Jul. 21, 21

We are proud to share an excerpt from the live press conference that Jeff and Mark Bezos held immediately following the historic flight of New Shepard, in which they singled out The Explorers Club and two important artifacts from the Club’s collection they carried aboard the flight, which are an intimate part of exploration history.

First and foremost, the crew carried an Explorers Club Flag, the same Flag Bezos Expeditions previously carried on their historic Apollo F-1 Engine Recovery Mission – for which they were awarded our Citation of Merit in 2014 – and before that was carried by Club Medalist Bob Ballard on his iconic Titanic discovery expedition.

Aside from the Club Flag – the New Shepard crew also carried:

  • The 1784 Bronze Medal from the Montgolfière Brothers hot air balloon, the first confirmed piloted ascent by humans in 1783
  • A piece of canvas from the Wright Brothers Flyer – the fuselage and wings were made of canvas

Click here to view the exact segment where the Club was mentioned, and we’d again like to congratulate the entire team from Blue Origin for today’s historic accomplishment.

Ad Astra,

Richard Garriott
President, The Explorers Club