'Just breathtaking': UNC professor amazed by experience aboard Blue Origin

Jim Kitchen, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and five others loaded into a Blue Origin rocket for a quick trip to space.

The flight was placed on hold just after 9 a.m. while mission control confirmed all weather and systems were aligned for launch. The launch came just before 10 a.m. and the flight landed around 10:15.

Kitchens, who has visited all 193 United Nations-recognized countries, got out of the pod after landing and held a flag that read '194.'

"That was an out-of-body experience," Kitchen said. "This was pushing that final boundary, going to space. I was thinking on the way up, you're going 2300 miles an hour and you feel every bit of that.

"Time stops ... it's like this moment in time you see this beautiful earth and the blackness of the universe ... it is just breathtaking."

Kitchen told WRAL News he wore a UNC jersey under his spacesuit to support the team days before their Final Four game against rival Duke in New Orleans.

The ride took the crew 60 miles above earth, where they experienced weightlessness for roughly three minutes. Kitchen spent the last four days training for this mission and told WRAL News he felt ready.

The professor secured his seat on Blue Origin's fourth human manned flight after he applied for a chance to purchase a seat and was selected. He said it was his childhood dream to visit space.

UNC professor Jim Kitchen heading to outer space

"This has been a dream for 50 years," Kitchen said in an exclusive interview with WRAL News. "Paying homage to that little boy who sat his in mom's lap watching the Apollo launch when I was a kid and to those professional astronauts that blazed the trail ... keep those dreams alive and realize anything is possible."

Commentators said Kitchen is bringing his 10 passports with him and is holding the passport with Ukraine's stamp close to his heart.

The Blue Origin was originally set to launch Tuesday morning, but the flight was pushed to Thursday morning due to high winds in the area.

Blue Origin is a company founded by businessman Jeff Bezos with a goal to bring ordinary people into space for tourism.

During Kitchen's time in college, he worked for a company promoting low Earth orbit space trips, according to Blue Origin's website. A mission patch that all six crew members will wear for the launch features an orbital ring as a call back to Kitchen's dedication to space tourism.