Pro Football Hall of Famer and “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan will go to space next month.
Strahan, who turns 50 on Sunday, will join Laura Shepard Churchley, eldest daughter of late astronaut Alan Shepard, on a December 9 mission aboard New Shepard, a spaceship named after her father. She, the first American in space.
The Blue Origin flight, the company led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will also carry four paying customers and will be the third by New Shepard this year to send humans into space.
Blue Origin has not disclosed fares for paying customers.
The 10-minute flight, five minutes shorter than Alan Shepard’s 1961 Mercury flight, will depart West Texas carrying six people, two more than the two previous flights this year with humans on board. ship.
POINT AT: @michaelstrahan are going out of this world – literally! – and will continue to fly @BlueOrigin‘NS #NewShepard rocket on December 9th! https://t.co/zubchTcMg9 pic.twitter.com/mwVqRQ7HAB
– Good Morning America (@GMA) November 23, 2021
Similar to previous flights, Strahan’s flight likely included about three minutes of weightlessness and a view of the Earth’s curvature. Passengers are subjected to nearly 6 G, or six times the force of Earth’s gravity, as the capsule descends.
Strahan reported on the first Blue Origin flight for “Good Morning America.”
Strahan said on “GMA,” “I want to go to space.”
Strahan played for 15 seasons in the National Football League with Giants in New York, who will retire his number 92 on Sunday when they celebrate Philadelphia Eagles. The seven-time Pro Bowl selection has 141.5 bags with the Giants, second in franchise history behind Lawrence Taylor, who has 142. He was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2001 when he set a cover-one record. season with 22.5.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Bezos and “Star Trek” star William Shatner took to space on separate New Shepard flights this year. At the age of 90, Shatner became the oldest person in space, eclipsing the previous record – set by a passenger on Bezos’ flight in July – 8 years.
Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson went into space in his own rocket ship in July, followed by Bezos nine days later on Blue Origin’s maiden flight with a crew. Elon Musk’s SpaceX made its first private trip in mid-September, despite not having Musk on board.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
