Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launched his fiancée Lauren Sanchez into space Monday with an all-female celebrity crew that included singer-songwriter Katy Perry and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.
It was the latest wave in space tourism, where more of the rich and famous than ever before — or lucky and well-connected — can enter the zero-gravity realm traditionally dominated by professional astronauts. The New Shepard rocket blasted off on a quick up-and-down trip from West Texas. The fringes of space beckoned some 105 kilometres up, promising a few precious minutes of weightlessness. Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and former TV journalist, invited the others along for the 10-minute, fully automated flight.
In addition to Perry and King, also sharing the ride were film producer Kerianne Flynn; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA engineer who started her own companies to promote science education; and Amanda Nguyen, a scientist who studied planets around other stars and now advocates for survivors of sexual violence. It was the 11th human space flight for the Washington state-based company, founded by Bezos in 2000 after making a fortune with Amazon. Bezos strapped in for Blue Origin’s first space tourist flight in 2021 and accompanied the latest crew to the pad.
The celebrity launch was the first U.S. space flight where women filled each seat. The only other all-female crew in 64 years of human space flight was back in 1963, when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova launched by herself, becoming the first woman in space. Tereshkova spent three days off the planet. Even after the latest launch, women represent barely 15 per cent of the more than 700 people who have travelled into space. Sanchez said she deliberately chose women to launch with her, each of them eager to inspire both the young and old to dream big, and even commissioned special flight suits.