♪ Good ♪ ♪ Good ♪ [upbeat music] - [Narrator] The year was 1969, and it was officially the end of the space race.

That was also the year when Americans landed on the moon.

A period that captured the imaginations and dreams of most everyone, including a very young Jim Kitchen.

- One of my earliest childhood memories was sitting in my mom's lap watching an Apollo space launch.

- [Announcer] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

All engine running.

Lift-off, we have a lift-off, 32 minutes past the hour.

- [Kitchen] And I was hooked.

I wanted to be an astronaut.

I saw this rocket lift up toward the heavens, and, you know, it shook the earth and lit up the sky.

And I just wanted to be an astronaut.

[dramatic music] But I came to college at UNC and wasn't smart enough to become an astronaut, so I became an entrepreneur and began promoting low-earth orbit space trips 'cause I wanted to, you know, go to space, but that didn't happen either.

I didn't sell enough trips to go to space, and then Challenger happened.

And, so I kept the dream alive.

My parents were public school teachers.

And so June, July, and August, they'd put the kids in the back of the wood-paneled station wagon, and off we'd go from South Florida to Washington state.

They were explorers.

They were adventurers.

Wanting to go to space, wanting to be an astronaut was just normal.

- [Narrator] Over the next 30 years, Kitchen then traveled to the 193 United Nations recognized countries.

- [Kitchen] After walking across this planet, it was my goal to see that whole spectacle from from space.

And so I, I dubbed space 194.

- [Narrator] And in March 2022, he got his chance as a passenger on the Blue Origin Rocket, the Blue Shepherd.

- [Kitchen] So what we, it was four days of intense training.

What they were preparing us for was launch day activities.

So, what to expect from the time we woke up until the time after we landed.

We had a zero-G plan.

What we would do once we get to space.

They also wanted us to learn how to get in and out of a seat and buckle our seat belts.

A five point harness, which is a lot more difficult than you would imagine.

So, we had a 45 minute delay.

At the countdown, when the clock started, you know, 10, 9, 8.

It was very emotional because I realized that this 50 year journey to space was actually gonna happen.

- [Announcer] 7, 6, 5, 4, commanded engine start, 0.

[rocket engine roar] And lift off.

- [Kitchen] It felt like being in an electric car and accelerating from zero to a hundred in, in a half a second.

and then going from a hundred to 500 miles an hour in another few seconds.

And my face was just, you know, it was, wow.

It was all I could take.

And I was just remember thinking, hang on, hang on.

I did not wanna be that guy that passed out.

Went to space and everyone was like, how was it?

And then I was like, well, I don't remember.

So, I was just hanging on for dear life.

- [Narrator] Only the fourth blue origin rocket to haul humans to space.

The booster rocket is a 60 foot tall, reusable rocket traveling at over 3000 miles an hour to get the passengers where they want to be.

- We get to MECO.

MECO is main engine cut off.

And then separation happens right after.

We're all rooting for, for separation.

We want to hear that large thud that everyone's heard so much about.

Why?

Because if it doesn't separate, everything's flying back to earth all together in one piece.

And yeah.

- [Narrator] The booster rocket did separate and returned by itself at so-called Launch Site One in Texas.

The capsule then reached what's known as the Karman Line.

Officially recognizes where space begins.

That's when the capsule coasted upward to an altitude of just over 66 miles.

- [Kitchen] And so I, I looked at my own window behind me and there it was, the earth, about one quarter of the window.

And then three quarters of that four foot window was this, was the darkest, most eternal, the blackest of black.

Completely void of light.

And I was just mesmerized by the whole, the whole scene.

Having seen space in a book or in a movie was not at all the same as seeing it live.

We were just all completely dumbfounded.

And, you know, it was just one of those mind numbing experiences.

For me, I called it an out of body experience.

Just seeing that.

It was like nothing I had ever or will ever experience.

It's been emotional since I've gotten back.

I was very emotional when I landed.

Why?

Because personally it was a 50 year odyssey to get to space.

But also I'm a teacher and for me, this whole notion of anything is possible, pushing through boundaries, and keeping those dreams alive was really important for me to experience.

But to be able to, to be able to share that with my students, having lived that was what was most meaningful.