Blue Origin’s New Shepard flies toward space carrying Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan, Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard, and four other civilians in December 2021 near Van Horn, Texas. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Singer Katy Perry, CBS anchor Gayle King and other well-known women set off to space on Monday morning in Blue Origin’s 11th human spaceflight mission.
Why it matters: This is the first all-woman space crew in history.
- The flight was led by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ commercial space company.
- Minutes after taking off, the crew experienced weightlessness. Then they soon safely returned to Earth.
Zoom in: The passengers aboard were:
- Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund and a former journalist
- Katy Perry, the biggest-selling woman artist in Capitol Records’ history
- Amanda Nguyễn, a bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist
- Aisha Bowe: a former NASA rocket scientist
- Gayle King: co-host of CBS Mornings
- Kerianne Flynn, a film producer
Context: Sánchez has long planned to helm an all-women Blue Origin mission.
- “I’m so afraid, but I’m also so excited about it,” King said when the mission was announced.
Watch the mission:
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