What to Know About Blue Origin's Spaceflight and All-Female Crew: Katy Perry, Gayle King a

What to Know About Blue Origin’s Spaceflight and All-Female Crew: Katy Perry, Gayle King a

April 13, 2025

Watch: Gayle King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and More Heading to Space in Historic All-Women Mission

Boom, boom, boom Katy Perry is looking for an adventure brighter than the moon, moon, moon.

In fact, she might even see it on her latest voyage. The “Firework” singer is set to travel to space for Blue Origin’s latest mission, which is scheduled to lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas April 14 at 8:30 a.m. local time.

And as she shoots across the sky—or rather to the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space known as the Kármán line—she won’t be doing it alone. Perry will be joined by CBS Mornings host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist and activist Amanda Nguyen, and former TV anchor Lauren Sánchez, whose fiancé Jeff Bezos is the founder of the private space company.

They’re the first all-female spaceflight crew since 1963, when the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova completed a social mission and became the first woman to go to space. The group will be traveling on board the New Shepard, which Blue Origin describes as its “fully reusable, suborbital rocket system.” The trip, which the organization estimates will last about 11 minutes, will be New Shepard’s 11th human flight and its 31st mission overall—hence the name NS-31.

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“I’m really excited about the engineering of it all,” Perry said on an April 11 interview with ITV News. “I’m excited to learn more about STEM and just the math about what it takes to accomplish this type of thing.”

And for the “E.T.” artist, the journey fulfills a longtime dream.

“I’ve always been interested in astrophysics and interested in astronomy and astrology and the stars,” she continued. “I feel like we are made of stardust and we all come from the stars, and it will be exciting to see them twinkle from that site. And also have such an appreciation for Mother Earth when we see it in that way. Many people, not many, but the people that have gone have had real profound things to say and have brought down ideas that have been world-changing.”

However, traveling to space hasn’t been a yearslong bucket list item for everyone on the mission.

“I’m so afraid,” King admitted on a February episode of CBS Mornings, “but I’m also so excited about it.”

And as headlines about this mission continue to orbit around, keep reading to learn more about the journey, the crew, the excitement and the criticism.

Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images

What Is Blue Origin?Founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin is a private space company headquartered in Kent, Washington.According to its website, the organization aims to leverage space’s resources to benefit Earth as well as expand humanity’s presence in space through increased transportation and the creation of living and working destinations in the low Earth orbit. Blue Origin says it’s working to achieve these goals by building reusable rockets and engines to reduce the cost of space travel, make space travel more accessible to civilians and drive sustainability.”Our vision is millions of people living and working in space,” Bezos said during a talk at the 2016 Pathfinder Awards. “We want to reduce the cost of getting into space dramatically by focusing on reusability.”So how much does it cost to book a seat on a Blue Origin flight? While the company doesn’t list its prices on its website, it does note a $150,000 deposit is required.

Blue Origin

What Is New Shepard?Named after astronaut Alan Shepard—who made history when he became the first American to travel to space in 1961—New Shepard is what Blue Origin describes as a “fully reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight.”Six people can sit in New Shepard’s pressurized crew capsule. But don’t look for a pilot seat. Because as Blue Origin’s website notes, “The vehicle is fully autonomous—there are no pilots.”New Shepard first launched in 2015 as part of a flight test program that consisted of 16 successful tests, which were completed in 2021. In July of that year, Bezos and his brother Mark took part in New Shepard’s first human flight along with an auction winner that secured a seat for a whopping $28 million. William Shatner and Michael Strahan were also among the travelers to board the vehicle later that year (though they were on separate missions).The upcoming voyage will mark New Shepard’s 31st mission (hence the name NS-31) and its 11th human flight.

Blue Origin

When and Where Is the Launch for New Shepard’s NS-31 Mission?New Shepard’s NS-31 mission is aiming for liftoff from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One—located among the Guadalupe Mountain range in the West Texas desert—April 14, with the company’s website noting the launch window opens at 8:30 a.m. CDT.

Blue Origin

What Will New Shepard’s Journey for the NS-31 Mission Look Like and How Long Will it Take?”New Shepard astronauts ascend toward space at more than three times the speed of sound,” Blue Origin’s website states. “They pass the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, before unbuckling to float weightless and gaze at our planet. The crew returns gently under parachutes.”In terms of timing, the company notes the entire trip should take about 11 minutes.

Gayle King/Instagram

Who Is Part of the Crew for Blue Origin’s NS-31 Mission?The crew for mission NS-31 consists of singer Katy Perry, CBS Mornings host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, STEMBoard founder and former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist and activist Amanda Nguyen, and former TV anchor Lauren Sánchez (who is engaged to Bezos). In fact, this is the first all-female spaceflight crew since 1963, when the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova went on a solo mission and became the first woman to travel to space.Nguyen is making history as the first Vietnamese woman to travel to space, and Bowe is entering the history books as the first person of Bahamian heritage to go where few have gone before.

Lauren Sanchez/Instagram

What Are Some of the NS-31 Crew’s Reasons for Going to Space?Each member of the crew has her own reasons for being part of this mission.In a recent cover story for ELLE, many of the women expressed their desire to inspire future generations. For Perry, this includes reminding Daisy, the daughter she shares with fiancé Orlando Bloom, to “never have limits on her dreams and show her that any type of person can reach their dreams—no matter your background, your ethnicity, your economic situation, or your education level.”As for King, who has been honest about her nerves, she told the magazine she hopes to encourage people to step outside their comfort zones.”Once I do it,” she added, “then the doors will open for so many other people who thought, ‘Okay, I was one of those reluctant people, but now I’m here and I am really, really excited to go.'”And Nguyen noted that, for her, it’s getting the chance to fulfill a “dream deferred.””I worked at NASA, I studied the stars—astrophysics at Harvard and MIT—but life got in the way,” she told the publication. “Gender-based violence is a big reason why so many women in STEM don’t continue on with their training, and I was one of those women. After I was sexually assaulted, I traded my telescope to fight for my rights as a sexual assault survivor. I drafted the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, passed it in Congress and at the United Nations. And then, after 10 years, I was like, ‘I want to honor the person that I was before I was hurt.'”

Blue Origin

Does the Crew for the NS-31 Mission Go Through Any Training?According to Good Morning America, all crew members will also head to the launch site days before the mission for training sessions, which will include getting fitted in their flight suits, becoming familiar with the capsule, learning how to communicate with ground control and going over safety protocols.However, some members of the crew did their own preparations ahead of the mission.”I’ve been training for this in some way or another for the last year, but recently I turned up the intensity,” Bowe told ELLE weeks before the launch. “I just completed a NASTAR simulation, where I had the opportunity to actually experience what I can expect to encounter on the flight. For me, the physical preparation is really important. I want to have my body know what it feels like to go up. We’ve got a fighter jet flight booked, and I’m really excited about that.”Flynn also said she did “several zero-gravity simulation flights.””They carve out a Boeing 747 and fly the plane in a parabolic pattern, so when the plane descends, everyone floats up,” she added. “That was to get used to the feeling of weightlessness. So I think I’m going to have some fun with that when we’re up. I also did the NASTAR training in Philadelphia and experienced up to five Gs of pressure.”

Kerianne Flynn/Instagram

Does the Crew Get to Bring Any Personal Belongings to Space?Just a few things.King told ELLE she’s bringing some photos while Sánchez shared she’s carrying a stuffed animal of the character Flynn from her children’s book The Fly Who Flew to Space.As for Bowe, she’s packing a historic object.”Nancy Conrad, who is the wife of Pete Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, is a mentor and inspiration to me,” she noted to the magazine. “She said, ‘Your journey parallels Pete’s in so many ways, and so I want you to carry this flag.’ And thanks to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, I actually have the Apollo 12 flag, and that’s going to fly with me.”Bowe added she’s also bringing plant samples from Winston-Salem State University’s Astrobotany Lab as well as conch chowder that’s been dehydrated for the mission as a nod to The Bahamas.Nguyen is packing personal items as well.”My mother’s shells from the island she’s a refugee from,” she told ELLE, “and then the other thing is a promise that I made to myself [after my assault]. After I left the hospital, I wrote down, ‘Never ever give up,’ and I taped it to my laptop. I looked at it every day when I was graduating and when I was fighting for my rights—and I will be looking at it for the flight.”According to her Instagram, Nguyen is also bringing the pen former president Barack Obama used to sign the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Act, the Nguyen dynasty coin and Freetown cotton tree seeds.

JC Olivera/Getty Images

What Have Other Stars Said About Blue Origin’s NS-31 Mission?Some stars have sent uplifting words to the crew—with King getting a send-off video from CBS Mornings featuring Tom Hanks, Megan Rapinoe, Bill Nye, Drew Barrymore and more.”Best of luck,” the Charlie’s Angels actress said, “and I can’t wait to pick your brain as soon as you get home.”Others, like Olivia Munn, have expressed criticism.”What are they doing? Like why?” she said on Today with Jenna & Friends April 3. “I know this is probably not the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.”The X-Men: Apocalypse actress then brought up the topic of cost.”I know this is probably obnoxious,” she continued, “but like it’s so much money to go to space, and there’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs.”And Olivia questioned what the mission was achieving.”What’s the point?” she added. “Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride? I think it’s a bit gluttonous.”King also understands the criticism surrounding billionaire Bezos and the stance some have that this mission is just an ad for him and Blue Origin.”Listen, it is troubling to me, too,” she told CBS Mornings April 11. “There have been some questions and decisions that he’s made that I’ve actually gone, ‘Huh?’ But I think in this particular case, this is so much bigger than one man and one company. I’ve chosen to separate the two. It’s not a zero-sum game. You can do this on one hand and this on the other hand, and both things can be true.”

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