Pop icon Katy Perry and broadcast journalist Gayle King blasted into space aboard billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket on the morning of April 14. The all-female crew of astronauts also included philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn and bioastronautics scientist Amanda Nguyen. After 11 minutes of soaring above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth and Space, the rocket landed safely at the launch site in Texas.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, designed for commercial space tourism, is part of a greater mission to increase access to space for all. The New Shepard is a reusable, suborbital rocket system built for humans. A ticket for a seat on a Blue Origin rocket costs an estimated $1.25 million. The spacecraft was fully autonomous, requiring no pilots to operate the vehicle. Before launching, Blue Origin requires all passengers to go through two days of training focusing on physical fitness, emergency protocols, and instructions about the safety procedures for zero gravity.
It was over 60 years ago, when the last all-female space mission occurred when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova made history as the first woman to fly solo in space. Perry said the mission of the New Shepard NS-31 expedition was to create space for future women and inspire them to take up space and belonging.
During the flight, the astronauts did headstands and flips floating in the weightlessness capsule while Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. The women described seeing the moon from the perspective of space as one of the most incredible experiences. King, who has been open in sharing her anxiety regarding flying in the past, describes her recent celestial journey as peaceful and oddly quiet. Upon reflecting on the experience, the broadcast journalist told reporters she has no regrets going on the mission and no longer lives in fear. King also adds in an interview with CBS, “Looking down at the Earth is profound. I feel like I can do anything now.”
After landing, Perry and King kissed the ground in celebration and relief. Waiting for them to land on Earth were a few billionaire celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Jeff Bezos, who were all there to witness the historic all-female flight.
However, the female-empowering space expedition did not go on without any criticism. Certain celebrities criticized the New Shepard NS-31 mission for being tone-deaf and severely environmentally harmful. While co-hosting an episode of “Today with Jenna and Friends,” Actress Olivia Munn described the spaceflight as “gluttonous.” She said, “Space exploration was to further our knowledge and to help mankind. What are they going to do up there that has made it better for us down here?”
Sanchez responded to this criticism by implying that the mission was to add a new perspective of Earth and inspire young girls and boys to be interested in space travel. Furthermore, Emily Ratajkowski took it to TikTok to express her distaste for the space mission. In the video, Ratajkowski says, “The whole thing is beyond parody. Saying that you care about Mother Earth and it’s about Mother Earth and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that is single-handedly destroying the planet. Consider all the resources that went into this mission that are directly polluting the planet. I am disgusted.”
Finally, the criticism that gained the most traction was the fast-food chain Wendy’s response to a post on X by Pop Crave of a picture of Perry landing from the mission with a caption, “Katy Perry has returned from space.” Wendy’s X account responded to the post with “Can we send her back?” The criticism continued with a following X post that Wendy’s wrote, “When we said we wanted women in STEM, this isn’t what we meant.”
Bowe responded to the harsh criticism about the scientific purpose of the mission by explaining, “More people are going to be able to do meaningful research with Blue Origin because we collected data. And it wasn’t just plant biology—we studied human physiology, we contributed to the knowledge base of what people know about women. We have flight-qualified hardware so that more people can use our hardware to fly. It is bigger than the criticism. We are inspiring the world right now.”
While Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket mission sparked awe and outrage, one thing is sure: the wealthy women made history on their 11-minute trip to space and back. In an industry predominantly dominated by men, the all-female flight on the New Shepard NS-31 expedition inspired women worldwide to be more curious about space exploration. Human civilization needs space exploration to expand the collective knowledge about the cosmos beyond our planet. Astrophysical research is important to teach humankind about life outside of Earth. However, rocket engine exhaust contains harmful particles that can affect Earth’s climate and deplete the ozone layer. The all-female space mission of aristocratic astronauts was a giant step for womankind, but more laws must be implemented to protect Mother Earth’s biosphere.
