Jeff Bezos launches all-female crew into space, including Katy Perry and Gayle King
In this DML Report…
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, launched its New Shepard NS-31 mission from West Texas, marking the first all-female crew spaceflight from U.S. soil since 1963. The six-woman crew included pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. The 11-minute suborbital flight crossed the Kármán line, 62 miles above Earth, allowing the crew to experience three minutes of weightlessness before landing safely back in Texas.
The mission, Blue Origin’s 11th human flight and 31st overall, took off at 8:30 a.m. local time. Perry and King kissed the ground upon exiting the capsule, with Perry holding a daisy in tribute to her 4-year-old daughter, Daisy, and calling the experience second only to motherhood. Sánchez, who led the crew, was embraced by Bezos after exiting the capsule. The launch was watched by notable figures, including Oprah Winfrey, Kris and Khloe Kardashian, and Perry’s daughter. The crew reached an apogee of 346,802 feet above ground level, experiencing three times the force of gravity during ascent.
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This historic flight, the first all-female space crew since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s 1963 solo mission, aimed to boost visibility for women in STEM. Blue Origin has now flown 52 people to the edge of space since 2021, including Bezos himself on the first human flight. Critics note the mission doubles as promotion for Bezos’ space tourism business, with some questioning its cost and impact. The crew’s designer flight suits and Perry’s pre-flight preparation—studying Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and string theory—highlighted the blend of celebrity and science in the mission.