Katy Perry is vowing to "put the ‘ass’ in astronaut" when she goes into space as part of Blue Origin’s all-female crewed mission. The pop star, 40, will be joining CBS News’ Gayle King, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn for the 31st mission launch of the Amazon founder’s New Shepard rocket. The women, who are set to launch later this month, gave a wild interview to Elle about their plans for the 11-minute mission.
First, all six women are fully committed to going to space in full makeup. “Space is going to finally be glam,” Perry proclaimed to Elle. “If I could take glam up with me, I would do that.” She added, “We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.” Bowe, an aerospace engineer who has always dreamed about going to space, joined in on the fun and revealed that she has been running tests to make sure her look survives the blast-off. “I also wanted to test out my hair and make sure that it was okay. So I skydived in Dubai with similar hair to make sure I would be good — took it for a dry run,” she said.
While King, who has made it clear she’s the most nervous for the flight, worried if their lash extensions would actually stay on during the trip, Sánchez, 55, offered an easy fix. “Mine are glued on. They’re good,” she said in the interview. Nguyen, who studied astrophysics at Harvard before becoming a civil rights activist following a sexual assault, backed the idea of the women looking their best for the flight as a show of female empowerment. “I think it’s so important for people to see us like that,” she said. “This dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion. We contain multitudes.” “I’m going to be wearing lipstick,” Nguyen added.
Along with the makeup, the women were also invited to bring some items with them on the trip, with Bowe revealing that she will carry the flag from the Apollo 12 mission to the moon back into space. Sánchez said she will bring a stuffed animal from the children’s book she wrote, “The Fly Who Flew to Space,” with King, 70, opting to bring music to the stars. The idea inspired the women to push for Perry to sing once they reach space.
The women have also partnered with various universities and science groups to carry out a few experiments during their short trip to space. The women’s trip, scheduled for the morning of April 14, marks the New Shepard’s 11th human flight. Blue Origin is set to make history with its New Shepard spacecraft as it launches the first all-female crew to space since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo flight in 1963.
The six-member crew will cross the Karman Line and experience weightlessness as part of the brief joyride above the planet. The New Shepard spacecraft, designed for suborbital flights, will launch from Launch Site One in West Texas at 7:00 PM IST on April 14, 2025. The mission will begin with a powered ascent lasting approximately 110 seconds, propelled by a single BE-3PM engine. This engine will lift the spacecraft to an altitude of about 40 kilometers before the rocket and capsule continue coasting upwards due to their momentum, eventually reaching the Karman Line at 100 kilometers, the internationally recognized boundary of space.
At the peak altitude, the crew capsule will separate from the rocket, allowing the passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. During this time, the crew will enjoy panoramic views of Earth through the capsule's six large windows. The capsule's interior volume of 15 cubic meters provides ample space for the crew to move around and take in the breathtaking scenery.
After reaching the apogee, the highest point of the flight, the crew capsule will begin its descent, deploying three parachutes to slow its fall. Before touchdown, a retro-thrust system will be activated to reduce the landing speed to about 3.2 kmph, ensuring a safe and gentle landing. Meanwhile, the rocket will autonomously return to Earth, deploying air brakes and restarting its engine for a precise vertical landing at the launch site.
This mission marks Blue Origin's 11th human flight and is a significant milestone in promoting diversity and inclusion in space exploration. The crew's diverse backgrounds in entertainment, journalism, activism, and engineering highlight the broad appeal of space travel and its potential to inspire future generations.
