Blue Origin, the area startup based and funded by Jeff Bezos, launched its first all-female crew into area on Monday. The flight took six ladies, together with Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez, broadcast journalist Gayle King, and pop star Katy Perry, to area and again on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
The journey took about 11 minutes, with the crew experiencing 4 minutes of weightlessness. The rocket reached a most peak of 62 miles above Earth to the Kármán line, an invisible boundary that defines the tip of Earth’s environment and the beginning of area, earlier than descending and touchdown within the Texas desert.
“I do not actually have phrases for it,” an emotional Sánchez advised Blue Origin in a webcast after the flight. “I am so pleased with this crew.”
Sánchez mentioned that she felt “pleasure and full togetherness” following the flight.
“I hope that extra folks get to see this,” she mentioned.
Perry advised Blue Origin that the mission was about “appreciating Earth” and that this expertise was solely “second to being a mother.”
“It’s give up to the unknown,” Perry mentioned. “I could not advocate this expertise extra.”
Associated: Watch Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Launch Its New Rocket Into Orbit: ‘This Is Our First Flight’
The flight launched at 9:30 a.m. ET from Blue Origin’s launch website in Van Horn, Texas, and marked the primary time an all-female crew has been to area since 1963. It is Blue Origin’s 11th flight with a human crew.
Crew members additionally included former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, producer Kerianne Flynn, and bioastronautics analysis scientist Amanda Nguyen.
Blue Origin has provided area tourism flights for years, since 2021. The startup’s web site reveals that in an effort to reserve a seat, clients must pay a $150,000 deposit. It is unclear if the crew on Monday’s flight paid for the expertise.
Watch the liftoff right here:
Sherin Shibu