Katy Perry takes off into space, revels in her cosmic journey
Katy Perry with the rest of the six-member all-female crew of the Blue Origin capsule and rocket flight pose for the camera on April 12, also the International Day of Human Space Flight. Combined images from Perry’s Instagram.
“T-minus one day,” Katy Perry mused before flying into space as part of the six-member, all-female crew aboard the Blue Origin capsule and rocket.
The celebrity-laden spacecraft launched on Monday, April 14, together with other women, including journalist Lauren Sanchez, who is Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’s fiancee, and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King. The rest are research scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
“Happy International Day of Human Space Flight 🚀 Forever in awe of the Universe and it’s alignment,” said Perry in her Instagram post on Monday, just hours before take off. She shared a photo of their crew, complete with their neat figure-hugging royal blue space suits.
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The pop star and her crew were launched from the New Shepard missions launch in West Texas. Flights typically last just 10 or 11 minutes from liftoff to landing, with passengers experiencing a few minutes of microgravity as their capsule soars beyond the Karman line — the internationally recognized boundary of space, 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.
The civilian flight is considered history in the making because it will be the first all-female team to be launched into suborbital space since Russian Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.
True to its space tourism marketing campaign, Blue Origin has been launching moneyed tourists and celebrities like Perry into space since 2021 aboard its New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Since then, about 52 people have already been to the edge of space in 10 crewed missions.
Previously, Star Trek legend William Shatner, as well as Bezos himself, flew on the inaugural crewed flight.
Heavenly confirmations
In another post prior to launch, the “E.T.” singer said, “Today’s reminder that there is something bigger than me guiding my journey.” She previously said that she has always dreamed of going to space for 15 years and that she is excited for her dream to become a reality.
“I think if you know me, you know that I am always looking for little confirmations from the heavens, from my guides, from my angels. from my higher self. You know when I ask for it and I’m open to it, it’s pretty loud. So when I was invited to come on this voyage, I looked up the capsule, and on the very front of it is the outline in the shape of a feather,” she said.
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Perry said that when she saw the feather outline, she considered her cosmic journey as a “total confirmation” because her mother had always called her “Feather.”
“And so I am in space training today, and there’s a lot to digest. We’re almost finished with the day, and they show us the capsule, and we’ve run simulations in another capsule, and tested the noise and what to expect, and they reveal the capsule name as Tortoise,” she further said.
“A wave, just the most energetic wave, just shot through my body. And I was like, ‘what, this capsule’s name is Tortoise?’ My mom calls me two nicknames, Feather and Tortoise. What are the chances that I’m going to space on a rocket in a capsule with my symbol the feather called Tortoise?” she said.
