MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia native and television host, and now the 100th woman in human history to go to space Emily Calandrelli says seeing Earth from the perspective of 60 miles above is like seeing it for the very first time.
She and a crew of five others boarded the ninth human spaceflight mission on Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch in West Texas Friday. The six-person crew flew above the boundary separating Earth’s atmosphere from outer space at approximately 62 miles above, staying for several minutes before returning home.
Calandrelli joined Hoppy Kercheval on MetroNews Talkline the following Monday to talk about her experience. She said she was completely awe-struck.
“It was the ride of my life, it was everything I had hoped it would be, it was a dream come true, everything and more,” Calandrelli said.
Morgantown-native, Calandrelli also became the first woman from West Virginia to be blasted off into space.
She is an engineer, an Emmy-nominated TV host of Xploration Outer Space, and a #1 NY Times best-selling author known as ‘The Space Gal’ who has a social media platform consisting of around 3 million followers.
Calandrelli uses her platform to educate kids about space and inspires them, particularly young girls, to reach for their dreams in space travel.
She described the feeling Monday of what launching into space is like.
“I’m telling you, it feels like time is just a figment of your imagination when you’re on the rocket, it just stretches and stretches,” she said. “So, you’re on the launch pad, the engine ignites, the flames are engulfing you, you see them outside the window, the inside of the capsule is a glow with that glow of orange and red, then you lift off, and you see the earth fall away behind you.”
Calandrelli said from launch to landing, it’s a very quick experience, however, just 11 minutes long. She said one experiences up to 3G forces when launching.
Calandrelli said the most wild part of the experience is when the main engine cuts off from the rocket.
“All of a sudden, you stop accelerating and you feel weightless,” she said. “Then, you separate from the booster behind you and it kicks you off, you feel this kick in your pants like, ‘woosh!”
She said at that point, they were free to unstrap from their harnesses and float around the capsule.
Calandrelli said looking out the window of the capsule, she saw the blackness of space, the curvature of the earth and the thin blue line stretching around the planet separating it from space. She said it was seeing something completely new and wonderous.
“It was like seeing the ocean for the first time, seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time, my mind was taking in new contrasts, new colors, and the beauty of this planet that I’ve never seen from this perspective before,” she said.
Calandrelli said she now plans to take back what she saw and experienced up there to her platform of followers to hopefully expand their interests in space, science and technology in new ways than she ever could before.
She said this is an adventure she has been working toward for decades and there was a point in time where she didn’t know if it was going to happen for her.
So, Calandrelli said that’s the message she wants to give to her followers, not giving up on your dreams, whatever they may be.
“Even when your dreams are so big they seem impossible, they are still worth pursuing.”
In June 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Twenty years later, in June 1983, Astronaut Sally Ride went down in history as the first American woman to travel to space.