AmazonFounder Jeff Bezos defended himself again on a show on Monday, saying that his race to go to space with other billionaires was not just a game for the rich.
The day before flying to the edge of space in Blue Origin's New Shepard spaceship, Bezos appeared on the show with three other companions on this trip. They are: Bezos' brother Mark Bezos, 82-year-old female pilot Wally Fanke, and 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Dimon (Oliver Daemen).
Asked by the host how he and other billionaires would respond to the idea that he and other billionaires were just "rich people who travel to space by car," Bezos said he went to space to help build "infrastructure" for future generations.
Bezos said: "Today's young people, the next generation, how will they use space?" Today, going into space is so expensive that you can't do a lot of interesting things in space-there are very few things you can do. And they will invent new things to do. It is the task of our generation to build such infrastructure. "
As to why he and other billionaires don't spend more money on solving problems on earth, Bezos said: "people say there are a lot of problems on earth, and they are right." We need to do both. We always do both. We need to focus on the here and now, and we need to look to the future. So we are building a road to space so that Oliver's generation can create more things that shock us and make life better on Earth. "
At a news conference on Sunday, Blue Origin executives said the New Shepard had undergone the necessary safety checks and was ready for launch at 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday.