ger-songwriter Katy Perry has recently taken a trip to space aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. She travelled with five other women, and they all returned to Earth about 11 minutes after the launch. The team traveled more than 100 kilometers above Earth, giving them a few minutes in space after the rocket crossed the boundary of space.
The rocket took off from a Texas launch site around 8:30 am, and the space capsule returned to Earth with a parachute landing. When the capsule door opened, cheering could be heard from inside.
The crew consisted of Katy Perry and five other members: “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, Jeff Bezo’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist and Harvard graduate Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
According to BBC news, Lauren Sánchez, the first to exit the capsule, stated, “I’m so proud of this crew. I can’t put it into words.”
Next to exit was Katy Perry and Gayle King, who both got on their knees and kissed the ground.
“I just want to have a moment with the ground, just appreciate the ground for a second,” Gayle King mentioned.
The last to exit, Kerianne Flynn, pointed at the sky and shouted, “I went to space!”
What was the reason behind Katy Perry going to space? Katy Perry expressed a longing desire to go to space and believed it could inspire others. She also wanted to model fearlessness and courage for her daughter. One of the personal items Katy Perry brought with her was a daisy, which is the name of her daughter.
In an article by BBC Katy Perry describes her passion for space travel, “I think that it’s not about me, it’s not about singing my songs. It’s about a collective energy in there. It’s about us. It’s about making space for future women and taking up space and belonging, and it’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it. This is all for the benefit of Earth.”
Some scientists say that celebrities go to space for amusement, and they get more attention than real astronauts do. Responses from social media also included mixed feelings. Some feel that celebrities going to space is cool, while others think it was a way to promote the company through the fact that they were able to launch tourists into space. Lauren Sánchez said she was fired up about the criticism and would love people to come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees who “put their heart and soul” into these journeys.
The mission to space was overall an emotional experience for the crew. The last all-female flight to space was over 60 years ago when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova flew solo aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. Every successful launch shows how these short flights can be carried out safely. Katy Perry felt drawn towards the beauty of space and was grateful for the opportunity to experience a moment like no other.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg8e5gq8ljo
https://slate.com/life/2025/04/katy-perry-space-gayle-king-lauren-sanchez-bezos.html
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/it-is-the-highest-high-heres-what-katy-perry-and-the-5-other-women-of-blue-origins-historic-all-female-flight-felt-after-liftoff-videos