Latest news with #Mercury13
New York Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Olympic gold medalist Lauren Holiday joins North Carolina Courage NWSL team ownership group
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup winner Lauren Holiday has joined the ownership group of North Carolina Courage. The USWNT legend and her husband, Jrue Holiday, are investing in the team through the Holiday Family Trust. Jrue Holiday, currently with the Boston Celtics, has won two NBA titles (one with the Milwaukee Bucks, one with the Celtics). Advertisement 'This club represents the future of women's soccer — not just in how we play the game, but in how we empower athletes, connect with communities and build a sustainable future for the sport,' Lauren said in a statement. 'I believe deeply in the mission and vision of the Courage, and I'm excited to contribute in meaningful ways — especially when it comes to player development and overall culture.' Holiday joins a diverse group of investors in The Courage, including Naomi Osaka, Ons Jabeur, Jim and Sue Datin, Sara Toussaint, Michael and Ashlie Bucy, Milan and Stephanie DiGiulio, Tory Holt, Jay Hartington and others. The North Carolina NWSL franchise isn't Holiday's first foray into women's sports ownership. She recently joined the board of Mercury 13, an investment group dedicated exclusively to women's soccer. The consortium made headlines last year with its acquisition of Serie A Femminile club FC Como Women. Holiday took on the board role as part of her involvement as an advisor to the Avenue Sports Fund — former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry's private equity fund — which committed $100 million to Mercury 13. 'Lauren has such a passion for this sport and her unique perspective will help us elevate every aspect of the organization,' Steve Malik, the majority owner and chairperson, told The Athletic. 'From our early conversations, we've been aligned on the vision for what this club can and should be. I'm excited to see her impact and what the future holds.' Lasry's Avenue Capital Group was previously rumored to have investment discussions with Angel City FC, the Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign; and nearly bought a 60 percent stake in the Courage last year for $108 million, but the deal fell through. The former UCLA standout was a founding investor in Angel City FC when it launched in 2020 — she has since divested from ACFC — and she played a pivotal role in launching the NWSL with FC Kansas City. She helped the team secure league championships in 2014 and 2015, while earning inaugural league MVP honors in 2013. After retiring from professional soccer in 2016, Holiday faced a challenging diagnosis of a benign brain tumor while pregnant with her first child. Advertisement Her journey, on and off the field, led to the creation of the Lauren Holiday Impact Award in partnership with the NWSL and Nationwide. Lauren will also serve as an advisor and ambassador for the club, advising on- and off-field decisions. Holiday will have a hands-on role with the club, from player development to player experience.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blue Origin's celebrity passenger list expands with latest flight
While they didn't get close to any stars, passengers aboard the latest Blue Origin flight included earthly stars like pop singer Katy Perry and TV journalist Gayle King. These celebrities now join a list of those who have made the trip to space and back. Both Perry and King kneeled and kissed the West Texas ground when they returned Monday from their all-female mission, an 11-minute journey past the Kármán line, which is 62 miles above sea level and considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. Monday's successful launch, the eleventh Blue Origin sub-orbital human spaceflight mission dating back to 2021, also included former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist; filmmaker Kerianne Flynn; and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos' journalist fiancée, Lauren Sanchez. "I had to come back. I mean, we're getting married! If I didn't come back, that would be a bummer for me," Sanchez said after the star-studded trip. Other celebrities who have previously ridden Blue Origin to the point of weightlessness, include: Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post who started Blue Origin in 2000. The 61-year-old Bezos was aboard the July 20, 2021, maiden flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, named after NASA astronaut Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became the first American to travel in space. Bezos went to space with his half brother, Mark Bezos, and two other space tourists. Wally Funk, a pioneering female aviator and former military jet test pilot who in the 1960s endured the grueling training astronaut training as part of a privately funded Woman in Space Program that later became known as the "Mercury 13" project due to its 13 women participants. Funk, however, was never allowed the chance to go to space until she joined Bezos on the 2021 Blue Origin maiden flight and became, at age 82, the oldest female to travel into space. William Shatner, the actor who played space adventurer Capt. James T. Kirk in the TV series "Star Trek," didn't get a real chance to fly into space until Oct. 13, 2021, when at the age of 90 he and three crew members flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard into the final frontier, becoming the oldest man in space. "It was so moving," Shatner said when he touched back down to Earth. "This experience has been something unbelievable." Michael Strahan, the NFL Hall of Famer and co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America," blasted into space aboard New Shepard on Dec. 11, 2021. The former New York Giant's defensive end, Strahan compared the flight to being "almost like an out-of-body experience." Strahan took a few personal items on his journey, including his Super Bowl and Hall of Fame rings, his retired Giants jersey, his grandfather's pocket watch and the shell casings from the gun that was fired at his father's military funeral. Ed Dwight, the United States' first Black astronaut candidate, flew into space for the first time on May 19, 2024, as Blue Origin launched its New Shepard NS-25 spacecraft, its first human flight since 2022. Dwight, who at age 90, took his first trip to space more than six decades after President John F. Kennedy appointed him in 1961 to the elite Aerospace Research Pilot School -- the Air Force program from which NASA astronauts were chosen. Despite being recommended by the Air Force, Dwight was not chosen for the NASA astronaut corps in the aftermath of Kennedy's assassination. "Long time coming," Dwight said as he emerged from the capsule after landing back on Earth. Blue Origin's celebrity passenger list expands with latest flight originally appeared on
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blue Origin Executes Successful Launch With All-Women Crew
A half-dozen celebrities became astronauts today after a Blue Origin rocket carried them just beyond the edge of space. The flight, which featured an all-women crew, delivers a healthy (and needed) dose of positive publicity for Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Lauren Sánchez, a journalist who is engaged to Jeff Bezos, is one of the women who made the trip to space this morning. 'It is the highest high,' singer Katy Perry said to CNN upon landing. 'I couldn't recommend this experience more.' Other members of the crew include STEMBoard CEO and former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, CBS journalist Gayle King, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen. It's a star-studded flight crew that made for a high-stakes flight. If the space tourism rocket, known as New Shepard, had suffered a catastrophe, the blowback on Blue Origin would have been intense. But by delivering the celebrities safely back to Earth, the company now has the world's attention. The New Shepard has a successful track record and has carried celebrities before, though this will likely be its most famous run for some time. To reach space, the New Shepard flew past the 62-mile-high Kármán line (100 kilometers), which is the generally accepted point dividing Earth and space. In fact, the flight reached 107 kilometers above sea level and lasted for 10.5 minutes. During the trip, the astronauts were able to experience weightlessness and unbuckle from their seats. The New Shepard, designed for space tourism, uses a hydrogen-fueled, reusable rocket engine (known as BE-3PM) to launch the crew capsule. The engine returned to Earth and safely landed on its pad. At the end of the fight, the crew capsule, supported by parachutes, also landed safely in the desert. Flight NS-31 mission patch. Credit: Blue Origin The crew was allowed to bring objects known as zero G indicators. The item floats, signaling (in addition to the ship's indicators) that the astronaut can float. Nguyen, who is a sexual assault survivor, brought her hospital bracelet. Katy Perry brought a daisy. Lauren Sánchez joins her fiancée, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in the still small but rapidly growing number of Earth's astronauts. Blue Origin has put both young and old people into space, including Wally Funk, a well-known aviation instructor who was a member of the canceled Mercury 13 space program. She reached space at age 82 on the New Shepard mission with Jeff Bezos. Her record as the oldest person in space was later broken by actor William Shatner, who was 90 years old when he took his flight to space on New Shepard.
