All-female Blue Origin crew with Bezos' fiancee, Katy Perry, Gayle King launch to space
Jeff Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sánchez led an all-female crew including pop singer Katy Perry and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King for a short trip to space this morning.
Riding on Bezos' Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard rocket, the six women, which also included Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen and Kerianne Flynn, lifted off from the company's West Texas launch site at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
This was the 11th human spaceflight for New Shepard, and 31st mission overall. The flights have sent the capsule on short 10- to 12-minute trips that lets passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth before their capsule returns for a parachute-assisted landing.
They traveled above the Karman line, about 62 miles high, the internationally recognized altitude of having reached space.
Screams of excitement and raucous laughter could be heard over the live stream of the launch on both the way up and on the way down. While experiencing weightlessness, though, it became quieter.
'Look at the moon,' said one of the six after reaching space.
Another replied, 'Oh my goddess. That's our pink moon.'
'Oh my god,' said another. 'It's so peaceful.'
Blue Origin said the capsule reached an apogee of 346,802 feet, which is more than 65 miles altitude. The entire trip too 10 minutes, 21 seconds.
It was the first all-female crew to head to space since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo mission when she became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963 on the Vostok 6 mission.
King said she was nervous but was told by her friends to take advantage of it.
'As excited as I am, I'll be glad when we come back down,' she said ahead of the launch.
Oprah Winfrey said she told her she would regret it if she didn't and didn't want to hear about it for the next 15 years.
Sánchez is a former entertainment TV journalist. She organized the crew. Bowe is a former NASA rocket scientist, Nguyen a bioastronautics research scientist and Flynn built a career in fashion and then produced films including 'This Changes Everything.'
This mission increased to 58 the number of humans since 2021 Blue Origin has taken to the edge of space, including four who have flown twice.
Bezos was on the first one back in 2021 while other flights have taken up the likes of Star Trek's William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer and 'Good Morning America' co-host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the rocket is named.
He told the crew ahead of launch that the trip would be the 'most amazing, most profound experience.'
'I'm so excited for you. I don't want to get off. I want to go with you,' he said. 'When you get back I can't wait to hear how it's changed you. I love all of you. See you soon. Godspeed. Gradatim Ferociter.'
Gradatim Ferociter is Blue Origin's Latin motto, that translates to 'step by step ferociously.'
Bezos was at the landing site to welcome the six, first hugging Sanchez and giving her a kiss on the cheek as she asked, 'Where are my babies?' and going over to hug her children.
Perry held a Daisy to the sky after exiting the capsule in honor of her daughter Daisy. She then kissed the ground once she stepped off the capsule.
'I just want to take a moment with the ground,' King said also getting on her hands and knees and kissing the dirt of the Texas dessert and scooping it up with her hands. 'Just appreciate the ground for just a second. Thank you Jesus.'
Sanchez was emotional in an interview soon after.
'I don't really have words for it. I'm so proud of this crew,' she said. 'I mean Gayle, we were just talking in the capsule, doesn't even have ear piercings, she's so afraid to do anything, and she got in that capsule and I think it profoundly changed her.'
'I don't think you can describe it,' she continued. 'It was quiet, but then also really alive. You look at it, and you're like, 'We're all in this together.''
Central Florida couple Marc and Sharon Hagle were among the four who have been two-time riders, having taken the trip in both 2022 and this past November. Another Central Floridian to take the trip was Brevard County millionaire Steve Young.
Blue Origin has been a fan of knocking out superlatives with its New Shepard rocket having flown the tallest (Strahan at 6 feet 5 inches tall), the oldest (90-year-old Ed Dwight Jr.) and youngest (18-year-old Oliver Daemen) people to space.
The space tourism flights are just part of Bezos' company's business. It flew the much larger heavy-left New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral for the first time this past January, and has said its second will launch this spring. Also on Blue Origin's plate are plans for a commercial space station and the Blue Moon lunar lander.
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