Pop star Katy Perry has become part of the first all-female crew in over 60 years to journey into space. Onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, the singer was joined by five other prominent women, including Lauren Sánchez (fiancée of Jeff Bezos), CBS anchor Gayle King, former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
The suborbital flight lasted about 11 minutes, giving the crew a few precious minutes of weightlessness above the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above the globe, before the capsule safely parachuted back to Earth.
Launched from Blue Origin’s West Texas site, the flight was fully automated, requiring no pilots on board. As the rocket ascended, the crew’s excitement was audible during the live broadcast, with cheers, laughter, and exclamations like “Look at the moon!” echoing through the capsule. Katy Perry even delivered on her promise to sing in space, treating viewers to a spontaneous rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. Prior to launch, she had shared a behind-the-scenes tour of the capsule in her signature blue flight suit via Instagram.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has been at the forefront of commercial space tourism since its first crewed flight in 2021. Although exact ticket prices remain undisclosed, securing a seat reportedly requires a down payment of $150,000, with some estimating full costs reaching up to one million dollars. The company emphasises sustainability, noting that the New Shepard rocket is fully reusable. Still, critics argue that such short spaceflights carry a heavy environmental toll, sparking ongoing debates about the future of space tourism.
Watch the full launch and spaceflight experience below:
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