CLIMATE IN CRISIS
Jeff Bezos says spaceflight reinforced his commitment to solving climate change
“When you look at the planet, there are no borders,” the Amazon founder said. “It’s one planet, and we share it and it’s fragile.”
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Jeff and Mark Bezos speak to MSNBC after successful Blue Origin flight: ‘It was a perfect mission’
July 20, 2021, 10:36 AM CDT / Updated July 20, 2021, 11:19 AM CDT
By Denise Chow
Jeff Bezos flew to the edge of space and said he came back a changed man.
The billionaire founder of Amazon earned his astronaut wings Tuesday after launching aboard a rocket and capsule developed by Blue Origin, his private spaceflight company. The historic launch was the first unpiloted suborbital flight with all civilian passengers, and the first crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
But it was also the culmination of a lifelong dream for Bezos.
“It’s amazing. There are no words,” he told NBC’s Stephanie Ruhle in his first post-launch interview. “I’m not talented enough to put this into words.”
The entrepreneur spoke about how seeing Earth from suborbital space changed his perspective.
“When you look at the planet, there are no borders,” Bezos said. “It’s one planet, and we share it and it’s fragile.”
He added that the journey reinforced his commitment to solving climate change, saying that investing in space technologies could help future generations.
‘Best day ever!’: Watch highlights from Jeff Bezos launch to edge of space
“We have to build a road to space so that our kids and their kids can build a future,” Bezos said. “We live on this beautiful planet. You can’t imagine how thin the atmosphere is when you see it from space.”
In particular, he stressed the need for reusable rockets for space launches and added that polluting industries could be moved to space in order to preserve the environment on Earth.
“That’s going to take decades and decades to achieve, but big things start with small steps,” he said.