Katy Perry among 6 women heading to space: Details of Blue Origin's mission

Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, and four other women are set to make history as part of Blue Origin's all-female crew for a suborbital space mission, launching on Monday from Texas

Popstar Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’s fiancee Lauren Sánchez are preparing to head to space on Monday as part of an all-female crew. Joining them on the mission are journalist and television host Gayle King, civil rights advocate Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and entrepreneur and former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe. 

The six-member team will lift off aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket from the company’s Texas launch site at 8.30 am local time. The suborbital journey is expected to last about 11 minutes, taking the crew to the edge of space before returning. Dubbed NS-31, the flight is part of Blue Origin’s ongoing space tourism program and is intended to ‘create a lasting impact that will inspire generations’. 

 

This marks the first all-women spaceflight in over six decades, following Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963.

 

The mission to space

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which will carry Katy Perry and the rest of the all-female crew, is expected to soar to an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles) above Earth — crossing the Karman line, the internationally recognised boundary of space. 

During the flight, the crew will experience a brief period of weightlessness lasting around four minutes, allowing them to float inside the capsule and take in views of Earth and space through its large windows. The capsule will then return to Earth, aided by three parachutes to ensure a safe landing. 

Leading the mission is author and Bezos’s fiancee Lauren Sanchez. In an interview with Elle magazine, she shared that the crew members were selected because they had “proven their ability to inspire others”. 

Perry, one of the best-selling music artists of all time, told Elle that she had dreamed of going to space for nearly two decades. “Even when Blue Origin was first talking about commercial travel to space, I was like, ‘Sign me up! I’m first in line.’ And then they called me, and I was like, ‘Really? I got an invite’,” she said. 

In a video posted to Instagram, Perry said, “I’ve dreamed of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality.....I am SO honoured to be alongside 5 other incredible and inspiring women as we become the first ever all female flight space crew!” 

For the mission, the crew will don custom-designed flight suits by Monse, intended to blend fashion with the thrill of space travel. Lauren Sanchez, who played a central role in coordinating the mission, has emphasised the stylish element the suits bring to the experience. 

However, despite crossing into space, the crew will not be officially recognised as astronauts by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Nasa, or the US military, which all have specific requirements for awarding commercial astronaut status.

 

Blue Origin’s space launches

To date, the New Shepard spacecraft — developed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — has carried 52 individuals beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Bezos himself was part of the rocket’s inaugural crewed flight in 2021. 

In 2022, actor William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek, joined a later mission. At 90, he became the oldest human to travel to space.