Blue Origin successfully launched the New Shepard NS-31 mission at 1330 UTC on April 14, 2025, from Launch Site One in West Texas. This historic flight marked the first all-female crewed suborbital space mission since Valentina Tereshkova's solo flight in 1963.
On board were Perry, one of the best-selling pop stars of all time; Gayle King, co-host of the TV show "CBS Mornings"; former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, the founder and CEO of the technology company STEMBoard; filmmaker Kerianne Flynn; bioastronautics researcher, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, who became the first Vietnamese woman in space; and journalist and author Lauren Sánchez, who is also Bezos' fiancee. Sánchez organized the flight.
"I love this crew," Blue Origin's founder Jeff Bezos wrote on X.
New Shepard lifted off the pad at Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas, about 48 kilometers north of Van Horn. The rocket's booster returned 7.5 minutes after liftoff, making a vertical, powered touchdown on its landing pad as planned.
Meanwhile the upper stage or capsule, named RSS Kármán Line, reached a peak altitude of 106 kilometers, cruising above the 100-km-high Kármán Line, which most authorities, though arguably, recognize as the boundary of outer space. It landed back to earth 10 minutes and 21 seconds after liftoff.
The mission included a small payload from Teachers In Space for educational projects.
Perry and crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and got to see Earth against the blackness of space.
The six women sounded jubilant througout the flight, with cheers and screams as they landed.
"Look at the moon!" one crewmember said as they reached space.
"Oh my God, that's our pink moon!" what sounded like Perry replied.
'Wow!'
After the capsule landed, Bezos helped open the hatch, welcoming the crew back to earth.
Perry took a daisy flower to space with her in honor of her 4-year-old daughter. In a Blue Origin interview before launch, she teared up when thinking about her family.
"The message to my family is that I love them so much, and I'm so full of love, and I am so grateful to be representing a fearless female in my family," Perry said.
Perry held the daisy she took to space to the sky after leaving the capsule and kissed the ground after exiting.
The singer may now be the most famous person ever to fly to space. (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are certainly contenders, but they're in a different category, having gained their fame from their spaceflight.)
She's not the first celebrity that Blue Origin has sent to space, however: Actor William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Bezos himself have all ridden New Shepard to and from suborbital space.
"I've never been more proud of my friend than today. Never been more proud because this is bigger than just going to space," Winfrey said. "There's only one time that all the women are going up for the first time. You know, there will be other trips, but there's only one first time."
"Oh my God, that was amazing," King said as she hugged Bezos after landing. She kneeled on the ground and put her head to the Earth as she left the capsule.
"We just completed our 11th human spaceflight and the 31st flight of the New Shepard program," Blue Origin wrote on X. "The astronaut crew included Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez. Key stats from today’s New Shepard crewed NS-31 mission: The Crew Capsule reached an apogee of 346,802 ft AGL / 350,449 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL). The booster reached an apogee of 346,481 ft AGL / 350,128 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL). Official launch time was 8:30:00 AM CDT / 13:30:00 UTC. Capsule landing occurred at 8:40:21 AM CDT / 13:40:21 UTC. The mission elapsed time was 10 min 21 sec."
Monday's launch was the 11th crewed suborbital flight for Blue Origin and the third flight of the year. It was the 31st overall mission of the company's reusable New Shepard vehicle, hence the name. (The others have been uncrewed research flights).
NS-31 was the first all-female spaceflight since June 16, 1963, when the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova launched on a three-day mission to Earth orbit. Tereshkova flew by herself, however, so NS-31 was the first-ever multiperson human spaceflight not to feature a male crewmember.
