The first all-female space flight in over 60 years has flown and returned today, carrying Katy Perry and five other women on an 11-minute flight into space and back.
The Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin NS-31 flight was organised by the billionaire’s fiancee, Lauren Sánchez, who rallied her chosen crewmates in the name of inspiring women. It is the second all-female space flight, following the 1963 solo orbit Valentina Tereshkova. The Soviet astronaut spend three days in space.
Today’s fully automated flight, which left from West Texas in the United States, launched at 9:30am ET (around 11:30pm AEST) taking its travellers 106km into the air before landing safely 11 minutes later.
In mid-air, Perry reportedly sung ‘What A Wonderful World’, which she described as an act of camaraderie.
“I think that it’s not about me, it’s not about singing my songs, it’s about a collective energy in there,” Perry said, per ABC News. “It’s about us, it’s about making space for future women.”
Empowering women to pursue careers in space exploration has been a key message for the trip, if you ask the famous women involved.
However, in case there was any confusion around the definition of feminism in 2025, this is not it.
Despite a significant PR effort—a lot of which focused on the ‘glamour’ of the all-female passengers, who donned Monse-designed suits and fresh blow-waves for the journey—a celebrity mission to space in this climate is not activism, feminism or equality. It’s spectacle. It’s advertising for a commercial space travel company, run by the richest man in the world.
Despite this flight featuring some accomplished women, some of whom advocate for important causes (including Amanda Nguyen, a scientist who champions survivors of sexual violence), let us not be fooled into thinking the all-female space flight had anything to do with feminism and furthering the cause of women in space exploration.
What Was The Purpose Of Katy Perry’s Space Flight?
If you’ve been following the Blue Origin NS-31 mission, you’ll have heard a lot of talk about the number of women who’ve been in space versus men. You’ll probably read the statistic that only 12 per cent of people who have gone to space are women, and this flight hopes to push the needle, encouraging future generations to join the cause.
But did Katy Perry going to space do anything for their effort? Let us take a moment for the women who actually do work in aero-sciences, who were not present on Sanchez’s celebrity space flight. There were no funds raised for them. They were not highlighted.
If anything, the purpose was to advertise Blue Origin, its functionality and its safety. It handpicked successful women, some of whom stand for important causes, and used them to show off what Blue Origin can do for its customers.
What Is Blue Origin?
Blue Origin is a space exploration company, founded by Jeff Bezos.
Per its website, Blue Origin’s mission is to “build a road to space”. “[Blue Origin] envisions a future where millions of people will live and work in space with a single-minded purpose: to restore and sustain Earth, our blue origin,” it says. It hopes to make this more affordable. So far, it has run 31 flights, some of which were made available to members of the public. It has reportedly carried 60 people on a similar journey to that experienced by Perry etc, with the first commercial flight fetching a seat price of US$28 million.
Who Was On The Blue Origin Flight
There were six women on the Blue Origin space flight. This included:
Lauren Sánchez
Lauren Sánchez, 55, is a former television journalist. She’s a licensed helicopter pilot, and founded the Black Ops Aviation, which provides helicopter joy flights and aerial filming opportunities.
With interests in environmental activism, Sánchez is the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, a philanthropic venture to fight the effects of climate change. She’s also the fiancée of Amazon and Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry, 40, is a pop star, famous for hits like ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and ‘Teenage Dream’. She is engaged to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a daughter, Daisy.
Gayle King
Gayle King, 70, is a journalist and television host, perhaps more famous for being the best friend of Oprah Winfrey. Despite taking part in the Blue Origin mission, King has a fear of flying and was terrified before jetting off into space.
Aisha Bowe
Aisha Bowe, 38, is an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur. She’s a former NASA scientist, who now runs tech and STEM start-ups.
Amanda Nguyen
Amanda Nguyen, 33, is a sexual assault survivors activist. She’s an astronautics research science, and has worked with NASA and other space research bodies. She’s the CEO of Rise, a sexual assault civil rights not-for-profit, and has drafted legislation advocating for the rights of assault survivors.
Kerianne Flynn
Kerianne Flynn is a film producer with credits on three films: The Automatic Hate (2015), This Changes Everything (2018), and Lilly (2024)
How Long Did The All-Female Blue Origin Flight Last?
The flight last around 11 minutes, spending about four minutes in space in total.
What Happened On Katy Perry’s Space Flight?
The six women were flown 106km into space (about 92 miles) to the Karman Line, which represents the border of “space”. They experienced zero-gravity weightlessness while up there. Bowe held a patch representing her Bahamian heritage, while Perry clutched a daisy, representing her daughter (whose name is Daisy).
Upon retaking their seats after the zero-gravity portion of the flight, Perry reportedly sang ‘What A Wonderful World’. King said they had requested that she sing her own hits, like ‘Firework’ or ‘Roar’, but Perry declined, saying she was moved to sing about the world.
How Much Did Katy Perry’s Blue Origin Flight Cost?
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his team have declined to say how much the flight cost, and who exactly funded it.
Seats on previous expeditions on the Blue Origin New Shepard jet have fetched up to US$28 million for a ticket. While ticket prices are not advertised, a deposit of US$150,000 is required to reserve a seat.
Criticism Of The Blue Origin Flight
The Blue Origin flight has been panned by critics who have labelled it a shameless publicity stunt. Actress Olivia Munn was one of the first stars to openly criticise the mission.
“What are they doing?” she said on Today With Jenna & Friends April 3. “I know this probably isn’t the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.”
Since then, Amy Schumer and Olivia Wilde have both mocked the flight, posting memes and videos to social media.
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