By Zika Bobby
United States-based lawyer and politician, Chief Owolabi Salis has blazed a historic trail as the first Nigerian to travel to space above the Karman line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, located at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.
The Blue Origin which took the history making astronauts on the eventful flight, touched back on a grand arrival from the epic space adventure at the tarmac of the exotic space village in Western Texas, as they ran into the warm embrace of friends, families and well wishers.
Salis, the only black amongst the crew of astronauts basking in radiance, resplendent in his finicky astronaut fatigue, emerged from the space-ship, in full glare of the cynosural universe of global watchers, amidst the ambience of the sprawling grandeur and beauty of the exotic space village, announcing his unforgettable
historic involvement, which he dedicated to the victims of discrimination and civil rights violations.
He was seen with an African made cap doned over the astronaut jacket, as a patriotic gesture deliberately calculated to generate campaigns for greater participation of Africans in the exploration of space science and technology
The Blue Origin identity for the group is NS-33 and the group name is Solstice-33.
“Space is a humbling place. All those leaders causing troubles in this planet should be sent to space; they will be humbled and sober,” he said.
The six-member NS-33 crew, comprising Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Jim Sitkin, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Leland Larson, and Salis.
He described the experience as “extremely humbling, stupefying and emotionally overwhelming as I gaped in wonderment, beholding the universe in its awe-inspiring splendour, and delightsome cosmic spectacle, with its eerie music resonating in surreal esctasy teleporting the soul to height