First All-Female Astronaut Crew Since 1963
- Editor OGN Daily
- Mar 28
- 2 min read
Pop singer Katy Perry is set to join five other women for a trip into space in a few weeks time.
The private US rocket firm Blue Origin, headed by Jeff Bezos, has announced the six-person crew for its NS-31 mission, due to launch in spring 2025. None of them need to actually fly the space craft as it is fully autonomous.
As Perry is due to begin her Lifetimes Tour on 23 April 2025, most commentators reckon that blast off will take place before that - marking the eleventh flight of the New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space on 5 May 1961.
The six-person flight will be the first all-female astronaut crew (which may be better phrased as 'passengers') since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo flight in 1963, which saw her become the first woman in space.
The NS-31 crew includes:
Aisha Bowe, former NASA rocket scientist and CEO of engineering firm STEMBoard
Amanda Nguyen, scientist who specialises in the effects of spaceflight on the human body
Gayle King, journalist and presenter
Katy Perry, pop star and singer
Kerianne Flynn, film producer
Lauren Sánchez, journalist and author (and fiancée of Jeff Bezos)
So what can they expect? "During the 11-minute journey, astronauts soar past the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognised boundary of space, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness and witnessing life-changing views of Earth," says Blue Origin. Adding: "The vehicle is fully autonomous - there are no pilots."
The crew are making the journey into space as part of Blue Origin's private spaceflight service and it is not (yet) known who has paid or how much. Though it's likely that Lauren Sánchez is going gratis.
Space tourism is going to be a more regular occurrence in coming years and Blue Origin, of course, has a section on its website for aspiring space tourists, including info on how to apply and what's involved in its astronaut training and spaceflight programmes.