14 April 2025 Blue Origin plans to make a historic suborbital flight this year, in which an all-female crew will take part, including singer Katy Perry. The launch will take place from the company's site in West Texas using a reusable New Shepard rocket.
Together with Perry will be on board:
- Aisha Bowe - former NASA engineer,
- Amanda Nguyen - activist and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize,
- Gayle King - anchor of CBS News,
- Keriann Flynn - an investor in space startups,
- Lauren Sanchez - a pilot, TV presenter and partner of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
The flight was named NS-31 and will be New Shepard's 31st mission, as well as the 11th with the crew on board. This will be the first all-female space mission since Valentina Tereshkova, which in 1963 became the first woman in space.
What will happen during the flight?
- The beginning of the launch window - o 13:30 UTC.
- The flight will continue about 10–12 minutes, during which the capsule will rise higher Karman lines (100 km) — the internationally recognized limit of outer space.
- Crew survives several minutes of weightlessness and will see the Earth against the background of cosmic darkness.
- After that, the capsule softly to land with the help of parachutes.
Blue Origin does not disclose the cost of participating in the flights, but its main competitor in the field of suborbital tourism - Virgin Galactic - has currently set a price of y $650 000 for a place.
The mission can be viewed live, with broadcast on Space.com and the official website of Blue Origin, which will start at 90 minutes before the start.
This flight is an important symbolic step in the development of space tourism, which emphasizes increasing participation of women in the space industry, as in technical, and at the social level.