Pop star Katy Perry is ready to “shoot across the sky” this spring when she lifts off as a part of a six-member, all-female crew on Blue Origin’s subsequent area flight, the corporate introduced Thursday.
As if answering the decision of her hit track “E.T.,” Perry will embark on a star-studded journey alongside journalist Lauren Sanchez, who’s Blue Origin proprietor Jeff Bezos’s fiancee, and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.
Blue Origin started launching rich vacationers and celebrities into area in 2021 aboard its New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the primary American in area.
To date, the corporate has flown 52 folks to suborbital area throughout 10 crewed missions.
New Shepard missions launch from the corporate’s Launch Site One in West Texas.
Flights usually final simply 10 or 11 minutes from liftoff to touchdown, with passengers experiencing a couple of minutes of microgravity as their capsule soars past the Karman line — the internationally acknowledged boundary of area, 100 kilometers above sea stage.
The rocket booster makes an upright vertical touchdown, whereas the capsule deploys parachutes for a delicate landing within the Texas desert.
Also on board will probably be analysis scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and movie producer Kerianne Flynn.
Past luminaries aboard New Shepard embody “Star Trek” legend William Shatner, in addition to Bezos himself, who flew on the inaugural crewed flight.
Ticket costs stay undisclosed, although celebrities are sometimes given complimentary seats.
This mission will mark the primary all-female spaceflight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963.
Like Elon Musk — the one individual wealthier than him — Jeff Bezos has an everlasting ardour for area.
But whereas Musk desires of colonizing Mars, Bezos envisions shifting heavy trade off-planet onto floating area platforms to protect Earth, “humanity’s blue origin.”
In January, the corporate efficiently launched its big New Glenn rocket for the primary time — a vital step in its enlargement into the profitable business launch sector.
Blue Origin already holds a NASA contract to construct a lunar lander for one of many upcoming Artemis missions, which can return Americans to the Moon.
New Glenn can even help the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite tv for pc web constellation designed to rival Musk’s Starlink.
© 2025 AFP