Six women, including pop star Katy Perry, returned to Earth on April 14, 2025, after a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. The all-female crew launched from West Texas at 9:30 a.m. local time and crossed the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, about 11 minutes later.
The crew included notable figures such as Gayle King, a renowned journalist; Amande Nguygen, a space biologist; Ed Dwight, a former NASA astronaut candidate and now CEO of STEMBoard; Keriann Flynn, a film producer; and Lauren Sanchez, vice chairman of the Bezos Earth Fund and fiancée of Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder.
The Experience
The New Shepard spacecraft is designed for human spaceflight and can be fully reused. The crew capsule, which carried the six women to space, landed safely back on Earth using a parachute. The women described their experience as life-changing, with Lauren Sanchez saying, “I looked out the window, and we were the moon. The Earth looks so quiet, but it’s alive.”
Gayle King kissed the ground upon landing and expressed her gratitude for the experience, calling it “magical.” She added, “It’s quiet up there. It’s peaceful. When you look down at the Earth, you think, ‘This is where we come from.’ For me, it’s a reminder that we need to be better.”
Reflections
Katy Perry sang Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” during the flight, which Gayle King cited as a highlight. Perry said the song was about “gathering energy, making space for women in the future, and about the wonderful world we see out there.” When asked if she would write a song about her space experience, Perry replied, “100%.”
The mission, dubbed NS-31, marked the 11th time Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft has carried humans across the Kármán line. The company claims the spacecraft is designed for safe and efficient space travel, with the capability for 100% reusability.
The crew members shared their thoughts on the experience. Amande Nguygen thanked everyone who made the mission possible. Ed Dwight said she would never be the same again, describing the Earth as “beautiful” from space, with “no boundaries, no borders, just the Earth.” Keriann Flynn, the last to exit the capsule, called it the most incredible experience of her life, having seen the vastness of space.
