The moment went instantly viral online — but now, King says, she is “so proud” of herself
Gayle King made a bit of history on Monday, April 14, when she joined an all-female space flight on a Blue Origin rocket — but it’s her instantly viral expression as she boarded the craft that many will remember.
The CBS News broadcaster looked visibly distressed as she boarded the capsule on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket to blast off into space on Monday morning, in West Texas, even though the other women on the crew looked overjoyed.
The moment was quickly memed (“Gayle king is all of us on a Monday,” one X user wrote) and King, 70, herself later weighed in on the clip.
“At that moment I was so afraid, I just wanted to get into my seat because I just wanted to let the training kick in,” she said at a news conference after the short flight alongside Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
“I just wanted to get inside the capsule and sit down,” King said. “So the process of walking up there was a little daunting for me.”
King, who has been candid with her nerves over the trip, then recalled a bit of peculiar advice she got from a friend about how to prepare for the experience.
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“I got a text from a friend who’s from Germany — so, you know, you have to appreciate the sense of humor — he says, ‘Once you get there, you’re going to feel like it’s sex with the gods,’ ” she said to laughter.
“Well, [I’ve] never had sex with a god to my knowledge, so thank you for the visual,” she continued. “I didn’t think that, but I did think that with all the stuff that you hear about the blackness and the blues — it’s the neon blue [up in space], and it’s still and it’s quiet and you’re all feeling this experience together. I know I will never forget it.”
What’s more, she said, “I walked out of there thinking, gosh I can do anything.”
“I’m so proud of us, I really am proud of me,” King said, “because I never in a gazillion years thought I could do this.”
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