NFL, TV’s Strahan launches toward space atop Bezos’ rocket

Football prima and TV personage Michael Strahan caught a thrust to abstraction with Jeff Bezos’ rocket-launching institution Saturday, sharing the travel with the girl of America’s archetypal astronaut.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket blasted disconnected from West Texas, sending the capsule connected a 10-minute formation with the 2 VIP guests and 4 paying customers. Their capsule soared to an altitude of astir 66 miles (106 kilometers), providing a fewer minutes of weightlessness earlier parachuting into the desert. The booster besides came backmost to onshore successfully.

It was 5 minutes and 50 miles (187 kilometers) shorter than Alan Shepard’s Mercury formation from Cape Canaveral connected May 5, 1961. His eldest daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, took on a tiny portion of his Freedom 7 capsule arsenic good arsenic mementos from his Apollo 14 moonshot and play balls successful grant of her dada who deed immoderate connected the lunar surface.

Bubbling implicit with excitement successful his “Good Morning America” updates each week, Strahan packed his Super Bowl ringing and retired New York Giants jersey No. 92. “Pretty SURREAL!” helium tweeted connected the eve of the launch, delayed 2 days by dangerously precocious wind. Bezos stashed a shot successful the capsule arsenic well, to beryllium awarded to the Pro Football Hall of Fame pursuing the flight.

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Bezos, who flew to abstraction successful July successful the aforesaid capsule, accompanied the six passengers to the motorboat pad adjacent Van Horn. He had “Light this candle” painted connected the motorboat tower’s bridge, borrowing from Alan Shepard's celebrated gripe from wrong Freedom 7 arsenic the delays mounted: “Why don’t you hole your small occupation and airy this candle?”

Shepard Churchley volunteered for Blue Origin’s 3rd rider flight. She heads the committee of trustees for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

“It’s benignant of amusive for maine to accidental that an archetypal Shepard volition alert connected the New Shepard,” she said successful a preflight Blue Origin video.

Bezos, who founded Amazon six years earlier Blue Origin, was connected the debut motorboat successful July. The second, successful October, included histrion William Shatner — Captain James Kirk of TV’s archetypal “Star Trek.” The precocious Leonard Nimoy’s girl sent up a necklace with a “Vulcan Salute” charm connected this flight, successful grant of the show's archetypal Mr. Spock.

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The reusable, automated capsule was particularly crowded this time. Instead of four, determination were six flying.

Among the the 4 abstraction tourists paying unspecified millions each were the archetypal father-son combo: Financier Lane Bess and his lad Cameron. Also flying: Voyager Space president and CEO Dylan Taylor and capitalist Evan Dick.

Blue Origin dedicated Saturday’s motorboat to Glen de Vries, who launched into abstraction with Shatner successful October, but died 1 period aboriginal successful a level crash.

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