Katy Perry joins historic all‑female crew to edge of space
Six women will fly to the "edge of space," beyond the Kármán line, aboard a Blue Origin rocket. Among the first all-female space crew will be singer Katy Perry. The launch is happening today.
Blue Origin is sending a crew composed entirely of women into space, making it one of the most watched suborbital flights in recent years. The mission New Shepard Mission NS-31 will be led by Lauren Sánchez, a licensed pilot, journalist, and fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. The crew also includes Aisha Bowe, CEO of STEMBoard and former NASA rocket specialist, film producer Kerianne Flynn, "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King, and scientist Amanda Nguyen. The crew is completed by the popular singer Katy Perry.
The all-female crew is ready for space flight
"The NS-31 crew is certified ‘ready to fly to space’ by CrewMember 7 Sarah Knights. The launch window opens tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC," wrote Blue Origin on platform X.
The flight will last about 10 minutes, during which the crew will reach an altitude of over 100 kilometres, experiencing brief weightlessness. The rocket will ascend beyond the Kármán line, recognized as the boundary of outer space, which is located at an altitude of 100 kilometres above sea level.
Katy Perry showed the interior of the capsule on Instagram, adding that she had dreamed of going to space for 15 years. "I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality," the singer wrote.
The first fully female crewed space mission
New Shepard NS-31 is the first mission with an all-female crew in space since 1963, when the first woman—cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova—conducted a solo mission on the Vostok 6 spacecraft.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is a reusable vehicle with a crew capsule that cannot orbit Earth but ascends beyond the Kármán line. These missions last about 10 minutes, during which passengers have the opportunity to experience approximately 4 minutes of weightlessness and admire views of Earth from space through the large windows of New Shepard, according to Blue Origin.
There are no pilots on board Blue Origin rockets, as their flights are fully autonomous. Blue Origin's missions are not new for celebrities—in the past, actor William Shatner and former NFL player Michael Strahan participated in them.
Blue Origin rocket flights are pilotless and fully autonomous
Blue Origin hopes that Katy Perry's participation in this mission, as well as the success of the entire venture, will inspire younger generations to reach for the stars, both literally and metaphorically.
