In first interview, Bezos says space flight reinforced commitment to fighting climate change
20 July 2021
Jeff Bezos said in an interview hours after flying to suborbital space on Tuesday that there are "no words" to adequately describe the experience, but that it reinforced his commitment to combatting climate change and keeping Earth "as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is."
Why it matters: Bezos, the world's richest man, said he plans to make Blue Origin and the Bezos Earth Fund — a $10 billion effort to fight climate change — his life focus moving forward.
- He called the flight a small step toward building a "road to space" and developing reusable rockets to cut down on waste.
What they're saying: "We have to build a road to space so our kids can build a future," Bezos, who successfully traveled to space on a Blue Origin flight alongside his brother and two other passengers, told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle.
- "We live on this beautiful planet. You can't imagine how thin the atmosphere is when you see it from space. We live in it and it looks so big. It feels like this atmosphere is huge and we can disregard it and treat it poorly. When you get up there and you see it, you see how tiny it is and how fragile it is," he continued.
- "We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry, and move it into space. And keep Earth as this beautiful gym of a planet that it is. That's going to take decades to achieve, but you have to start. And big things start with small steps."
What's next: Bezos said he plans on letting others fly on Blue Origin flights first, but that he absolutely wants to travel to space again.
Go deeper:Jeff Bezos, 3 others land safely after flight to space with Blue Origin
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.