'I'm So Proud Of Me': Gayle King Shares Her First Take Of Going To Space After Returning To Earth

Forbes Breaking News

Gayle King speaks to a reporter after her Blue Origin flight to space.

Transcript

00:00with us. Congratulations. You're an astronaut. Um, Gail, get on over. I am so floating. I can't

00:11believe it. I cannot believe it. I'm so proud of you. And I know that we speak, I speak for

00:15the collective because you have been so honest. You've been so, so vulnerable. And I spoke to

00:20your best friend prior to you taking off. And I asked her why it was so important for you to do

00:25this. And she said, so she, she said, so she didn't have to hear you say, I wish I would

00:29have done that. But now Gail King, you are officially an astronaut. How do you feel?

00:35I still can't accept that word, but I will say it's, I, I can't even believe what I saw when

00:41somebody calls this a ride. This was not a ride. This one, what happened to us was not a ride.

00:47This was a bona fide frigging flight and our instructor, we were so well prepared. So

00:51every noise we heard, we knew, but the flight instructor said that I am her best success

00:57story. Why? Because she's never had somebody go through the course. Who's terrified of flying.

01:02Everybody who's gone through the course is somebody that it's been a lifelong dream. They

01:05wanted to do it. So she said, I'm her best successor. I'm so proud of me right now. I just

01:10can't believe it. I still can't believe it. Prior to the launch, you said that you would be so proud

01:16of yourself if you went through with this and you did. What was the best part, Gail?

01:21Well, it's, it's oddly quiet when you get up there, it's really quiet and peaceful. And you look down at

01:29the planet, you think that's where we came from. And it, to me, it's such a reminder about how we

01:33need to do better, be better, do better, be better human beings. It's, and what do you mean by that?

01:40Well, it's so nasty and so vitriolic nowadays. And I mean, if everybody could experience that peace

01:46that we had up there and the kindness and what it takes to do what we did, all the people that it

01:52took to get us up there and get us back safely, I'll never, ever, ever forget. And when we were

01:57up there, have you talked to Katie yet? I have not. Okay. When we were up there after zero G is

02:02very difficult. You know, all the training about this is how you get in the chair in this. I look

02:06like a frigging moose getting in the chair. It was like, just, just let me get in the chair.

02:10Let me get the seatbelt on. But you know, we had a very, do this. How would you describe it?

02:16It's very difficult because you're flying, you're floating. But the best part was when we got back

02:20in our seats after zero G's, Katie saying, what a wonderful world she did. She said, what a

02:28wonderful world. I see dreams. Oh yes, yes, yes. Cause we'd been asking her to sing all the time and she

02:34wouldn't and she wouldn't. And then cause everybody said, sing roar, sing fireworks. And she said,

02:39it's not about me. I wanted to talk about the world. You know, isn't that nice? You got to ask

02:44her about that. That's really special. And when, when Lauren got out, she was overcome by emotion

02:48for a lot of reasons and rightfully so, but she spoke to that, the group and how close you guys

02:54have all become because of this experience. How would you describe the camaraderie that you guys

02:58now have together? I would say that we were, that we are forever bounded because you can't go

03:04through what we went through to look out for each other, to help each other and not be changed

03:09by that. You know, it really is a true, people throw the word around, but it really is a true

03:14sisterhood, but it speaks to how we were, you know what? We were set up for success. The training

03:22was so, I can't, I can't stress this enough. The training was so frigging good. We were set

03:28up for success. And it went exactly as they told us it was going to every boom that you heard the

03:34drones, the drogues coming up, the parachutes coming out. It went exactly as they said. Are you

03:40glad you did it? I am glad I did it. I am glad I did it. I am. I am very glad. I have no regrets

03:46about doing it. What would you say to people watching right now that are scared, that are

03:50fearful of anything? What would you say to them? Well, I just said, I'm stepping way out of my comfort

03:56zone because this is so not like me. I said up there, I might now get my ears pierced. I've

04:01always been afraid. Which is great. I love that you've never had your ears pierced. No, even Hootie

04:05at the training center, you don't have your ears pierced. I go, because it hurts. Oh my gosh. But I

04:10mean, for people that are afraid, it's Eleanor Roosevelt once said, courage is doing something

04:16that scares you, but you do it anyway. And I stepped out of my comfort zone in a way that I never thought

04:22was possible for me. And now that I've done it, I really do feel I can take on anything,

04:27anything, anything. Congratulations, Gayle King. You are an astronaut. Thank you, Carissa. I am so

04:33excited for you. I'm so excited for you. And I'm going to go with you to get your ears pierced because

04:37I want to get another hole right here. Go enjoy this with your family. Thank you so, so much. Aisha.

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