Last week, billionaire Richard Branson was in the hot seat following his controversial space flight, and now, it’s Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‘ turn to defend his upcoming space mission. While appearing with his crew for an interview with CNN New Day‘s Rachel Crane, Bezos echoed Branson’s words by touting the scientific importance of these flights, which technically bump the edge of space, but still produce valuable data, and more importantly, “get really good at operational space travel.”
“If we can do that, then we’ll be building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there. And those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth,” Bezos said.
Blue Origin's trip to space is about getting "really good at operational space travel," Jeff Bezos says. "If we can do that, then we'll be building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there. And those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth." pic.twitter.com/dU6qAR2ZJB
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) July 19, 2021
However, Bezos was aware of the criticisms of his highly expensive flight, and he actually agreed with his detractors. When Crane asked the former Amazon CEO to respond to accusations that these missions are “joyrides for the wealthy,” and billionaires like Bezos and Branson should “should be spending your time and your money and energy trying to solve problems here on Earth,” Bezos didn’t put up a fight. Via Mediaite:
“Well, I say they’re largely right. We have to do both,” Bezos answered. “We have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. We’ve always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both.”
As of this writing, Bezos’ Blue Origin space flight will liftoff at 9 AM EST on July 20.
(Via Mediaite)