Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Pop superstar Katy Perry flight to the edge of space on Monday, April 14, 2025, as part of Blue Origin latest mission aboard its reusable New Shepard rocket. The flight was marked as the company’s first suborbital mission flown entirely by a female crew.
Six women, including Katy Perry, launched into the space from Blue Origin West Texas facility at 9:30 a.m. local time. Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has increasingly focused on offering commercial flights for non-professional astronauts seeking a brief but transformative journey beyond Earth.
According to Reuters, joining Katy Perry on the space flight were Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, former NASA aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights advocate Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
Designated as Mission NS-31, this mission’s marking the 31st flight for the reusable New Shepard system and the 11th to carry humans. While most previous missions served scientific purposes, this trip was a part of Blue Origin’s commercial space tourism initiative.
The mission also marked a symbolic milestone in the history of space exploration. It was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963.
Unlike Tereshkova’s three-day journey around Earth, Monday’s flight was brief, designed to give civilian passengers a taste of space without the rigorous demands of professional astronaut training.
The crew traveled just past the Kármán line which is the internationally recognized boundary of space 100 kilometers (62 miles) above Earth’s surface. They experienced several minutes of weightlessness and gazed upon Earth from the darkness of space.
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The capsule landed safely back in the Texas desert after a mission that lasted approximately 11 minutes from liftoff to landing. Katy Perry was seen kissing the ground in celebration of the safe return.
“I looked out the window and we could see the Moon. Earth looked so quiet, peaceful, but completely alive,” Katy Perry said, as reported by BBC following the space flight.
Amanda Nguyen, who became the first Vietnamese American woman to fly to space, shared her awe after landing. “What a beautiful world we have,” she said.
Filmmaker Kerianne Flynn described the experience as deeply moving. “As a filmmaker, I felt like I was watching an incredibly intimate film, and not just watching it, but becoming the storyteller,” she said.
(Raidi/Agung)
