This morning, Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn departed Earth on a Blue Origin rocket, traversing the cosmos for about eight minutes before returning safely to the ground. The flight marks a historic moment: The group is the first all-female crew to head to space in over 60 years; the only other female-led mission was a solo journey in 1963.
During the flight, the women could be heard exclaiming over the hue of the moon and singing on the capsule feed. Both King and Perry kissed the ground upon landing back on Earth. It was “one of the smoothest flights we’ve had so far,” according to a
Ariane Cornell, Vice President of In-Space Systems. Onlookers for the launch included Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and Orlando Bloom, Perry’s fiancé.
In their exclusive ELLE digital cover ahead of the flight, the squad talked about what this experience means to them. “I read a stat that there’s a huge majority of middle school girls who decide not to pursue STEM fields, although they otherwise would have been interested, because they see them as male-dominated fields,” Bowe said. “So this representation really matters. It’s people seeing themselves and being able to show up authentically in their careers in the future.”
The Jeff Bezos-owned company Blue Origin was founded in 2000 and specializes in privatized space flights; today marks the rocketship New Shepard’s 31st mission, the 11th with travelers. The rocket also operates itself, and during their flight, the six women had the opportunity to experience zero gravity and look down at Earth below.
“I’m looking forward to weightlessness, seeing what that feels like. And then I’m looking forward to just seeing what space looks like,” King told ELLE prior to the flight. “Everybody who has gone to space says you are forever changed by it. I want to know what that means for me.”
The crew sees their mission as an opportunity to lift up other women. “I’m flying for my daughter, Daisy,” Perry told ELLE. “To inspire her to never have limits on her dreams and show her that any type of person can reach their dreams—no matter your background, your ethnicity, your economic situation, or your education level.”
Flynn echoed: “I feel honored to be one of the pioneers among these women to make this possible for future generations. I want to leave something for my son to be proud of and want to be an inspiration for any future generations.”
The crew’s unofficial leader is Sánchez, a journalist and philanthropist who organized the flight and who is also engaged to Bezos. She formed the team of women, all of whom come from different backgrounds: Perry is one of the world’s most accomplished pop stars; King is a revered journalist; Nguyen is an activist; Flynn is a filmmaker; and Bowe is a former rocket scientist.
For many of the women, going to space has always been a bucket-list item. Perry told ELLE she’d been “investigating all of the possible commercial options,” and Nguyen has long been vocal about her dream to journey to the stars. “It’s a dream come true, and for me it was a dream deferred,” Nguyen said. “I worked at NASA, I studied the stars—astrophysics at Harvard and MIT—but life got in the way. Gender-based violence is a big reason why so many women in STEM don’t continue on with their training, and I was one of those women. After I was sexually assaulted, I traded my telescope to fight for my rights as a sexual assault survivor. I drafted the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, passed it in Congress and at the United Nations. And then, after 10 years, I was like, I want to honor the person that I was before I was hurt.”
Following the flight, the group will host a press conference detailing their adventure, which will posted on Blue Origin’s YouTube channel.
