- Firework singer is set to go into space this Spring
- Perry is part of the first all-female space mission in 60 years
- The crew will fly to space as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin program
Here’s one we didn’t have on our 2025 bingo card: singer Katy Perry is set to head into space this spring as part of an all-female mission.
The space flight will be on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin is owned by Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos.
Accompanying Perry on the flight will be Bezos’ fiancé, Lauren Sanchez, film producer Kerianne Flynn, CBS presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and former Nasa scientist Aisha Bowe.
As yet, no date has been released for the launch, but it is expected to take place sometime in the spring. Given that Perry begins her Lifetimes Tour on April 23, the launch will likely be before that.
Katy Perry in space
Blue Origin has claimed that this upcoming mission is the first to have an all-female crew since 1963, when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova completed a solo mission.
In a statement, cited by Newsweek, Perry said: “If you have told me I’d be part of the first all-female crew in space, I would have believed you. Nothing was beyond my imagination as a child.”
The mission, named NS-31 – it’s the 31st involving the New Shepard rocket, you see – will be the 11th time humans have gone into space in it.
However, this is not some long in-depth mission to explore the darkest edge of space. Trips involving New Shepard typically last about 11 minutes, according to Blue Origin. The rocket takes passengers past the Karman line, which is the recognised edge of space.
Mission leader
However, it is Sanchez who is leading the mission. She first announced plans to put together an all-female crew for a mission back in a 2023 interview with Vogue.
Sanchez said she was “honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come.”
The team are not the first celebrities to take to space thanks to Blue Origin. Bezos himself has been into space in the past, and William Shatner – Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series – has also been up courtesy of Blue Origin.
The positive headlines for Perry make a welcome change – last year she was embroiled in controversies surrounding her album – including being under investigation in Spain for where one of her videos was shot.
