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 he's 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 gem 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 to let 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