Pop star Katy Perry is set to blast into space minutes from now aboard Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. She held hands with the rest of the female crew and prayed ahead of entering the capsule.
The first all-female commercial space flight has the pop sensation on board along with Lauren Sánchez, Bezos’ wife-to-be, and four other women. Bezos, who himself has been into space, told his wife-to-be and the crew: “I’m so excited for you, I don’t wanna get off, i wanna go with you. And when you get back, I can’t wait to hear how it’s changed you. I love all of you, see you soon, godspeed.” Gayle King, co-host of ‘CBS Mornings’, Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist, and Kerianne Flynn, a movie producer, are joining the 11 minute flight to the edge of space and back. The crew is scheduled to launch into space at 9.30am eastern time – 2.30pm UK time – from Blue Origin’s launch site in Van Horn, Texas.
Speaking ahead of her trip, Perry, 40, said: “I’m really excited… We are all made of stardust and it’ll be exciting to see them twinkle from that site and have such an appreciation for Mother Earth when we see it in that way. I am talking to myself every day going: You’re brave, you’re bold, you’re doing this to ensure so many different people – but especially young girls – to go ‘I’ll go into space in the future. No limitations’.”
The group will spend four minutes floating in zero gravity before they descend in the capsule under parachutes and land in the Texas desert.
Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian were seen at the launch site to support their friend Lauren Sánchez, who organised the trip. World-famous ‘momager’ Kris said she was “so proud” of Sánchez and wanted to be there to see the “unique experience.”
“We’re here to support our girlfriend and our friends, and I never thought we’d be talking to you from a space launch for sure,” Kris said on the Blue Origin live stream of the launch.
Kim Kardashian was notably absent from the launch, with Kris explaining that she had to stay home to study for law school. Khloe added: “This is a day in history and it is so empowering. Dream big, wish for the stars and one day you could maybe be among them.”
Khloe added that she was given tips from Blue Origin staff for the launch viewing experience: “I love the messaging that we keep receiving from the staff here at Blue Origin is, don’t film it through your phones. Look through your eyes. Be as present as possible.”
Pop princess Katy Perry has been pictured ringing the iconic Blue Origin bell before heading into the capsule for her space flight. The crew appeared to take a moment to huddle together, holding hands in what looks like a locker room, before making their way to the capsule.
Amazon owner and Blue Origin’s founder Jeff Bezos gave his fiancée Lauren Sánchez a message before she and her fellow female crew headed into space about the “most amazing” and “most profound experience”.
Bezos, who himself has been into space, told his wife-to-be and the crew: “I’m so excited for you, I don’t wanna get off, i wanna go with you. And when you get back, I can’t wait to hear how it’s changed you. I love all of you, see you soon, godspeed.”
Katy Perry took to X to share a three-word message for fans ahead of her flight into space today. Writing on the platform, she said simply “I LOVE YOU”.
As the crew entered the capsule they rang a silver bell, a tradition to “let the stars know that we’ve got some people heading their way”, according to a member of Blue Origin’s staff. The bell hands below a quote from Alan Shepard, the astronaut the rocket is named after which reads: “Light this candle”.
The crew have been seen leaving Blue Origin’s astronaut training centre in West Texas as they made their way to the launch site. Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez and Kerianne Flynn posed for a quick photo together before getting into a car,w ith Aisha Bowe seen hanging out of a car window with pop princess Perry.
The pair waved to a small crowd gathered at a site before Amazon billionaire and Sánchez’s fiancé Jeff Bezos, who owns Blue Origin, began driving it away slowly.
Speaking to her followers on Instagram in a video, the Roar singer declared she will ‘sing in space’. Writing in the caption of the video, the pop icon said: “I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality.
“The Taking Up Space Crew launches tomorrow morning at 7am CT and I am SO honored to be alongside 5 other incredible and inspiring women as we become the first ever all female flight space crew!”
Speaking to her followers, she showed a tour of a training capsule they had used in the lead up to the flight, showing her seat before saying “here on the New Shepard” in a sing-song voice. Following this, she said: “I think I’m gonna sing. I’m gonna sing a little bit. I gotta sing in space.”
Katy Perry has said she was given “confirmation” by the universe that she should go ahead and take part in Blue Origin’s historic space flight. In a video posted to Instagram before the launch, the singer shared an insight into the capsule the crew had spent two days training in, pointing out her seat, which she said was ‘number 2’.
She revealed her call name for the flight was ‘Feather’ before showing the seats for “all of my astronaut girly friends”. She explained that she is “always looking for little confirmations from the heavens, from my guides, from my angels, from my higher self.”
“When I’m looking for it, it’s pretty loud,” she said. During training, the Firework singer said she spotted to unexpected coincidences linked to her mum’s nicknames for her.
“When I was invited to come on this voyage, I looked up the capsule. On the very front of it is the outline in the shape of a feather and when I saw that it was like a total confirmation because my mom has always called me feather. And so I’m in space training today and there’s a lot to digest. We’re almost finished with the day and they showed us the capsule and we run simulations in another capsule and tested the noise and what to expect and all these different things and they reveal the capsule name.
The capsule’s name is Tortoise. A wave, just the most energetic wave, just shot through my body. And I was like, ‘What? This capsule’s name is Tortoise?’ My mom calls me two nicknames. Feather and tortoise. What are the chances that I’m going to space on a rocket in a capsule with my symbol, the feather, called Tortoise?”
The launch is scheduled to take place at 8.30am local time in Texas, which is 2.30pm in the UK. The entire journey is set to last between 10 and 12 minutes, with around four minutes of that being spent in free flight as New Shepard crosses the Kármán line, which lies 62 miles above Earth’s surface marking the edge of space.
Here, those on board will be able to experience weightlessness for several minutes, along with breathtaking views from the capsule’s windows showing the curvature of the Earth and the thin line of atmosphere that protects us. After that, the capsule will begin its descent to Earth, hoping to gently touch down in the Texas desert with the help of parachutes.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch will have aboard an all-female crew for the first time since 1963, making it a key moment in history. It will also be the first all-female commercial space flight, as the last all-female flight was a solo trip that lasted just shy of three days by Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova. But who will be on board the vessel with no pilot?
Joining pop icon Katy Perry will be Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, a journalist and author. They will also be joined by American TV personality and co-host of CBS Morning Gayle King. Unlike other members, she has admitted that going to space “was never my dream”. However, she said she wants to “open myself up to new adventures and step out of my comfort zone.”
Amanda Nguyen will also be on board, a civil rights activist who was named Woman of the Year by Time in 2022 due to her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, which changed the way law enforcement handles rape kits. In a post she shared her experience of sexual assault “could have derailed my astronaut dreams”. The first Vietnamese woman to fly to space added: “Fought for survivor rights, rewrote the law, and now in 7 days I’m flying to space.”
Also joining the crew is Kerianne Flynn, a film producer behind independent films such as Lilly (2024), This Changes Everything (2018) and The AUtomatic Hate (2015). Speaking ahead of her flight she said she grew up in a small Michigan town as “always looked up at the stars with my grandfather”. She said she always wondered what is up there, but as she went through the rest of her life, “it just didn’t seem like something that was attainable.” She added: “So when this opportunity came along, especially to be part of a historic all-female crew, I felt honoured and excited.”
A former Nasa rocket scientist and entrepreneur is also heading to space with the crew. Aisha Bowe is the founder of STEMBoard, a tech company providing advisory services for federal and commercial organisations. She said the mission “isn’t only about my journey, it’s for every kid who’s been told they don’t belong, who’s felt overlooked or underestimated”.
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