Michael Strahan, former NFL player and host of Good Morning America lifted off in a Blue Origin rocket over the weekend along with five other passengers. He had a blast, and let his Twitter followers know about it, but some criticized him for doing it.
Strahan Tweeted out a video on Saturday saying, “TOUCHDOWN has a new meaning now!!! WOW…. that was amazing!!!” After he landed, Strahan reportedly told Blue Origin’s owner Jeff Bezos, “I want to go back.”
Many on Twitter chastised him for the damage that flight caused the environment. One wrote, “Thank you for your significant contribution to global warming through your vain space tourism.” Another chimed in, “Did you know that 75 tonnes of carbon is emitted for each passenger on your joy ride & exacerbating #climatechange? All so the rich & famous can go to space for 10 minutes. #ClimateEmergency.”
However, those claims of climate harm may not be true. In a fact check by USA Today, Eloise Marais, who is a researcher of air pollution at the University College London, said, “The New Shepard uses a rocket engine, called Blue Engine 3, that runs on fuel combining liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. When these elements react with each other, they generate a tremendous amount of heat and the propulsive force to get the rocket off the ground. Since there's no carbon contained in the fuel, no carbon dioxide is emitted during the launch or into the atmosphere.” So maybe those launches aren't as harmful to the Earth as we think.
Photo: Getty Images