ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのAmazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and crew hold press conference after historic space flight

Jeff Ashby: Mark, I hope this experience will help you to continue to do the great things you’re doing for humankind. Congratulations.
Mark Bezos: Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Ashby: Jeff, would you join me please? This is so cool.
Jeff Bezos: I’m so happy. Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Ashby: This is such a privilege.
Jeff Ashby: There are few people I know more deserving of this, Jeff. Seriously. And I don’t know what you’re going to do next, but I can’t wait to watch. Congratulations.
Jeff Bezos: Thank you.
Jeff Ashby: And Wally, would you join me please? All right. Sixty years, Wally. And I get to pin this on.
Wally Funk: Wow. It’s the best pin I’ve ever had in my life and I’ve had lots of them.
Jeff Ashby: Wally, you continue to inspire us. Thank you so much for doing that and God bless you. Congratulations.
Wally Funk: Thank you. More to come.
Jeff Ashby: Yes.
Wally Funk: It was great! Fabulous!
Jeff Ashby: The first four of millions to follow.
MC: Again, the newest international astronauts. The crew of New Shepard. Congratulations to all four of you. So without further ado, how was it?
Wally Funk: Whew, it was great!
MC: Jeff, what was it like? Was it everything you imagined?
Jeff Bezos: I’m going to answer that question, but just real quick.
MC:Please.

Jeff Bezos: I want to thank a few people. First of all, all of the engineers at Blue Origin who have toiled hard to get this done. The people who built the vehicle, all of our manufacturing people. This is a big team. They’ve been working on it for many years and they have done an extraordinary job of building the most reliable, most beautiful, most fun, I mean I can vouch for that and I’ll get to that in a second, vehicle. We owe them a deep gratitude. And the people who kept us safe today, who operated the vehicle, our trainers, everybody. It’s just huge.
I also want to thank the town of Van Horn. This is a small and amazing little town and we’re making a dent in it, and we appreciate you for allowing us to be part of your town. And then, I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It’s very appreciated.
And now onto how it felt. Oh my God! My expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded. We were talking about this a little bit in the car ride on the way back and I don’t know, the zero G piece may have been one of the biggest surprises because it felt so normal. It felt almost like we were, as humans, evolved to be in that environment, which I know is impossible, but it felt so serene and peaceful, and the floating. It’s actually much nicer than being in full on gravity. It’s a very pleasurable experience. Just from the sheer, just the way it feels, the tactfulness of it. The most profound piece of it for me was looking out at the Earth and looking at the Earth’s atmosphere. Every astronaut, everybody who’s been up into space, they say this. That it changes them and they look at it, and they’re kind of amazed and awe struck by the Earth and its beauty, but also by its fragility. I can vouch for that.
When I look out… You know, when we’re sitting in this room or we’re driving our cars and we’re moving around the planet in our normal ways the atmosphere is so gigantic. We’re these tiny little things and the planet, the atmosphere is so big. But when you get up above it, what you see is it’s actually incredibly thin. It’s this tiny little fragile thing and as we move about the planet we’re damaging it. So, that’s very profound. It’s one thing to recognize that intellectually, it’s another thing to actually see with your own eyes how fragile it really is. And that was amazing. Who wants to add?

MC: Oliver, you want to tell us how it was? Our first paying customer. You feel like you got your money’s worth sir?
Oliver Daemen: For sure. For sure. No, it was so amazing to see it from above and to move around. Like yeah, I totally agree, it feels so natural. Almost like we should be doing this. We are one of the first and let’s hope that many, many more people can do this because this experience you should share with more and more people. It’s so amazing.
MC: And a special congratulation to you on becoming the youngest person to have ever flown in space.
Oliver Daemen: Thank you.
MC: You brought with you up there the next generation of space explorers, but certainly another flag up there, the Netherlands. To everybody out there, the Netherlands, there’s the new Dutch flying man. There you go.

Jeff Bezos: Mark, you should say that thing you told me in the car about the G forces. I thought that was really interesting.
Mark Bezos: Well, I was surprised. I mean, they had told us what the G forces would feel like on the way up. Again, it’s one of those things that you hear about and you anticipate, but you really feel them on the way up. It was incredibly exhilarating. And then on the way back down, what I had not anticipated. We hit five Gs briefly on the way back down and that’s a lot of pressure. And unfortunately, during the-

Jeff Bezos: Status check.
Mark Bezos: Yeah, the status check for each astronaut. By the time they got to Astronaut Demo, which is the name I was flying under, we were at five Gs. And so, they were like, “Astronaut Demo, how you doing?” I was like, “I’m doing okay.” I had a hard time responding, but… I’m not sure what that video footage will look like. Probably not very pretty, but it was so exciting.
Jeff Bezos: By the way, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Wally might be the oldest person ever in space and Oliver the youngest person every in space, my brother is the funniest person ever in space for sure.
I want to do a couple more things before we maybe go to next questions, which is I want to recognize two people here in the audience. We are honored today to have Alan Shepard’s daughters, Laura and Julie. Could you stand up just briefly, so we can say…
And of course, Alan Shepard was an Apollo moon walker and has a gigantic list of accomplishments. But for our purposes today, the thing that is most interesting about Alan Shepard is that he is the namesake for this vehicle New Shepard. And that is because the mission profile that we did today is very similar to the one that Alan flew when he became the first American in space, I guess 60-ish years ago. So, we are very honored to have you guys here. Thank you for joining us. It’s incredible. I got some pictures with them backstage and those are getting blown up big. Thank you.
And then I have a couple things to show. Do you want to talk about the couple things we flew? Like the… Go ahead.

