'Touchdown has a new meaning': Houston native and NFL great Michael Strahan travels to space

Planet Earth apparently isn’t big enough for Houston native Michael Strahan. 

The National Football League Hall of Famer took a ride into space last week seated in a rocket created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Strahan was one of six passengers that included the daughter of Alan Shepard, America’s first astronaut.

“TOUCHDOWN has a new meaning now!!! WOW…. that was amazing!!!” Strahan tweeted after a 10-minute flight on Blue Origin’s new Shepard rocket.

Strahan was joined by Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Shepard, the first American to travel into space on May 5, 1961. There were also four paying customers on the flight. The rocket took off near Van Horn, Texas and climbed to an altitude of 66 miles (106 kilometers), offering a few minutes of weightlessness before parachuting into the desert.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted: “Congratulations to #Houston’s own @michaelstrahan and the rest of the six-person crew on a successful #BlueOrigin flight to space. Thank you for inspiring generations to continue believing that we can achieve what many may seem impossible.”

Strahan attended Houston public schools and Texas Southern University before a 15-year career with the New York Giants, where he became one of the premier defensive ends in NFL history, setting an NFL record with 22.5 sacks in 2001. He was instrumental in the Giants upsetting the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl. He retired after that season to begin a successful career in television. He is currently a co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America and a football analyst for Fox Sports.

Strahan took his Super Bowl ring and retired No. 92 jersey with him for the ride. Churchley took a tiny piece of the Freedom 7 capsule her father rode into space inn 1961 and some golf balls her father hit on the lunar surface during Apollo 14 mission to the moon.

“I thought about Daddy coming down and thought, gosh he didn’t even get to enjoy any of what I’m getting to enjoy,” Churchley told reporters following a successful landing. “He was working. He had to do it himself. I went up for the ride!”

Bezos, according to the Associated Press, stashed a football on the rocket that is headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bezos, who founded Amazon, was on Blue Origins’ debut launch in July. The second, in October, included actor William Shatner — Captain James Kirk of TV’s original “Star Trek.”