Blue Origin flight live updates: Katy Perry and star-studded crew return from brief space launch
The first all-female trip to space in more than six decades launched from West Texas on Monday morning
Katy Perry and five other women successfully launched into space on Monday on the first all-female mission in more than six decades.
The crew lifted off on board an autonomous rocket made by Blue Origin, the private space firm owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
“I don’t really have words for it,” the billionaire’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez said in an interview following the flight. “Earth looked just so quiet.”
“It is the highest high and it is surrender to the unknown,” said Perry. “I couldn’t recommend this experience more.”
Perry and Sanchez were joined by CBS News host Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
The only other all-female crew in 64 years of human spaceflight took place in 1963.
The rocket lifted off as part of Blue Origin mission NS-31 at 8:30 a.m. local time. The craft flew through space for around four minutes before floating back down to Earth, with the entire journey taking a little over 10 minutes.
When in space, Perry sang the song “What a Wonderful World.”
“It was a feeling of joy. It was a feeling of gratefulness,” Sanchez added.
NS-31 just flew above the Kármán line. What is it?
During the roughly 10-minute flight, the six crew members of NS-31 flew above what is known as the Kármán line. But, what is it?
The Kármán line is an invisible boundary at an altitude of 62 miles above sea level that is widely accepted as the edge of space.
The boundary gets its name from Hungarian-American aerospace pioneer Theodore von Kármán.
Kármán was the first director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
This was the third 2025 flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket
Monday morning’s launch marked the third flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket this year.
There was another crewed flight and a payload-only flight in February.
“I do believe New Shepard will be a very good business for us,” Dave Limp, chief executive of Blue Origin, said at the Commercial Space Conference that month, according to Space News.
Neil deGrasse Tyson reacts after NS-31 crew returns to Earth
In a post on Instagram, renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reacted to the NS-31 mission early Monday afternoon.
“Some cast shade on celebrities getting launched into space. But the dawn of flight saw the same phenomenon. Rich, famous people flew aboard the first generation of aeroplanes. Attracting media, investors, and innovation -- birthing our modern aviation industry,” he wrote.
“Welcome back to Earth's surface Katy, Gayle, and crew,” said Tyson.
Gayle King has a message for 'haters' after Blue Origin flight
Following her quick trip to space, CBS host Gayle King said she "heard" the haters.
"I'm not going to let you steal our joy," she told reporters at a press conference on Monday, noting that most people were "really excited and cheering us on" and realizing "what this mission means to young women, young girls and boys, too."
Later on, King said that pushing to make space more accessible "isn't a zero-sum game.”
Watch it: Katy Perry and all-female NS-31 crew make journey to space
Jeff Bezos takes a tumble after Blue Origin ship returns
Activist Amanda Nguyen shares message for dreamers
“What a beautiful world we have,” said activist Amanda Nguyen.
She said the scientific experiments she had brought into space with her were “done.”
"I just want every survivor and every person who's ever had a dream deferred to know that your dreams are valid," she said. "And even if your dreams are as wild as going to space, they matter. And you can get there too. If I can get there, you can get there too."
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