Pop star Katy Perry may need to update the lyrics to her hit song Firework to “Baby, you’re an astronaut.” On Monday, Perry is set to become one of the latest celebrities to visit space. Author and former journalist Lauren Sanchez is also part of Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission. Sanchez is the fiancé of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin.
NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, film producer Kerianne Flynn and CBS host Gayle King (Oprah Winfrey’s bestie) fill out the roster for the all-female crew.
This will be the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo spaceflight in 1963. Tereshkova was the first woman in space.
How to watch Katy Perry go to space
The New Shepard spacecraft will launch from West Texas. The launch window opens at 8:30 am CT on Monday, April 14. Blue Origin’s live coverage kicks off at 7 am on Youtube and on X.
Does New Shepard reach space?
The New Shepard crew capsule returned to the desert after the NS-24 mission.
There’s an ongoing debate about what represents space. For example, everyone agrees the International Space Station is in space but commercial rocket rides like what Blue Origin operates fall into a gray zone. One benchmark is the Karman line, an imagined line 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.
NASA recognizes “there’s really no clear boundary between where Earth’s atmosphere ends and outer space begins,” but says most scientists recognize the Karman line as the transition point to space. So unless you want to get into a nitpicky argument, Perry and the rest of the crew will be making a brief visit to space.
The crew will experience weightlessness after the spacecraft passes the Karman line. The return trip involves a parachute-assisted landing.
This will be the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program. Blue Origin has already flown 52 people into space, including Star Trek’s William Shatner, Good Morning America host Michael Strahan and Bezos.
