- Tuesday, April 15, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
In a groundbreaking moment for commercial space travel and female empowerment, pop icon Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée and media personality Lauren Sanchez, and four other women successfully returned to Earth after a suborbital spaceflight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. The all-female space crew made history during their brief yet impactful voyage on April 14, 2025.
The NS-21 mission launched from Blue Origin’s site in West Texas at 9:30 a.m. ET and lasted approximately 11 minutes, taking the women past the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space—before parachuting back down to the desert terrain. The capsule’s touchdown, though slightly bumpy, was met with loud cheers, applause, and celebratory screams from both spectators and astronauts inside.
Katy Perry, known for hits like Firework and Roar, reportedly had plans to sing in space. Her call sign for the mission was “Feather,” while Gayle King, another crew member and CBS journalist, had the call sign “Sunshine.” Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of King, was present at the launch to show her support, dressed in yellow to honor her friend’s celestial nickname.
View this post on Instagram
Before liftoff, Lauren Sanchez received a heartfelt goodbye from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who expressed his excitement and pride. Over the radio, Bezos told the crew: “You’re about to have the most amazing, most profound experience. I love all of you. Godspeed!”
The moment was deeply personal for each woman. For King, the trip represented facing her fears head-on, as she has previously expressed anxiety about flying. “I still have trepidation—but I also know it’s very interesting to be terrified and excited at the same time. I haven’t felt like this since childbirth,” she admitted in a pre-launch interview. King emphasized that the mission was a message to children watching worldwide that “no dream is too big.”
The flight was Blue Origin’s eleventh crewed launch and part of the company’s ongoing strategy to position itself as a leader in space tourism. While Elon Musk’s SpaceX continues to dominate the headlines with more advanced missions and over 460 successful Falcon 9 launches, Blue Origin’s New Shepard has completed a modest 31 launches. Yet the symbolism and media attention of this all-female crew may give Blue Origin a unique edge in public appeal.
View this post on Instagram
Though the flight lasted mere minutes, the emotional and cultural impact of the mission extended far beyond the stratosphere. Images of the capsule returning—parachutes deployed, landing like a massive Tunnock’s tea cake in the Texas desert—instantly went viral. Spectators and loved ones on the ground greeted the astronauts with applause and jubilation.
This isn’t the first time Blue Origin has launched celebrity passengers into space. In 2022, actor William Shatner, famed for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, described his emotional reaction to the void of space as one of the strongest feelings of grief he’d ever experienced. “All I saw was death. It was a cold, dark, black emptiness,” he had said post-flight.
However, for Lauren Sanchez and her crew, the experience was anything but grim. Their return marks a milestone for women in space and a powerful statement about inclusivity in what has long been a male-dominated frontier. As the capsule door opened and the women emerged, beaming with joy and awe, it was clear this was more than a vanity trip. It was a moment of aspiration, courage, and the kind of triumph that redefines what space tourism could mean for the future.
With this high-profile success, Blue Origin takes a giant leap forward—not just in technology, but in the cultural imagination of what’s possible when the stars align for women, ambition, and adventure.
