Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos finally took his much-awaited trip to space earlier today. Naturally, the internet had a lot to say.
Amidst a growing climate crisis and a still-raging global pandemic, billionaire and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took his much-discussed trip to space earlier today.
The trip was the official commencement of the Blue Origin project, a company which focuses on extreme tourism, which also means off-planet trips if you have the capital for it. Bezos was joined by his brother Mark, Dutch student Oliver Daemen, and game-changing astronaut Wally Funk aboard the New Shepard, travelling to Earth’s mesosphere for a few minutes and making a safe return.
With Blue Origin, Bezos has now become the second person to head to space in a rocket he invested in after Richard Branson. His trip also comes as the next step in the much-critiqued billionaire space race, called out for a display of excess by personalities whose wealth is enough to create a dent in global crises.
Naturally, since we can’t go to space, the internet chose quality memes to yeet themselves off the planet. Most brilliant minds pointed out how the shape of Bezos’ rocket resembled a, ahem, certain part of human anatomy.
Jeff Bezos has launched the first dildo into space pic.twitter.com/tFoIu3agNb
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 20, 2021
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Is anyone else not surprised that a billionaire’s penis ride only lasted about 2 minutes? #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/WiY1V6IQIa
— Cece (@GraceyLeota) July 20, 2021
In general, good journalistic practice is to be clinical and wordy.
INCORRECT: “Jeff Bezos took off in a dong-rocket.”
CORRECT: “…rocket that was much like a piece of male genitalia in appearance, and to be specific, not the testicles; we’re talking about the penis here.”
— Danielle Kurtzleben (@titonka) July 20, 2021
Some, with Photoshop skills, blessed us with these:
https://twitter.com/EnaDadaism/status/1417494547962245126
While direct footage from the capsule was awaited at the time, an ardent user managed to snag this:
First image from inside the capsule #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/aqjkMDfvKp
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) July 20, 2021
And of course, this was how common folks like us were treating the launch:
All of us watching the #BlueOrigin launch pic.twitter.com/aesmaWlo7I
— Saint Hoax (@SaintHoax) July 20, 2021
People also took the opportunity to throw shade at Bezos’ wealth, especially after he thanked Amazon’s customers and employees for paying for ‘all this’, pointing out the fact that while Amazon’s profits have amounted to tens of billions of dollars in the past few years, employees in the company’s warehouses work under extremely stringent conditions and are not provided benefits while the organization actively crushes any attempts at unionization.
Saw this on LinkedIn. Well said #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/TtDhc684aI
— Rohit Kumar (@Rohit_Kumar_21) July 20, 2021
Amazon Employees now that Jeff Bezos is in space. #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/AMzoeFaPoC
— RJ Dralle (@rjdralle) July 20, 2021