Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez to go to space on next launch from Jeff Bezos’ rocket company
Gayle King, Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez will join three other women on the next mission from Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin announced Thursday.
The 11th crewed flight of the company’s New Shepard rocket is set to blast off this spring, it said, without giving a date.
“CBS Mornings” co-host King; Sánchez, Bezos’ girlfriend; and pop star Perry will fly alongside former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and movie producer Kerianne Flynn in the all-female crew of six.
“CBS Mornings” announced King’s journey in humorous fashion, using a “Star Wars”-like typeface and opening crawl. King, 70, said she initially refused the trip after she was approached, then had a change of heart.
“I’m so afraid, but I’m also so excited about it. When they asked me, and they asked me around Thanksgiving, I was like, ‘no, no, no.’ Then I started thinking about it,” she said. “And I just thought what a unique opportunity.”
New Shepard completed its 10th crewed flight Tuesday just outside Van Horn, Texas.
The journeys are brief, lasting around 11 minutes. Passengers reach an altitude of just over 100 kilometers (62 miles), which is considered the boundary between Earth and space.
The suborbital vehicle — which is autonomous and flies without a pilot — returns after passengers have experienced a few minutes of views and weightlessness. Three large parachutes slow its descent to facilitate a safe touchdown.
Previous notable names who have gone on such flights include company founder Bezos, “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, former New York Giants great Michael Strahan and astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter Laura Shepard Churchley.
New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.
New Shepard completed its first crewed flight in July 2021; onboard were Bezos; his brother, Mark Bezos; pioneering aviator Wally Funk; and Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen.
The company paused missions from 2022 to 2024, however, after a rocket booster crashed to the ground during an uncrewed launch.
A ticket to ride New Shepard costs well into the six digits, though no formal price tag is listed on the company’s website.
The Blue Origin ticketing application reminds would-be space travelers that the company “will collect a $150,000 USD fully refundable deposit to begin the order process.”
