Before taking over morning television, Michael Strahan conquered the football field with the New York Giants, earning a Super Bowl ring and a win in his Hall of Fame career. The anchor of “Good Morning America” announced to his co-hosts Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, as well as his viewers, that he would be going to space. Strahan announced that he will be a part of Blue Origin’s third human spaceflight, which will launch on Dec. 9.
“Blue Origin approached me and asked if I wanted to join their crew.” “I answered yes without hesitation,” he exclaimed to the audience.
Strahan will not be traveling alone. Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space, will also be on board. Shepard Churchley and Michael Strahan are both honored guests. Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick, Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess are the remaining four crew members, all of whom paid for their tickets on the aircraft. The Bess’ will go down in history as the first parent-child tandem to fly into space.
As a crew member, Strahan will get a salary from Blue Origin, which he plans to gift to The Boys & Girls Club. He also remarked that he believed he was on the cutting edge of technology, and that everything begins with risk takers, as we would not be flying today if it weren’t for the Wright brothers.
“I believe that this is the way of being innovative, creative, pioneers in aviation, now space travel. And it’s going to take a while but I do believe that it will bring a lot of technological breakthroughs and also innovations to us here on Earth, I just wanted to be a part of it,” he further stated on “Good Morning America.”
The Blue Origin flight is scheduled for liftoff at 9 a.m. local time on Dec. 9 from a remote launch site in West Texas. Blue Origin will provide coverage of the flight on its website (www.blueorigin.com) that day starting 90 minutes before launch. The rocket company is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was part of the initial flight in July. Take a look at Michael Strahan’s announcement below.
