The event marked the first all-women spaceflight in more than 60 years.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket launched an all-women crew into space on April 14 as part of New Shepard Mission NS-31. The event marked the first all-women spaceflight in over 60 years since the previous all-women spaceflight took place in 1963. Back then, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to do a three-day solo flight in space aboard the Vostok 6. Since that time, women have flown alongside male crewmates, but never as an all-women crew until now.
Who was on the Blue Origin space flight?
The launch had six people aboard, including pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) advocate Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, non-profit leader and film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez. They all lifted off from West Texas at approxiamately 6:30 a.m. PT.
During the flight, the crew ascended at more than three times the speed of sound and crossed the Kármán line, which is a boundary of space that's 100 km above the planet. There, they briefly experienced weightlessness before landing back on Earth.
Photo | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
 | Aisha Bowe | Bowe is a former NASA rocket scientist. She's also an entrepreneur, global STEM advocate, the CEO of STEMBoard, and founder of LINGO. She's the first person of Bahamian descent to visit space as well. |
 | Amanda Nguyễn | Nguyễn is a bioastronautics research scientist and Harvard graduate. She worked on NASA's STS-135 and the Kepler exoplanet mission. She's also the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut. |
 | Gayle King | King is an award-winning journalist, the co-host of CBS Mornings, the editor-at-large of Oprah Daily, and the host Gayle King in the House. |
 | Katy Perry | Perry is a well-known pop star and Capitol Records’ top-selling music artist of all time. In addition to being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the Firework Foundation, she's an advocate for children's health, education, equality, and protection. |
 | Kerianne Flynn | Flynn is a former fashion and human resources professional turned non-profit leader and film producer. She's now involved with organizations like The High Line and Hudson River Park. |
 | Lauren Sánchez | Sánchez is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and pilot. She's also the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund and founder of Black Ops Aviation. |
“I felt super connected to love,” Katy Perry told Reuters after landing on Earth. She held up the daisy she had brought to space to remind her of her daughter as well. The pop star then kissed the ground in celebration.
She continued, "Daisies are common flowers, but they grow through any condition. They are resilient. They are powerful. They are strong."
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Blue Origin NS-31 mission stats
According to Blue Origin, the mission's elapsed time was 10 minutes and 21 seconds. Blue Origin provided some extra details about the mission as well, including how the crew capsule and booster each reached an altitude of around 106 km before safely returning to Earth.
- Official launch time: 6:30 a.m. PT
- Mission elapsed time: 10 minutes and 21 seconds
- Crew capsule apogee: 346,802 ft AGL / 350,449 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
- Booster apogee: 346,481 ft AGL / 350,128 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
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