Gayle King has admitted she is nervous about heading into space.
The 70-year-old presenter will be part of an all-female mission on the next launch of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket on Monday (April 14), including pop star Katy Perry and Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
And she has admitted it’s “very daunting” knowing that only a small number of people have made the trip.
She said on her show CBS Mornings: “I’ll be ready Monday morning, I promise. I will be ready Monday morning. But I still have a ways to go before I’m like, ‘Okay, put me in, coach. Let’s go.'”
She continued: “It is very daunting when you think about the small number of people that have actually done it. I still get very uncomfortable when people say, ‘astronaut’.
“I in no means feel like an astronaut. They said, ‘But, Gayle, if you go to space, you’re an astronaut.'”
She hailed the women joining her “so extraordinary”.
She said: “There was something about being part of the first female team to me.
“The group of women that they put together is so extraordinary to me that I thought, ‘Wow. Why would I not wanna be a part of that?'”
Gayle added: “I look at some of these young people and say, ‘keep up’. So I don’t have hangups about 70, and what that means, and what that represents. I just think everybody can define it for themselves.”
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Gayle is excited to experience what it’s like to be weightless.
“I’m looking forward to just floating in space, and just seeing what that feels like, and what that looks like.”
She quipped that she hopes she will float back down “with some dignity”.
“I find myself wondering, ‘How do you get back into your seat after you get out of the seat and you’re floating around?’ How do you get back down to your seat? Is it like swimming back down?’ I’ll learn that in training and try to float with some dignity.”
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