Lauren Sánchez, Katy Perry, and a crew of inspirational women took a trip to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket Monday.
The women flew on board Blue Origin’s NS-31, the 31st flight of the New Shepard rocket program, which launched from its site in west Texas.
Here’s what to know about the launch and the crew.
Blue Origin’s NS-31 rocket will launch at 8:30 a.m. CT.
The launch was livestreamed on the Blue Origin website and social media accounts from 7 a.m. CT, 90 minutes before the scheduled launch time.
Once it took off, the rocket traveled to space at up to three times the speed of sound.
Roughly 2 minutes and 40 seconds after launch, the crew capsule separated from the rocket, allowing it to cruise 62 miles above Earth over the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary separating Earth’s atmosphere from space.
Once they were past this line, the crew unbuckled to experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule fell back to Earth.
The capsule landed using parachutes roughly 11 minutes after takeoff.
Lauren Sánchez handpicked the NS-31 crew
The NS-31 crew featured: Sánchez, an Emmy-winning journalist and finance of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; pop star Perry; Gayle King, the award-winning CBS News anchor; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist; and Kerianne Flynn, a film producer.
Not only was Nguyen the first Vietnamese woman in space, but this was the first all-female space crew since 1963, when Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian engineer, crewed a solo flight.
Sánchez told Elle magazine she chose the other crew members because they’re all “storytellers in their own right. They’re going to go up to space and be able to spread what they felt in different ways.”
Sánchez asked Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, the creative directors of luxury brand Oscar de la Renta and co-founders of their own brand Monse, to make fashionable spacesuits for the crew, she told The New York Times.
The NS-31 crew is certified ‘ready to fly to space’ by CrewMember 7 Sarah Knights. The launch window opens tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC. You can watch the live webcast here tomorrow at 7 a.m. CDT, hosted by Charissa Thompson, Kristin Fisher, and Ariane Cornell. pic.twitter.com/auKPJvtSl3
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) April 14, 2025
Garcia and Kim partnered with Creative Character Engineering, a Hollywood costume company, to create the Monse Blue Origin suits.
On Sunday, Perry posted an Instagram video showing the capsule, explaining that they dubbed their crew “The Taking Up Space Crew” and promising to sing during the flight.
During the flight, she sang, as she had previously promised, but it was hard to make out what.
King said on the Blue Origin livestream that Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
“It’s not about me. It’s not about singing my songs,” Perry said of her song choice. “It’s about a collective energy and making space for future women. It’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it. This is all for the benefit of Earth.”
Meanwhile, Nguyen said on Instagram she would conduct multiple experiments on women’s health and plants during the brief flight.
Blue Origin flight deposits are $150,000
Blue Origin, founded by Bezos, has been offering space tourism flights since 2021.
The company does not disclose the cost of a space flight, but the website says applicants must pay a $150,000 refundable deposit.
In 2021, Blue Origin auctioned a seat for its maiden flight for $28 million. Tim Chrisman, the cofounder of the Foundation for the Future, told the Observer in 2022 that a board member of the nonprofit paid $1 million for his seat.
Blue Origin’s also attracted several celebrities, including William Shatner, the “Star Trek” star.
The post Katy Perry joined Lauren Sánchez for an 11-minute space flight today. Here’s who joined them — and who designed their spacesuits. appeared first on Business Insider.
