Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos successfully blasted his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, and an all-female crew to the edge of space before they made a tearful return.
The billionaire’s Blue Origin space rocket lifted off from its launchpad in West Texas on Monday morning, with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and a gaggle of Kardashians watching on site.
CBS News journalist Gayle King, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyễn, and film producer Kerianne Flynn were also on board the New Shepard capsule, which stuck its landing minutes later.
“Welcome back to Earth,” mission controllers said over the communications loop as the crew parachuted back down to terra firma. Laughing and celebrations could be heard from the inside of the capsule. Upon touchdown, that made way for momentary screams as dust blasted out and cheers rang out from the control room.
Bezos himself was on hand to release the crew from the capsule after it grounded. He swung open the door and shouted, “Come on out, guys!” before embracing Sanchez with a hug and a kiss.
“Where are my babies?” she said after exiting the shuttle, clutching a soft toy. “There, over there, go see ‘em,” Bezos responded.
Pop star Katy Perry leapt out of the dome-shaped capsule next, before kissing the ground. She then hugged and thanked the brains of the operation, Bezos. Nguyễn, Bowe, and then King exited.
“I just need to have a moment with the ground,” King said, before leaning into the sand. “Thank you, Jesus!” she exclaimed, with the Amazon founder laughing.
Flynn followed, exclaiming at the door of the capsule: “I went to space!”
Interviewed moments after touching down, Sanchez said she was “so proud” of her fellow crew members. “We were just talking in the capsule, Gayle doesn’t even have ear piercings, she’s so afraid,” she said.
“She got in that capsule and it profoundly changed her. For me, I can’t put it into words but I looked out the window and we got to see the moon, it wasn’t pink but it was almost full,” the former local TV news anchor said.
“Earth looked so…” she added, struggling for words. “It was quiet, so quiet. And really alive. You look at it and you’re like… we’re all in this together.”
After that profound statement, she added: “We’re more connected than you realize.”
Sanchez broke into tears after saying: “It makes me want to come back and hug everyone and be like, ‘We’re in this together!‘”
“I don’t cry that often!” she said. “So I didn’t expect to be this emotional.”
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