Pop star Katy Perry is ready to make historical past as a part of Jeff Bezos‘s Blue Origin first all-women area crew, becoming a member of CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, and three different girls.
The flight, scheduled for this spring, would be the eleventh human spaceflight for Blue Origin and the primary all-female crewed spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963.
Why It Issues
The upcoming mission is a part of Blue Origin’s broader push to create space journey extra accessible to peculiar individuals. Since its first human spaceflight in 2021, the corporate has flown 52 individuals previous the Kármán line, the internationally acknowledged boundary of area, together with Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner. This newest mission is the primary time a wholly feminine crew will take the journey collectively.
What To Know
On Thursday, Blue Origin introduced its first all-women crew for the NS-31 mission, that includes former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics researcher Amanda Nguyen, movie producer and nonprofit chief Kerianne Flynn, King, Perry, and Sánchez, who helped assemble the staff.
The announcement follows Blue Origin’s profitable completion of its tenth crewed mission and thirtieth flight for the New Shepard program earlier this week.
Blue Origin
The six crew members will journey past the Kármán line, the place they are going to expertise over 11 minutes of weightlessness earlier than returning to Earth. Overlaying greater than a 3rd of its floor, the capsule’s home windows will provide breathtaking views.
Perry shared her pleasure concerning the mission. “If you happen to had instructed me I would be a part of the primary all-female crew in area, I might have believed you. Nothing was past my creativeness as a toddler,” she stated.
King, who turned 70 this 12 months, described the chance as an exciting new chapter.
“I do not know the way to clarify being terrified and excited on the identical time. It is like how I felt earlier than delivering a child,” she stated on CBS Mornings. Initially, area journey wasn’t on her bucket checklist, however she reconsidered after conversations together with her kids and good friend Oprah Winfrey.
Sánchez, Jeff Bezos’s fiancee and Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, expressed her satisfaction within the mission and the ladies concerned.
“I am honored to be with such an unimaginable group of explorers,” she stated, including that she hopes the flight will encourage future generations. “I need younger girls to see this and know they, too, can attain for the celebrities—actually.”
Bowe, Nguyen, and Flynn additionally shared their enthusiasm in separate statements.
Blue Origin confirmed that the New Shepard rocket is absolutely autonomous, that means there are not any pilots, and all crew members will take part equally within the expertise.
What Individuals Are Saying
Blue Origin, in a press launch on Thursday: “This mission will problem their views of Earth, empower them to share their very own tales, and create an enduring influence that can encourage generations to return.”
Amanda Nguyen, who has carried out analysis at Harvard, MIT, and NASA: “As the primary Vietnamese girl to go to area, I am flying for Vietnamese women to see themselves within the stars.”
Kerianne Flynn, a movie producer and a part of the crew: “Hopefully, myself and different future astronauts can use this expertise to encourage younger innovators and entrepreneurs concerning the significance of caring for our planet.”
What Occurs Subsequent
Blue Origin has introduced an area mission for this spring, although the precise launch date has not been specified.
