Pop star Katy Perry is set to make history as part of an all-female crew flying into space on Monday. The "Firework" singer will join five other women aboard a spacecraft from Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. According to an AFP report, the flight will lift off from western Texas at around 8:30 am local time (1330 GMT) on Monday, taking the crew more than 100 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Perry will be joined by Lauren Sanchez, Bezos' fiancée, along with TV presenter Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, a prominent campaigner against sexual violence. This historic mission marks the first all-female space crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.
The flight is set to be brief, lasting around 10 minutes. The crew will experience a short period of weightlessness as they reach the Karman line, the boundary of space. The flight will be fully automated, with the crew capsule detaching from the booster mid-flight before falling back to Earth, slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.
Katy Perry, known for hits like "I Kissed a Girl" and "California Gurls," has expressed her excitement about the mission, particularly for her daughter Daisy, whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom. Perry recently told Elle magazine that she hopes the experience will inspire Daisy "to never have limits on her dreams." She added, "I'm just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees that rocket go."
This mission will also be the 11th sub-orbital crewed flight for Blue Origin, which has been offering space tourism experiences for several years. The company has not publicly disclosed the price of these trips. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket aims to offer private citizens a brief experience of space, competing with rivals like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX.
Bezos’ company has seen high-profile passengers aboard previous flights, including "Star Trek" legend William Shatner. While Blue Origin focuses on sub-orbital flights for space tourists, the company has future plans to take passengers into orbit, directly competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully completed its first unmanned orbital mission in January.
Inputs from agencies
Perry will be joined by Lauren Sanchez, Bezos' fiancée, along with TV presenter Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, a prominent campaigner against sexual violence. This historic mission marks the first all-female space crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.
The flight is set to be brief, lasting around 10 minutes. The crew will experience a short period of weightlessness as they reach the Karman line, the boundary of space. The flight will be fully automated, with the crew capsule detaching from the booster mid-flight before falling back to Earth, slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.
Katy Perry, known for hits like "I Kissed a Girl" and "California Gurls," has expressed her excitement about the mission, particularly for her daughter Daisy, whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom. Perry recently told Elle magazine that she hopes the experience will inspire Daisy "to never have limits on her dreams." She added, "I'm just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees that rocket go."
This mission will also be the 11th sub-orbital crewed flight for Blue Origin, which has been offering space tourism experiences for several years. The company has not publicly disclosed the price of these trips. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket aims to offer private citizens a brief experience of space, competing with rivals like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX.
Bezos’ company has seen high-profile passengers aboard previous flights, including "Star Trek" legend William Shatner. While Blue Origin focuses on sub-orbital flights for space tourists, the company has future plans to take passengers into orbit, directly competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully completed its first unmanned orbital mission in January.
Inputs from agencies
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