Jeff Bezos After Blue Origin Flight Says We Need To Move All Heavy, Polluting Industries To Space

Amazon.com Inc AMZN Chair Jeff Bezos said on Tuesday after completing his first space flight that all heavy and polluting industries need to be moved to space in a bid to conserve the beauty of Earth.

What Happened: The world’s richest person told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that it will take decades to achieve such a feat but needs a start somewhere in order to combat climate change and keep Earth "as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is."

Watch my interview with Jeff and Mark Bezos just moments after their historic New Shepard rocket touched down on Earth from space. My report for @NBCNightlyNews. pic.twitter.com/11LuJdQz3e

— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) July 20, 2021

Bezos on Tuesday blasted his way into space on the first crewed flight of New Shepard, the rocket built by his space-tourism venture Blue Origin.

Bezos said he’d love to fly to space again but would let others do it first. He founded Blue Origin in 2000 in hopes of lowering the cost of space travel. "We have to build a road to space so that our kids and their kids can build the future," Bezos said on how what he experienced matters to Americans in general.

See Also: World's Richest Person Jeff Bezos Thanks Amazon Workers, Customers For Paying For His Space Trip

Why It Matters: The billionaire race to space is being seen as a key step towards commercial spaceflight as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX are all hoping to eventually operate profitable commercial spaceflight businesses. 

Bezos' flight to space followed Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE founder Sir Richard Branson’s successful flight to space on July 11. 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who also leads Tesla Inc TSLA has plans to send large rockets to space and dreams of eventually colonizing Mars. SpaceX is scheduled to launch a private astronaut mission in September. 

Price Action: AMZN shares tumbled on Tuesday after the flight but recovered to close 0.66% higher at $3,573.19.

See Also: Cathie Wood Sells $3M In Amazon A Day Ahead Of Jeff Bezos' Flight To Space

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Photo: Courtesy of Blue Origin