Singer and former “American Idol” judge Katy Perry and fellow crew members are about to reach for the stars – literally. But Perry’s mind is focused a little closer to home.
Perry will be aboard the Blue Origin rocket ship “New Shepherd-31,” alongside an an all-female crew that includes talk show host Gayle King, and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez. Former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn round out the crew set to launch April 14.
In a joint interview with Elle, the women of New Shepherd-31 mused on what it’s like to be a mom taking such a journey.
“It just feels like it’s not something that women were known for doing—going to space. Moms don’t do it,” Flynn said. “And so now I have the opportunity as a female filmmaker to be part of this incredible crew, to actually go to space and bring that experience back.”
“Guess what? Moms go to space,” chimed in Sánchez.
Perry added, “[My daughter] Daisy wants to go, but she wants the rocket to be pink.”
“I’m not spending any time worrying. That worry can steal your joy. This is exciting. And my nieces are so excited. My daughter, she’s so excited,” Perry said in a video interview with Elle. “You know, I’m just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees the rocket go and goes back to school the next day and says, ‘Mom went to space.'”
Gayle King Is Less Relaxed Than Katy Perry About the Trip
“CBS Mornings” host Gayle King is less laid back than Perry. She told her fellow crewmates, “My kids are potty-trained and grown, but their opinion matters to me. So if either one of them had said, ‘No, I’m worried. I don’t think you should do it,’ I wouldn’t be, but they both thought it was very cool. My grandson, who’s three and a half, thinks it’s the coolest thing. He will be there at the launch. He already has a little astronaut uniform.”
“Grandmas go to space too!” Perry replied.
The space flight will only take about 11-minutes as it climbs 62-miles above the surface to the limits of Earth’s atmosphere. It will not actually enter orbit.
King says she called Perry to discuss her nerves about taking the trip, saying, “We had been on the phone for 36 minutes, and I’d asked her 50 million questions, until finally she said, ‘Could I just interrupt for a second? Are you aware that our flight is going to be shorter than this freaking phone call?’”
Blue Origin Crew Will Have the Experience of a Lifetime
All six women will be passengers on the rocket, which flies itself. According to Blue Origin, it will travel at more than three times the speed of sound, passing the Kármán line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space 62 miles above the earth. Once they reach space, they will achieve weightlessness and be allowed to unbuckle and float around the rocket, looking out windows at the earth below.
They’ll have about four minutes to take it all in before coming back down to earth under parachutes.
The launch window will open up at 8:30 a.m. Central time/9:30 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, April 14. Blue Origin plans a live webcast of the flight, with details to come at blueorigin.com.
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Katy Perry & ‘Space Sisters’ Get Ready to Launch