Pop Star Katy Perry made history on April 14, 2025, by taking part in the first ever all female spaceflight crew since 1963. They boarded Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, mission NS-31 in Texas at 8:30 a.m. The all female crew, the first one in 60 years, included six women with unique interests, two of whom, Perry and Gayle King, being known celebrities. King is an American television personality, author, and broadcast journalist for CBS News where she is featured as a co-host on CBS Morning. The rest of the crew included American aerospace engineer and STEM advocate Aisha Bowe, American social entrepreneur and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former human resources executive and film producer Kerianne Flynn and American journalist and pilot Lauren Sanchez, who is engaged to the Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos.
Prior to the mission the team had a few days of intense and condensed training for the flight. This included training in emergencies, fitness, and zero gravity procedures. The price of this journey for Perry is undisclosed but most likely she did not pay for her trip. Blue Origin’s policy does not reveal the actual price of a ticket, but there is a required $150,000 deposit to start the process.
During this flight to space and back, which lasted about 11 minutes, Perry brought a daisy flower in honor of her four year old daughter, Daisy. She also sang Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” while up in space, and many were surprised as they expected her to sing one of her hit songs like “Roar” or “Firework.” After landing and returning back to Earth safely, Perry kissed the ground and shared “it was the highest high” and that she will most definitely write a song about the experience.
This flight’s mission was said to be celebrating and promoting female representation in space exploration, but many have criticized it because of its environmental effects. One of her harshest critics was English singer and actress Lily Allen. “Katy Perry and her mates all going up to space for 12 minutes, I mean, what the hell was all that about? . . . Why?” she said. “It’s so out of touch. We’re on the brink of recession. People are really struggling to make ends meet and put food on their tables. And the fact that they’ve made it some sort of feminist thing…”
Allen later on apologized about the things said about Perry: “There was actually no need for me to bring her name into it, and it was my own internalised misogyny. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and it was just completely unnecessary to pile on with her. I mean, I disagree with what it was that they did, but she wasn’t the only person that did it,” Allen shared with her listeners on BBC podcast “Miss Me.” The crew members shared in response that the mission was to inspire young women to pursue careers and dreams in the science and technology fields. The mission was a message to the evolving role of women in space exploration.
