In space, nobody can hear you scream, in the excitement of a 21-year-old dream coming true. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had a dream: going to space. Last week, the former CEO of the online delivery company scripted history by travelling to the edge of space with three others on his Blue Origin spacecraft. Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk - the oldest person to go to space - on a 10-minute trip beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars’ worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.
While his dream came true last week, Bezos has been dreaming of going to space for a while. Precisely, 21 years ago. A two-decade-old interview with Charlie Rose has resurfaced on the Twitter where Bezos discussed his space dreams. During the interview, Rose asked what Bezos would be doing, if he wasn’t the CEO of Amazon.
“Well, so, if I could do anything, and it turns out this is a very hard technical problem, so I don’t actually hold out great hopes, but if I could do anything, I would like to go help explore space," Bezos answered.
His response didn’t go down well. The audience laughed.
His answer, however, was met with a rationale by Rose, who said, “If you put your mind to it, you could probably figure out a way,” adding, “Your board of directors and stock owners may not be happy.”
In response Bezos replied, “It is really hard.”
It may have been hard, but Bezos has appeared to have done it. The joke perhaps is now on the audience members of 2000s, who then thought it was an unachievable dream.
Bezos in the interview also mentioned that there could be significant changes in the technology in 20 years, so such changes would be beneficial for getting the space journey easier. The 2000 interview was shared by RPG Enterprise chairman Harsha Goenka on his Twitter handle on Tuesday by saying “Jeff Bezos interview in 2000. Everyone laughed at the time when he said he wanted to explore space.”
Jeff Bezos interview in 2000. Everyone laughed at that time when he said he wanted to explore space… #vision #intent pic.twitter.com/MHSmjVy1It— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) July 27, 2021
People too, resonated with Bezos ideas: Anything truly is possible, if you put your mind to it, no matter how radical.
Mediocre people have always laughed at geniuses in the beginning. That’s what they do. They also laughed at Bill Gates and at Steve Jobs. The way Elon Musk’s rockets get back to earth would have been laughable until it happened.— Ankit Kejriwal (@ankitkejriwal) July 27, 2021
What a guy, lived his dream, what he thought off was very difficult technical problem.— nishant (@nishantkeshri) July 27, 2021
He is a true visionary, hence just 20 years later he could do what he intended! https://t.co/obb2hPlumn— Vikas Kumar Jain (@Vikas1956) July 28, 2021
People don't believe until it's done. https://t.co/ADBl5Tt4rB— Muzamil Manzoor (@musa_ghaznavi) July 28, 2021
It is testimony to the fact that anything which mind can think is possible…It's only a matter of time, grit & perseverance https://t.co/flORrzVM45— SANJAI OJHA (@SANJAIOJHA) July 28, 2021
During his journey to space, Bezos was accompanied by his brother Mark, 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk and teenager Oliver Daemen. Bezos’s capsule is entirely automated flew out nine days after British businessman Richard Branson went aboard his company Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane.
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