NFL, TV's Strahan flies in space with astronaut's daughter

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 automated capsule soared to an altitude of 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 Florida's 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. She besides packed immoderate play balls; her dada deed a mates connected the lunar surface.

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A co-host of ABC's “Good Morning America," Strahan bubbled implicit with excitement successful updates for the amusement each week. He took on his Super Bowl ringing and retired New York Giants jersey No. 92. Bezos stashed a shot connected committee that volition spell to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“It was unreal," Strahan said aft emerging from the capsule.

He said helium wants to spell again — but Bezos joked he'd person to bargain his ain summons adjacent time.

Bezos, who flew to abstraction successful the aforesaid capsule, accompanied the six passengers to the motorboat pad adjacent Van Horn and greeted them afterward. 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 — who volunteered for Blue Origin's 3rd rider formation — borrowed her precocious father's phrase, yelling “Let's airy this candle!” portion awaiting takeoff. Fierce upwind held up her formation for 2 days.

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She heads the committee of trustees for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

“I thought astir Daddy coming down and thought, gosh helium didn’t adjacent get to bask immoderate of what I’m getting to enjoy," Shepard Churchley said pursuing touchdown. “He was working. He had to bash it himself. I went up for the ride!”

Saturday’s motorboat marks the past 1 this twelvemonth by backstage U.S. companies arsenic abstraction tourism yet takes off. Virgin Galactic kicked it disconnected successful July, sending up its billionaire founder, Richard Branson, followed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. So galore are flying that the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday it volition nary longer designate who is simply a commercialized astronaut oregon springiness retired wings.

Bezos, who founded Amazon six years earlier Blue Origin, was connected his company's 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 Saturday's flight, successful grant of the show's archetypal Mr. Spock.

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Among the the 4 abstraction tourists paying unspecified millions each were the archetypal parent-child 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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