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Agencies

Pop star Katy Perry and five other women launched into space on a Blue Origin rocket and successfully returned to Earth on Monday, marking the first all-female space flight in more than 60 years.
The crew lifted off from West Texas at 9.31am local time and travelled to the edge of space, where they experienced a brief period of weightlessness before returning to Earth in a flight lasting around 11 minutes, according to a live broadcast by Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The space flight was a high-profile success for Bezos’ New Shepard launch vehicle, which has been developed for space tourism.
The six-person crew also included Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, CBS host Gayle King, former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
King said that when the crew returned to their seats after weightlessness, Perry sang the Louis Armstrong song What a Wonderful World.
“I feel super connected to love,” Perry said after landing back on Earth.
Perry was holding a daisy, a flower she took into space, to remind her of her daughter, Daisy.
Among celebrities at the launch pad were a tearful Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of King, and show business personalities Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian.

It was the first all-female space flight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman in space – orbited Earth during a nearly three-day solo flight in 1963.
Blue Origin does not disclose the average cost of a seat on one of its rockets. On its website, the company says potential passengers have to pay US$150,000 in the form of a refundable deposit to start the “order process”.
In 2021, the company revealed the highest bid for a seat on its New Shepard spacecraft was US$28 million. That same year, Star Trek actor William Shatner flew free of charge as a guest of Blue Origin.
In 2018, Reuters reported the company was planning to charge passengers at least US$200,000 for the experience.
Blue Origin says on its website it aims to radically reduce the cost of access to space, with its rockets designed for reusability.
Loizos Heracleous, a professor of strategy and organisation at Warwick Business School in Britain, estimates each launch of the New Shepard costs between US$1 million to US$3 million.
“Even ignoring development cost, there are six seats so each passenger would have to pay around half a million USD for this to be a financially viable ongoing business,” Heracleous said. “It will take a long, long time before space tourism can be a financially sustainable business available to the public at large.”

It was the 11th human space flight for the Washington state-based company, founded by Bezos in 2000 after making a fortune with Amazon.
Bezos strapped in for Blue Origin’s first space tourist flight in 2021 and accompanied the latest crew to the pad.
Even after the latest launch, women represent barely 15 per cent of the more than 700 people who have travelled into space.
Sanchez said she deliberately chose women to launch with her, each of them eager to inspire both the young and old to dream big, and even commissioned special flight suits.
On Monday, Bezos opened the capsule’s hatch minutes after touchdown, embracing Sanchez, the first one out.
As they emerged, Perry and King knelt and kissed the ground. “Oh my God, that was amazing,” said King, who considers herself an anxious plane flier.
Three hours later, Sanchez said she was still trying to process everything. “Profound is like the one word I would use,” she said.

This was not the first Blue Origin launch with high-profile names.
Star Trek actor William Shatner caught a lift to space with Blue Origin in 2021 at age 90, soon after Bezos’ inaugural trip. He was followed by former New York Giants defensive end and television host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, for whom the rocket is named.
Two aviation pioneers who missed out on space when they were younger – Wally Funk and Ed Dwight – also rocketed away at ages 82 and 90, respectively.
Most of Blue Origin’s passengers – 58 counting the latest launch – have been business or science types, television hosts or YouTubers. Ticket prices are not disclosed.
The Russian Space Agency also has launched its share of space tourists, beginning with a California financier in 2001. Two decades later, a Russian actress filmed aboard the International Space Station.
SpaceX also sells multi-day trips to private customers. SpaceX’s first client to fly, billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman already has launched twice and performed the first private spacewalk. He is now set to become Nasa’s next administrator if confirmed by the Senate.
Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang just returned from the first space flight to carry people over the north and south poles. Wang picked up the whole SpaceX tab for himself and three polar explorers for an undisclosed sum.
“In this exciting new era of commercial space flight, the dream of becoming an astronaut is no longer limited to a select few,” Wang said via social media last week.
Reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse


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United States

Katy Perry and historic all-female crew return to Earth after Blue Origin space flight

Pop star Katy Perry comes out of a capsule marking the first all-female flight crew in more than six decades, in West Texas, Texas, on Monday. Photo: Blue Origin/Reuters

US singer Katy Perry upon return to Earth after a flight on Blue Origin New Shepard NS-31, in Van Horn, West Texas on Monday. Photo: Blue Origin / AFP / Handout

From left, television host Gayle King, former Nasa scientist Aisha Bowe, journalist Lauren Sanchez, research scientist Amanda Nguyen, singer Katy Perry and film producer Kerianne Flynn ahead of Monday’s mission. Photo: Handout

Perry kisses the ground upon return to Earth after a space flight on Monday. Photo: Blue origin / AFP / Handout

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from Launch Site One on Monday in Van Horn, Texas. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Venice denies Jeff Bezos taking over parts of city for his wedding with Lauren Sanchez

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez attend the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills, California, on March 2. Photo: AFP

Tourists enjoy gondola rides in Venice. Photo: AFP

Singer Katy Perry and Bezos’ fiancée to fly to space on Blue Origin rocket

Katy Perry will be part of a six-member, all-female crew on Blue Origin’s next space flight. Photo: Reuters

Lauren Sanchez (left), fiancée of Amazon founder and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos (middle), will be on Blue Origin’s next flight this spring. Photo: AFP

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in January 2025. Photo: AP

Bezos’s Blue Origin poised for first orbital launch in days

Blue Origin is to launch its first orbital space craft this coming week. File photo: AFP

Bezos’ Blue Origin scrubs first launch of New Glenn rocket poised to challenge Musk’s SpaceX

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is docked during preparations for lift-off at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on January 13, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. Photo: Reuters

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on Kennedy Space Centre Launch Pad 39-A. Photo: SpaceX/Tribune News Service

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World

United States & Canada

Mission was high-profile success for Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard launch vehicle, which has been developed for space tourism


Mission was high-profile success for Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard launch vehicle, which has been developed for space tourism.
