- Blue Origin launches its first all-female space crew featuring Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, and other accomplished women.
- The 10-minute suborbital flight will cross the Kármán line, marking a symbolic step forward for women in space exploration.
- Mission aims to inspire future generations, highlighting the importance of female representation in STEM and space travel.
Blue Origin is preparing to make history today with the launch of its latest New Shepard mission — a short spaceflight featuring an all-female crew. The lineup includes six high-profile women from diverse fields: pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée and pilot Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics researcher Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. The launch is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET from the company’s site in Van Horn, Texas.
This approximately 10-minute mission will carry the crew just past the Kármán line — the recognized boundary of space at 62 miles above Earth — before descending back to the Texas desert under parachutes. The suborbital flight is designed to offer a brief yet transformative experience of weightlessness and a panoramic view of Earth’s curvature.
For Katy Perry, the mission is both a personal and symbolic journey. Known for space-themed songs like “E.T.” and empowering anthems like “Roar,” Perry has expressed a lifelong fascination with the cosmos. In preparation, she immersed herself in astrophysics literature and focused on channeling what she describes as her “feminine divine” — a sense of inner strength intensified by motherhood.
The mission has been curated by Sánchez, who handpicked the five other women for this milestone flight. With representation from science, media, and entertainment, the flight aims to inspire a new generation of girls and young women to pursue dreams beyond traditional limits. Blue Origin has previously launched ten human missions, but this marks a significant cultural milestone as the first all-female civilian crew in more than half a century.
While some critics have questioned the expense and fanfare surrounding celebrity spaceflights, the crew and supporters argue that the visibility of such missions helps break down gender barriers in science and space exploration. With women still making up only a fraction of all space travelers, today’s launch is being hailed as a landmark for representation, inspiration, and the evolving role of commercial spaceflight.
