Blue Origin to launch all‑female crew to space with Katy Perry
Six women are set to travel to the "edge of space," beyond the Kármán line, aboard a Blue Origin rocket. Singer Katy Perry will be among this first all-female space crew. The launch is scheduled for Monday.
Blue Origin will send an all-female crew into space, in what is one of the most closely observed suborbital flights in recent years. The mission, New Shepard Mission NS-31, will be led by Lauren Sánchez, a licensed pilot, journalist, and the 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 popular singer Katy Perry completes the crew.
The female crew is ready for the 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,” Blue Origin announced on platform X.
The rocket will ascend above the Kármán line, considered the boundary of space, located at an altitude of 62 miles above sea level. The flight will last around 10 minutes, during which the crew will experience a short period of weightlessness.
Katy Perry shared the capsule interior on Instagram, noting that she had dreamt 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 entirely female crewed space mission
New Shepard NS-31 marks the first mission with an entirely female crew in space since 1963, when the first woman — cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova — entered space on a solo mission aboard Vostok 6.
Blue Origin's New Shepard is a reusable launch vehicle equipped with a crew capsule that does not orbit the Earth but instead ascends beyond the Kármán line. These missions last approximately 10 minutes, during which passengers can experience around 4 minutes of weightlessness. They can also admire the Earth from space through New Shepard’s large windows, as stated by Blue Origin.
There are no pilots on Blue Origin's rockets, as their flights are fully autonomous. Celebrity participation in Blue Origin missions is not new; previously, actor William Shatner and former NFL player Michael Strahan have taken part.
Uncrewed, fully autonomous Blue Origin rocket flights
Blue Origin hopes that Katy Perry's involvement in this mission, alongside the success of the entire venture, will inspire younger generations to reach for the stars, both literally and metaphorically.
