Katy Perry joins Gayle King and Jeff Bezos' fiancee on rocket to space
It seems all the preparations Katy Perry made to host the MTV Video Music Awards in 2017 are going to come in handy — this time on an actual trip to space.
"I’ve been training with @MTV in zero gravity, eating astronaut ice cream, and I’m on a group text with Buzz Aldrin and Neil deGrasse Tyson," she said then on Instagram, before donning an iridescent spacesuit and swinging on wires over the stage.
Now she'll be boarding Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, along with a few other celebrity and high-profile crewmates: CBS Mornings' Gayle King and Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez, who founded Black Ops Aviation, an aerial film and production company.
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The so-called NS-31 mission — which doesn't have a launch date but is expected to happen this spring — will be the 11th carrying passengers for the company. The spaceflight will travel more than 60 miles up in the sky to kiss the Kármán line, where Earth's atmosphere and outer space meet.
Perry and the all-female crew will count themselves among the United States' latest civilian astronauts. To date, Blue Origin has taken 52 people to the space boundary.
Rounding out the crew will be former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics scientist and social activist Amanda Nguyen, fashion-designer-turned-film-producer Kerianne Flynn, and Sánchez, who captured a lot of attention in January when she accompanied Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
"If someone would have told me that I would be able to go to space one day," Sánchez said in an Instagram reel, "I would have definitely, well, I don't know, laughed. I can't believe it's happening."
King, aka Oprah's bestie, is equally gobsmacked. When CBS announced her upcoming crew assignment, the network released a video with a montage of the morning host, including a clip of her talking to correspondent Mark Strassman at a prior launch.
"Gayle, sooner or later, we're going to get you up there," he said.
"Mark's got jokes this morning," King said.
It's unclear how much training the women will receive before the launch from Van Horn, Texas, or how much their seats cost. Neither Blue Origin nor CBS spokespeople responded to questions from Mashable.
In 2021, the company auctioned off the first ticket for New Shepard and donated the earnings to its foundation, Club for the Future, for space-focused charities. The winner of the seat paid $28 million, according to Blue Origin. But some guests have been able to ride for free.
Since initiating its human spaceflights, Blue Origin has become known for its onboard celebrities and providing short flights for wealthy passengers. The company sent Good Morning America host Michael Strahan up in December 2021. Prior to that, it flew the space captain of America's heart, Star Trek star William Shatner, who was among the oldest people to fly in space at the ripe age of 90. Ed Dwight, NASA's first Black astronaut candidate, also took a Blue Origin flight last year at the age of 90.
Former Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson was readying for a space journey in March 2022 but missed the opportunity after the launch date had to be rescheduled.
Blue Origin says this will be the first crew composed only of women since the Soviet Union cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.
Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds. Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email protected] or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers.
