Private women take spacecraft from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin to space

Pop star Katy Perry and other civilian women will head to space on the 14th on a spacecraft from Blue Origin, a space company led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

According to USA Today and CNN, a total of six women travel to space on the spacecraft “New Shepard” of Blue Origin, a U.S. space company. Blue Origin announced that it will launch the spacecraft “New Shepard” from its launch site, about 50 kilometers north of Van Horn, Texas, at 9:30 a.m. on the 14th.

The spacecraft includes renowned American pop singer Katy Perry, journalist Gail King, NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bow, bio-space engineering researcher Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerien Flynn.

All passengers are women. It is the first time for a civilian flight. Blue Origin said it was the first all-female flight since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.

Vice Chairman of Bezos Earth Fund Lauren Sanchez will also join the flight mission. He is well-known as the fiancee of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin said, “Lauren Sanchez is honored to lead the team of explorers on a mission that will inspire future generations.”

Passengers will experience weightlessness for about three minutes beyond the 100-kilometer “Karman Line,” which is the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

It will take about 10 minutes from takeoff to landing.

This will be New Shepard’s 11th manned flight, and its 31st overall mission. New Shepard’s first manned flight took place in July 2021, when Jeff Bezos and his younger brother Mark Bezos were aboard. Since then, former NFL player Michael Strahan and actor William Shatner have also been on the flight as New Shepard. Shatner has become the oldest person in space at the age of 90.

JENNIFER KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL