Katy Perry & Gayle King Set to Make History on All-Female Space Mission with Blue Origin
Space travel is getting a little more star-studded—literally.
Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, has announced that its next crewed mission aboard the New Shepard rocket will feature an all-female crew.
Among them? None other than pop sensation Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King.
The mission, expected to launch sometime this spring, will also include Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist and entrepreneur; Kerianne Flynn, a film producer and philanthropist; and Lauren Sánchez, who played a major role in assembling the mission. Sánchez, a pilot and journalist, also happens to be Jeff Bezos' fiancée and the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.
According to Blue Origin, this historic mission will mark the first all-female spaceflight crew since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo journey in 1963.
"She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come," Blue Origin said in a statement about Sánchez's involvement.
Breaking Barriers & Making History
One of the most exciting aspects of this mission is that it's adding new names to the growing list of women who have made it to space. While NASA has selected 61 women as astronauts since its inception, the number of female space travelers has significantly increased with the rise of commercial space tourism.
In November 2023, TV host and MIT engineer Emily Calandrelli, also known as 'Space Gal,' became the 100th woman to reach space on Blue Origin's NS-28 mission. Now, Amanda Nguyen will be making history as well.
Nguyen, a fierce advocate for sexual violence survivors and a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is set to become the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut.
What to Expect from Blue Origin's NS-31 Mission
This upcoming flight, designated NS-31, will mark Blue Origin's 11th human spaceflight, sending its passengers past the Kármán line—the boundary 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth that is widely considered the beginning of outer space. However, this classification has been debated among scientists and space agencies.
The company has not yet announced an official launch date, but the excitement is already sky-high.
As space tourism continues to expand, more and more women are getting the chance to explore beyond our planet.
While NASA made history in 2019 with its first all-female spacewalk—conducted by astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir outside the International Space Station—this mission proves that female-led exploration is no longer an exception.
With this all-female flight set to take off soon, one thing is certain: the future of space travel is looking stellar.
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