Going into space has never been a dream of mine. To be more precise: it scares me sh-tless. My heart rate goes up just imagining having to deal with the vastness of it, all while being painfully aware of just how far away you are from your own planet. I have plenty of existential thoughts of “why are we here?” with my feet firmly on the ground of Mother Earth, thankyouverymuch. And so much can go wrong! Which leads us into yesterday’s announcement from Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin (the one whose team got to meet with Trump reportedly in exchange for Bezos killing The Washington Post’s Kamala endorsement). Blue Origin is about to have the first-ever all-woman space mission, and luckily I am not on the crew manifest! Instead, Katy Perry, Gayle King, and the future Mrs. Bezos are among those boldly going where no woman has gone before… at least, not via a Blue Origin ship sans any men. Variety has more on the starry lineup:
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, is sending an all-women crew into space on its next flight — including singer Katy Perry, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King and Lauren Sánchez, who is Bezos’ fiancée.
The company on Thursday announced the six people flying on the NS-31 mission, set to launch in the spring of 2025. The crew also includes Bahamian-American aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn, whose credits include “This Changes Everything” (2018), about the history of women in Hollywood, and “Lilly” (2024), a tribute to fair-pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter.
According to Blue Origin, Sánchez “brought the mission together. She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come.” The company described Sánchez as an “Emmy Award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, pilot, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Vice Chairperson of the Bezos Earth Fund.”
King, in announcing her joining the Blue Origin flight in a segment Thursday on “CBS Mornings,” said, “I don’t know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time. It’s like how I felt about to deliver a baby.” King, 70, said she consulted with her children and longtime friend and business partner Oprah Winfrey before committing to the spaceflight.
The mission will be the 11th human flight for Blue Origin’s New Shepard program and the 31st in its history. The flight will mark the first all-female flight crew since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963. To date, the New Shepard program has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, boundary that separates Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
Well this was very informative; I had no idea Lauren Sánchez was a journalist, bestselling author, pilot, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and chairperson. Bully for her, and I can’t wait to see what bustier she wears for the aeronautical trip. Mostly, though, I sincerely hope for all the women aboard that the sizable layoffs Blue Origin has just undertaken don’t in any way compromise the safety of the mission. Earlier this month, Blue Origin’s chief executive Dave Limp — a former Amazon executive with no aerospace background — boasted at a conference that Bezos brought him over to Blue Origin because “He said he didn’t think Blue needed another rocket scientist… What we needed was a little bit more organization, a little more decisiveness, some manufacturing expertise.” So, what? Even though engineers have been fired, at least the company was decisive about it? Ladies: it’s not too late to back out! (Just ask Pete Davidson!) And instead how about we film a roundtable or podcast of these dynamic women? And Lauren, too.
Is this supposed to focus attention away from what’s going on elsewhere with Bezos like at WaPo?
I’d think it’s been in the works for a while, but the timing of the announcement…yeah.
We all know who you are, Jeff.
All that silicone under pressure …
William Shatner was very moved by his trip aboard Blue Origin. I’d love to see Mother Earth from space.
Silicone in space was my first thought too.
I am fascinated by all things space. Two neighbors, engineers, were involved with ESA’s part in constructing the ISS, one went on to work on Hubble. A fellow student, a volcanologist, was aboard the ISS twice, once as the commander of the mission.
So, in theory, I’d like to know where I have to sign up. With the sad state of pretty much everything in the US right now, I’d rather run in the opposite direction though, to hide.
Is the silicone going to move ? That sounds scary and gross.
I have a bad feeling about this. I hope it gets scrubbed. The timing is terrible–it’s essentially a multimillion dollar horsey ride. Private companied have little accountability and can cut corners–one of these days a disaster is coming. I don’t want the disaster to be this flight–that would be a way to ground women forever, even though at least 4 of the women are essentially passengers.
I hope a technical problem happens before hand that scrubs the mission. Seriously. The time for space tourism isn’t now. Even if the mission’s a success–meaning they get up and down okay–it’s still bad news.
🎯
HARD pass!
I don’t get the desire to do this. Are they that bored with their multi-millionaire/billionaire lives that going into space or plunging into the dark depths of the ocean in a submarine are the only things that will excite them anymore?
I think a lot of it is just ego. They want something that the other rich people do not have and that normal people can not even dream about. Money could be better spent else where but one thing I have learned is that the new rich in this country do not care at all about contributing to the world. They just want toys and bragging material
It’s pretty much that, life gets boring when you can have anything you want whenever you want it without any effort. I’d recommend donating all that money and start again from scratch while making the average citizen’s income, that could bring a thrill, no? but apparently hoarding money and burning the equivalent of the budget of 7 African countries into the stratosphere is what they choose to do.
But hey, if all the billionaires and their girlfriends went to go on a journey to Mars tomorrow, I’m going to encourage them. Us plebe would do better without them
I feel a surprising amount of malice towards this endeavor.
I wouldn’t call Sanchez a journalist. From what I recall she was mostly an entertainment reporter with stints on Extra and Good Day LA being her biggest gigs
Katy Perry doing anything to regain some relevance.
Lauren Sanchez to gain any relevance other than being a blowup doll sidekick.
Sad about Gayle King.
Good luck, ladies
This has whiffs of a submarine trip to me…ominous and I really hope I am wrong.
Wow, they’re really hyping up Sanchez. Congratulations I guess.
This has never been a dream of mine. I would be so terrified. Especially after watching the Challenger disaster.
Hopefully, Katy Perry gets left behind up there. 😈
I once went sailing around the med in a small boat 2 man crew 5 of us on board. one night lying on deck staring up into space looking at the stars i realised how insignifcant we were in the grand scheme of things.would i want to go to space yeah sure, but i remember after 3 days on board the boat i was desperate to touch solid ground so i think its a hard pass for me
Good to see they’re putting as much effort into talking up this tourist flight as they are Sanchez’s ‘credentials’. ‘Inspire generations to come’ my a$$.
Nice try to distract us from what Bezos is doing to support the government and compete with the other billionaire who flies his rockets into space.
This is honestly the dumbest thing ever. What is the point of sending nonscientists into space?
$$$$
Privileged people flaunting themselves, calling it ‘aspirational’ or whatever.
Don’t respect anyone glorifying what Bezos does.
They are all sad to me
Mixed feelings as to whether this should be a one way trip
I really am gobsmacked at all the celebrities that are willing to cozy up with Bezos (see also Ivanka Trump or any of that ilk). Like, STOP treating these people as humans. They are not.
Rich people will cozy up with rich people, we have to stop being surprised and disappointed about this. None of these multimillionaires are on our side or give a crap about us and our daily struggles. It’s easy to not see a problem with fascists when your life and wellbeing aren’t on the line and when you continue to make a ton of money.
The whole thing is gross. And Bezos is a POS.
I’m assuming they still just go up, up, up, break atmosphere, and then come right back down. This made sense, the first time NASA did it, over 50+ years ago. Now, it’s just rich people wasting money.
What a clever way to break up. Send her to space and have an accident.
I’m not afraid of the vastness or facing existential thoughts, but I don’t trust the humans running it or their technology! I wish them all the best, but I have an ominous feeling about it. I hope I’m wrong.