Pop star Katy Perry may need to update the lyrics to her hit song Firework to, "Baby, you're an astronaut." On Monday, Perry became one of the latest celebrities to visit space. Author and former journalist Lauren Sanchez was also part of Blue Origin's successful NS-31 mission. Sanchez is the fiancee of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin.
Aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, film producer Kerianne Flynn and CBS host Gayle King (Oprah Winfrey's bestie) filled out the roster for the all-female crew. Winfrey attended the launch as an observer.
The crew rolled to the launchpad in Rivian electric trucks and took an elevator up to board the crew capsule. Bezos personally escorted them to the rocket. The flight lasted about 11 minutes. Perry sang What a Wonderful World during the flight, though choppy audio made it difficult to hear the crew at times during the livestream.
This was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo spaceflight in 1963. Tereshkova was the first woman in space.
Watch Katy Perry visit space
The New Shepard spacecraft launched from West Texas at about 8:30 a.m. CT on Monday. Relive the mission through Blue Origin's livestream replay on YouTube.
Watch this: Watch Blue Origin Successfully Land Its First All-Female Star-Studded Spaceflight
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Does New Shepard reach space?
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Blue Origin's New Shepard launches from Texas.
Blue OriginThere's an ongoing debate about what represents space. For example, everyone agrees the International Space Station is in space but commercial rocket rides like what Blue Origin operates fall into a gray zone. One benchmark is the Karman line, an imagined line 62 miles above the Earth's surface.
NASA recognizes that "there's really no clear boundary between where Earth's atmosphere ends and outer space begins," but says most scientists recognize the Karman line as the transition point to space. So unless you want to get into a nitpicky argument, Perry and the rest of the crew made a brief visit to space during their mission.
The crew experienced weightlessness after the spacecraft passed the Karman line. The return trip involved a gentle parachute-assisted landing of the crew capsule.
This was the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program. Blue Origin had previously flown 52 people into space, including Star Trek's William Shatner, Good Morning America host Michael Strahan and Bezos.
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