Mark Bezos: So, we had the opportunity to bring with us, it was actually on loan from The Explorers Club, we were able to fly with a piece of canvas from the Wright flyer. So the plane that the Wright brothers flew, we brought a piece of that canvas with us, which was really powerful. As well as a bronze medallion that was made from the first hot air balloon flight in 1783, which was the first time man every left the Earth in controlled flight. So, we were very thrilled to be able to bring both of those along with us.

Jeff Bezos: And we brought those precious objects back.
Mark Bezos: Yes, we did. And The Explorers Club will be pleased to hear that.
Jeff Bezos: Yes. They’re very happy about that. And we have one more thing, which I would actually just like to show you, if you could… Who has the goggles? Could you please bring them up to me? Yeah, would you hold that for me?
Wally Funk: This is incredible.
Jeff Bezos: All right. Why don’t you stand so I can face it to… This also flew… These are Amelia Earhart’s goggles. The ones she flew across the Atlantic with, solo. And you can see she put tape over them to kind of have less light come in because it was just so bright all of the day and she was flying for so long. And they’re just… I like to think that if Amelia were here she would be very, very proud of Wally.
And I just can’t… I can’t resist doing this. So, thank you Amelia wherever you are. We hope you’re watching all of this. Thank you. I’ll give these back to you. These are precious. Precious cargo. There you go.

MC: And well, on that note, Wally-
Jeff Bezos: Oh, I’m sorry.
MC: Oh, please go ahead.

Jeff Bezos: Thank you. Lauren just reminded me, I have one more thing, which is… Christina, I might need your help on this. Mom, could you come up for a second? Where’s my mom? Okay, you don’t have to come up. I can come to you. I have… I wore this necklace and it is a Blue Origin feather, and I wore it up into space and now it’s for you.
I would put it on her myself, but I would need my reading glasses.
Okay.
MC: And now, Wally. Last, but not least. Amelia Earhart, what a lovely transition. An aviation icon and now an aerospace, a space icon. What was it like?
Wally Funk: Whew! I can’t tell you! I had such a good instructor. He took us through everything that we were going to do, so when I went up this morning the noise wasn’t quite as bad and we went right on up, and I saw darkness. I thought I was going to see the world, but we weren’t quite high enough and I felt great. I felt like I was just laying down and I was going into space. And I want to thank you sweetheart because you made it possible for me. I’ve been waiting a long time to finally get up there. I’ve done a lot of astronaut training through the world, Russia, America, and I could always beat the guys on what they were doing because I was always stronger. And I’ve always done everything on my own. And, I didn’t do dolls. I did outside stuff. And I flew airplanes. I have 19,000 some hours. I loved it and I love being here with all of you and your family, and the four of us. We had a great time. It was wonderful.

Jeff Bezos: That’s true.
Wally Funk: I want to go again, fast! And then, when I got off the ship they gave me the tail end of one of the balloons, and I’m going to cherish that forever.
Jeff Bezos: And by the way, we can confirm that Wally once again in training out performed the men on the mission, 100%.
MC: I was going to say, she beat the three boys up to the top of the crew access area. Everybody saw that. There’s video footage.
Jeff Bezos: We have proof.
MC: Indeed, darling, you did. You did. Well, so, Wally Funk, now the world’s oldest astronauts who have ever gone to space and perhaps the first founding member of our Blue Origin frequent flyer program.
Wally Funk: Surprise to me.
MC: [crosstalk] It sounds like she’s ready for it.
Wally Funk: When I do lectures or wherever I am around the world and the United States, I’m only 45.
MC: You’re being generous. I keep saying every time somebody says, “Oh, she’s 82,” I think there’s a typo. You’re 28, Wally. We know this. Well, no. Well, thank you so much for giving us your impressions, but let’s see it with our own eyes. I’d like to roll the tape of what it was like in the [inaudible].
Oliver : [inaudible ]. Okay.
Jeff Bezos: Oh, wow.
Mark Bezos: Oh, wow.
Oliver : Oh, wow. That’s incredible.
Mark Bezos: … to space. [crosstalk].
Wally Funk: (Oh!

Jeff Bezos: Is it everything you thought it would be?
Wally Funk: Fantastic.
Jeff Bezos: Here, look. Oliver.
Mark Bezos: Move your head just a little.
Wally Funk: Oh, that’s great.
Mark Bezos: Can you move your head a little, Wally, for us?
Wally Funk: Oh, yeah. Hi, Mom! I love it.
Jeff Bezos: Oh, wow, wow, wow.
Wally Funk: Look at the blackness of space and below. [inaudible].
Mark Bezos: Here, catch.
Oliver : Oh, yeah. Give me the ball.

Mark Bezos: Ready?
Wally Funk: Woo-hoo!
Mark Bezos: Here it comes. You just have to wait for it. Who wants a Skittle?
Oliver : Oh, yeah, yeah. Throw one.
Mark Bezos: All right. See if you can catch this in your mouth. Yeah, I love that. Well done. Here, toss me one. Good job. Here it goes. That was a mid foul [inaudible].
Jeff Bezos: Here, try again.
Wally Funk: I can’t get it up.
Oliver : I got you, I got you.
Mark Bezos: Oh, wow. Awesome. So good. Oh, wow.

Jeff Bezos: Oh, my God.
Mark Bezos: It’s absolutely-
Jeff Bezos: This is incredible.
Wally Funk: Oh, I love it. I love it.
Mark Bezos: Oh, wow, wow, wow.
Wally Funk: Man, this is different, isn’t it?
Jeff Bezos: It’s a little different.
Wally Funk: I could not-
Jeff Bezos: Oh, wow. So let’s take a moment to look outside.
Wally Funk: Thank you, sweetheart. You were wonderful.
Jeff Bezos: Woo!
Mark Bezos: That was a good catch.
MC: Wally … Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Mark.
Mark Bezos: I was going to say that was a good catch.
MC: Wally, was it everything you expected and more? You’ve been waiting, as you said, 60 years to experience this.

Wally Funk: I loved every minute of it. I just wish it had been longer because I had been in space before, not in space, but up in that area and could do a lot more rolls and twists and so forth. But there was not quite enough room for all four of us to do all those things. It was great. I loved it. I can hardly wait to go again.
Jeff Bezos: Amen. Next next stop for you is the moon, Wally.
Wally Funk: Yes, sir.
MC: Any other impressions, now having seen the video of it? Is it one of those things where you just took it in and it’s hard to compare to video? What are other sensations that come from having seen that right now? All of you.
Oliver : Felt way cooler than it looked.
MC: Well, so after, of course, their four minutes of weightlessness, the fun that you had, of course, we got you buckled back in and you descended under those beautiful three parachutes. I think we’ve got another video here of your descent back to our beautiful West Texas Valley. Why don’t we roll that right now?
Mark Bezos: That moment felt pretty good. I’m not going to lie.
Jeff Bezos: That’s true. When you see the three main shoots out, that’s relaxing.
Wally Funk: That was so easy. It was just incredible.
MC: Whoa.

Wally Funk: I didn’t feel that.
Jeff Bezos: Well, that’s because it’s dust kicked up by a cushion of air that makes you only hit at about one mile an hour. It feels like if you were to stand up, you’re just going to plop. Woo! [inaudible].
Oliver : Oh, it was so cool.
Wally Funk: Oh, my God. It was so great.
MC: What-
Jeff Bezos: Our family was happy to see us. That’s a good sign.
MC: What was that moment like coming back and seeing your friends and your family here? You have supported them … or they have supported you, that is, your dreams to get to this point. Oliver, your father’s here. Joseph, thank you so much for being here. What was that like?
Oliver : It was a bit more emotional than I would have thought. Everyone on the ground was way more emotional than we were. We were just having fun.
Mark Bezos: That is so true. Yeah. Yeah, I think that our family has been extremely supportive through all of this. I think that … I know that my wife was an absolute rock leading up to this, which made the adventure much easier for me. But I know that when we came down, it was time to let those emotions out a little bit. So it was great to see everybody and yeah, it was a little more emotional than I had anticipated as well.

MC: Jeff?
Jeff Bezos: Yeah. I wasn’t that nervous, but my family was somewhat anxious about this. It was so sweet actually to get hugged by them after landing, especially my kids and Lauren and my mom and dad, and really all of you guys. We have a bunch of close here, too, and it just makes me realize how much I love you and how much I’m loved.
MC: Wally, your friend Mary is here.
Wally Funk: Yes, I am so happy she’s here. She knows what I’m going through. She has been … She was one of my flight students and I’ve had many, many, over 3000 flight students. I don’t know if they’re going to get to see this or not, but I felt so charged. I was not nervous. I was just normal, normal person going up into space. That’s what I wanted to feel. Nothing here.
Jeff Bezos: I can confirm that Wally was never nervous.
Mark Bezos: She was wondering what was taking so long.

Jeff Bezos: It’s true. We had a six minute hold on the pad. Wally was like, “Are we going to go or not? What the hell? We’re burning daylight. Let’s go.”
MC: But then, Wally, once we got you going, we got you going fast, going over Mach 3. It’s this beautiful rocket behind us here, our New Shepard rocket that got the team up to space. By the way, it also of course, made its landing back on the landing pad. Why don’t we take a look at that landing that we have here?
Mark Bezos: Woo! That was a bullseye.
MC: Absolutely bulls-eye. Jeff, a beautiful piece of engineering that our team here at Blue Origin has developed. Would you like to talk to us a little bit about why we chose vertical takeoff, vertical landing, being powered by this BE3 engine? because today is not the end, right? We’re going further with this technology.

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