Pop star Katy Perry and five other women launched into space aboard a Blue Origin rocket on Monday and returned safely to Earth, marking the first all-female spaceflight since 1963.
The crew lifted off at 9:31 a.m. ET from a private launch site in West Texas. The flight reached the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary of space – before descending back to Earth. The trip lasted about 11 minutes, during which passengers experienced a brief moment of weightlessness.
The mission was conducted by Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos. The six-person crew included Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez, CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
Emotional moments after landing
Perry, who carried a daisy into space in honor of her daughter, kissed the ground alongside King after landing. “I feel super connected to love,” Perry said. King recalled that during the descent, Perry sang Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
first video of katy perry floating in space pic.twitter.com/zqytfDvS99
— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) April 14, 2025
Moments after touchdown, Bezos opened the capsule hatch and greeted Sánchez and her fellow crew members with hugs and kisses. “Congratulations, and welcome back to Earth,” a commentator said as the capsule landed about two miles from the launchpad.
Powerful liftoff witnessed by celebrities
The rocket, named New Shepard, reached a top speed of 2,300 mph – three times the speed of sound – before separating from its booster. At its highest point, roughly 62 miles above the Earth, one passenger shouted, “Oh my goddess.” Another was heard saying, “I love you, Jeff Bezos.”
The launch drew a crowd of well-known supporters, including Oprah Winfrey, who was on hand to support King. “This is bigger than just going to space,” Winfrey said. It’s about overcoming fear and becoming the fullest version of yourself. She was seen wiping away tears as the rocket soared.
Crew reflects on the view and meaning
In a post-flight interview, Sánchez described the experience as deeply emotional. “The Earth was so quiet but also really alive,” she said. “It makes me just want to hug everybody.”
Reflecting on her return, she added tearfully, “I had to come back. I wanted to come back. I’m getting married.” Sánchez and Bezos are set to marry this summer in Venice. The alternative, she added, “would be a bummer for me.”
“I think this experience has show me you never know how much love is inside of you, like how much love you have to give and how loved you are…” — Katy Perry talks about her experience flying to space with Blue Origin. pic.twitter.com/brNAV6ajzh
— Katy Perry Today (@todaykatyp) April 14, 2025
Katy Perry called the spaceflight “the highest high.” She said the journey was about more than just space travel. “It’s about surrender to the unknown, it’s trust,” she said. “It felt like meditation.” She added, “What you’re doing is really finding the love for yourself. I’m really feeling that divine feminine right now.”
Preparation and nerves ahead of launch
Ahead of the launch, Perry, 40, said she had been preparing by listening to Cosmos by Carl Sagan and reading about string theory. “I’ve always been interested in astrophysics and interested in astronomy and astrology and the stars,” she told the Associated Press.
“We are all made of stardust, and we all come from the stars.”
King, who expressed nervousness before liftoff, told reporters she struggled with being called an astronaut. “I in no means feel like an astronaut,” she said.
The 11th human mission for New Shepard
This marked the 11th human flight for Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard program. The company has now flown 52 people to space, including repeat passengers.
While the all-female flight was celebrated as a milestone for gender representation in space, some questioned its purpose.
Critics have raised concerns that it served as a promotional effort for Bezos’s space tourism venture, which supports Blue Origin’s broader commercial space program.
Actor Olivia Munn voiced skepticism during a guest appearance on Today with Jenna & Friends on NBC. “I know this is not the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now,” she said. She also called the flight “a bit gluttonous.”
Cost and sustainability are still in question
Blue Origin does not disclose the average cost of a seat on its rockets. According to the company’s website, interested passengers must place a $150,000 refundable deposit to begin the order process.
In 2021, a seat on New Shepard sold for $28 million at an auction. That same year, actor William Shatner flew aboard the rocket as a guest, free of charge. Reuters reported in 2018 that Blue Origin aimed to charge at least $200,000 per passenger.
The company says its long-term goal is to lower the cost of space access through reusable rockets. But experts caution that affordable space tourism is still a distant dream.
Loizos Heracleous, professor of strategy at Warwick Business School in the UK, estimates that each New Shepard launch costs between $1 million and $3 million.
“Even ignoring development cost, there are six seats so each passenger would have to pay around half a million USD for this to be a financially viable ongoing business,” Heracleous said.