The Tourist Spacecraft 'Blue Origin' Launched and Returned with Six Female Passengers

The New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin, owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, ascended to the internationally recognized boundary of space with six female passengers and returned to Earth after 10 minutes. In this fully automated space journey, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos's fiancée, singer and songwriter Katy Perry, and CBS television host Gayle King were accompanied by three other female crew members. The flight took place at 8:30 AM on Monday, April 25, from West Texas. Before the crew capsule separated mid-flight, their fully automated spacecraft ascended vertically to an altitude of 105 kilometers and returned gently to Earth using a parachute and a rocket with a landing system. This is the latest instance of space tourism, where primarily wealthy, famous, or lucky individuals with good connections can enter the zero-gravity realm, traditionally the domain of professional astronauts. The other three passengers on this flight were: Krian Flynn, a film producer; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA engineer who has launched her own companies to promote knowledge; and Amanda Nguyen, a scientist studying exoplanets who now advocates for survivors of sexual violence. Monday's mission marks the first group space flight of women since the historic solo flight of Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963, who spent three days in Earth orbit. Monday's journey also counts as Blue Origin's eleventh suborbital flight operation, which has been active in the space tourism sector for several years. The company's flight took passengers beyond the Kármán line (the internationally recognized boundary of space) and provided them with the invaluable experience of weightlessness. Blue Origin did not disclose the cost of this trip or who paid for it. The mentioned flight occurred two months before Sanchez and Bezos's wedding in Venice, Italy.