Katy Perry among celebrities headed for space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket

Katy Perry is among six celebrities who will be launched into space on Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket, and the flight will comprise of the first all-female crew in 62 years.

Pop superstar Katy Perry and journalist Lauren Sanchez, who is engaged to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, are set to join an all-female crew on Blue Origin’s next suborbital spaceflight, the company announced.

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos, began launching tourists and celebrities to space in 2021 and recently conducted the first orbital test flight of its larger rocket, New Glenn.

US pop star Katy Perry ais headed for space. Picture: AFP

According to Blue Origin, Sanchez “brought the mission together”. In addition to Sanchez and Perry, US media personality Gayle King (better known as Oprah Winfrey’s best friend), research scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn will make up the crew.

“[Sanchez] is honoured to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come,” Blue Origin said in a statement.

The six-person, all-female crew, was brought together by billionaire, Jeff Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sanchez. Picture: Getty Images

Gayle King (left) with best friend Oprah Winfrey will be on board the rocket when it launches into space. Picture: Getty Images for The Recording Academy

The announcement comes days after a Melbourne physicist has made history by becoming the first Australian female to travel to space. Media company Chicago Star founder Elaine Chia Hyde was part of a six-person crew aboard Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket on its tenth human flight, alongside venture capitalist Lane Bess, TV host Jesús Calleja, reproductive endocrinologist Dr Richard Scott, Tushar Shah, and an undisclosed sixth crew member.

Blue Origin began launching wealthy tourists and celebrities into space in 2021 aboard its New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches from Launch Site One in West Texas in March 2022. Picture: AFP

To date, the company has flown 52 people to suborbital space across 10 crewed missions.

New Shepard missions launch from the company’s Launch Site One in West Texas. Flights typically last just 10 or 11 minutes from lift-off to landing, with passengers experiencing a few minutes of microgravity as their capsule soars beyond the Karman line — the internationally recognised boundary of space, 100 kilometres above sea level.

The rocket booster makes an upright vertical landing, while the capsule deploys parachutes for a gentle touchdown in the Texas desert.

Past luminaries aboard New Shepard include Star Trek legend William Shatner, as well as Bezos himself, who flew on the inaugural crewed flight.

Ticket prices remain undisclosed, though celebrities are often given complimentary seats.

This mission will mark the first all-female spaceflight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963.

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Picture: AFP

Like Elon Musk — the only person wealthier than him — Jeff Bezos has an enduring passion for space.

But while Musk dreams of colonising Mars, Bezos envisions shifting heavy industry off-planet onto floating space platforms to preserve Earth, “humanity’s blue origin.”

In January, the company successfully launched its giant New Glenn rocket for the first time — a crucial step in its expansion into the lucrative commercial launch sector.

Blue Origin already holds a NASA contract to build a lunar lander for one of the upcoming Artemis missions, which will return Americans to the Moon.

New Glenn will also support the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation designed to rival Musk’s Starlink.

– with AFP

Originally published as Katy Perry among celebrities headed for space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket