Source: Gilbert Flores / Getty
Broadcast journalist and television personality Gayle King is joining an all-female crew that is going to space.
CBS announced on Thursday, Feb. 27 that Blue Origin, the space company founded by businessman Jeff Bezos, will send a crew of women to space. Participants will include King, musician Katy Perry, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyễn, NASA aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, who is engaged to Bezos.
Blue Origin says this is the 11th human flight for Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, and that it has flown 52 people so far. Other crew members since its first flight in 2012 include Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan, actor William Shatner, and Bezos himself.
King said on CBS Mornings that when she was initially asked to join the flight around Thanksgiving 2024, she said no. But after discussing the idea with her “cabinet” — best friend Oprah Winfrey, daughter Kirby Bumpus, and son William Bumpus Jr. — she decided that the opportunity was too big to pass up. She said that the launch was a chance to follow through on a promise she made to herself for her 70th birthday, which she celebrated in December.
“I wanted to open myself up to new adventures and step out of my comfort zone,” King said. She was surprised that Winfrey was on board with the launch, but she said that her longtime pal made a great point. “She said, ‘I think if you don’t do it, when they all come back and you had the opportunity to do it, you’ll be kicking yourself.’ She was right.”
The crew met each other for the first time on Wednesday, and have started a group chat to communicate with each other in the months ahead. King said that she was impressed by each of the women, but that she felt that she stood out because going to space wasn’t the lifelong goal for her that it was for her compatriots on the launch.
“All these people, this has been their dream; it was never my dream,” she said. “Someone said, “maybe you need to have new dreams, Gayle.”
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Gayle King To Join All-Female Space Crew
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