Blue Origin completes historic all-female space tourism trip

Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission completed a historic journey into space, carrying an all-female crew to the edge of the atmosphere, including entertainment reporter and partner of tycoon Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, journalist Gayler King, singer Katy Perry, and aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe.

The New Shepard crew capsule, designed with large windows so travelers can see the Earth from space, was greeted by Bezos when it touched down outside El Paso, Texas, at around 10:00 am.

Monday’s flight is the second all-female mission in history; the first woman to travel alone into space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova on the Soviet Vostok 6 mission in 1963.

Bezos, the world’s second richest man and owner of e-commerce giant Amazon, has pushed space tourism with Blue Origin, selling experiences 250,000 dollars a ticket.

The New Shepard spacecraft was designed specifically for this purpose. It made its first commercial flight into space in July 2021.

After landing, Bezos opened the capsule door, and Sánchez was the first passenger to exit. The mogul greeted her with a kiss and a hug.

“We’re all in this together. Like, that’s all I could think about. We’re so connected, more connected than we realize,” Sánchez said as she stepped out of the space capsule.

Behind her, the other five crew members came out one by one. Singer Katy Perry knelt and blew a kiss to the dry ground of West Texas as she exited the spacecraft, as did journalist Gayle King.

“I feel super connected to love; this experience has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you, how much love you have to give, and how loved you are until the day you launch,” said Perry.

Gender-based violence researcher and activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn were also on board.

To show their support and underline the historic nature of the launch, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and broadcaster Oprah Winfrey were at the Texas launch site.

Crew members reached zero gravity three minutes after the lift-off and shortly afterward crossed the Kármán line, the boundary between the atmosphere and space.

It is the 12th mission for the Blue Shepard rocket. The rocket that carried them into space returned briefly to the launch pad at 7.20 minutes and landed vertically, while the capsule touched down 10 minutes after lift-off.