Jeff Bezos‘ aerospace company launched its NS-31 mission today (April 14), sending the pop star and her five female crewmates on a brief mission to suborbital space. Liftoff occurred at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site.
It 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.YOU MAY LIKE
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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.
