Pop icon Katy Perry soared into space on Monday alongside five other women in a historic, all-female mission aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket — marking the first all-women space crew in over 60 years.
The Firework singer joined TV host Gayle King, Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, producer Kerianne Flynn, and activist Amanda Nguyen on the New Shepard NS-31 mission. The rocket launched from West Texas around 8:30 a.m., taking the crew more than 100 kilometers above Earth — past the Karman line, the boundary of space.
The entire journey lasted about 10 minutes, giving the passengers a few moments of weightlessness before the capsule floated safely back to Earth, slowed by parachutes and retro-rockets. Upon landing, Perry kissed the ground and called the experience “a 10 out of 10,” adding it had revealed how much love she holds — and inspires — within.
Gayle King shared that Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” while floating in zero gravity. Oprah Winfrey, King’s longtime friend, watched proudly from the launch site.
This mission is Blue Origin’s 11th sub-orbital flight and follows a growing trend in space tourism. While ticket prices remain private, the company continues to attract high-profile guests to raise awareness and excitement around space travel.
Perry later revealed she flew for her daughter, Daisy, “to inspire her to never have limits on her dreams.”
Blue Origin faces tough competition from Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, but it recently achieved a major milestone with the first successful unmanned orbital launch of its larger New Glenn rocket.