harwood

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

Source: cbsnews.com