(Bloomberg) — Blue Origin is set to launch a high-profile, all-women crew on its flagship space tourism rocket Monday, bringing crew members including pop star Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sánchez to the edge of space and back.
The flight is set to launch at 9:30 a.m. New York time from West Texas on a roughly 11-minute trip for a quick experience of weightlessness. The other members on board are CBS’s Gayle King, producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and advocate for survivors of sexual violence.
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Sánchez first announced plans to fly to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with an entirely female crew in 2023, when speaking with Vogue. At the time, she said her fellow passengers were all remarkable and “paving the way for women.”
Other celebrities have also taken the quick trip to space, including Bezos himself in July 2021, actor William Shatner — who was 90 years old at the time — in October 2021 and Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan in December 2021.
Blue Origin’s space tourism model —— and the customers who pay for it —— have come under scrutiny recently from actress Olivia Munn, who called the experience “a bit gluttonous” at a time of economic hardship for many Americans. While Blue Origin does not disclose its price for a seat on one of its tourism flights, rival space tourism company Virgin Galactic charges around $600,000 for a similar experience.
The company’s 11th human spaceflight comes after Blue Origin successfully completed another trip to orbit on its newer heavy-lift rocket New Glenn in January and subsequently trimmed about 10% of its workforce in the following weeks. Following the layoffs, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said that the company is looking to the future, including landing an uncrewed vehicle on the moon in 2025 and increasing the cadence of New Glenn and New Shepard launches.
(Bloomberg) — Blue Origin is set to launch a high-profile, all-women crew on its flagship space tourism rocket Monday, bringing crew members including pop star Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sánchez to the edge of space and back.
The flight is set to launch at 9:30 a.m. New York time from West Texas on a roughly 11-minute trip for a quick experience of weightlessness. The other members on board are CBS’s Gayle King, producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and advocate for survivors of sexual violence.
Follow The Big Take daily podcast wherever you listen.
Sánchez first announced plans to fly to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with an entirely female crew in 2023, when speaking with Vogue. At the time, she said her fellow passengers were all remarkable and “paving the way for women.”
Other celebrities have also taken the quick trip to space, including Bezos himself in July 2021, actor William Shatner — who was 90 years old at the time — in October 2021 and Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan in December 2021.
Blue Origin’s space tourism model —— and the customers who pay for it —— have come under scrutiny recently from actress Olivia Munn, who called the experience “a bit gluttonous” at a time of economic hardship for many Americans. While Blue Origin does not disclose its price for a seat on one of its tourism flights, rival space tourism company Virgin Galactic charges around $600,000 for a similar experience.
The company’s 11th human spaceflight comes after Blue Origin successfully completed another trip to orbit on its newer heavy-lift rocket New Glenn in January and subsequently trimmed about 10% of its workforce in the following weeks. Following the layoffs, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said that the company is looking to the future, including landing an uncrewed vehicle on the moon in 2025 and increasing the cadence of New Glenn and New Shepard launches.
