Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren Sánchez to Fly Into Space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Next Mission – Variety
By
Todd Spangler
NY Digital Editor
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.
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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.
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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.
In 2021, William Shatner became the oldest person to travel into space, at the age of 90, on a Blue Origin flight. In his autobiography “Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder,” the actor said the experience left him with “among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered.” Earlier that same year, Bezos traveled to near space on a Blue Origin rocket in a flight that lasted about 10 minutes.
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