Blue Origin to Launch First All-Women Spaceflight since 1963

Blue Origin is set to make history with its next spaceflight, featuring an all-women crew for the first time in commercial space travel. Jeff Bezos announced yesterday that the flight will take place this spring, launching from West Texas aboard the New Shepard spacecraft.

This mission will mark the 11th human spaceflight for Blue Origin’s New Shepard program and the 31st launch in the company’s history. It will also be the first spaceflight with an all-female crew since 1963, when Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

Katy Perry among Blue Origin’s all-female spaceflight crew members

The six-member crew includes singer Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, activist Amanda Nguyen, producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and Bezos’s fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. Sánchez, a journalist and pilot, played a key role in selecting the crew and organizing the mission.

Katy Perry, one of the world’s top-selling musicians and a United Nations goodwill ambassador, is among the crew. CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King shared her excitement on air, saying, “You can’t possibly go up there and not come back unchanged.”

Amanda Nguyen and Aisha Bowe bring strong backgrounds in science and technology. Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist, is now the CEO of an engineering firm focused on technology solutions.

Nguyen, an astrophysicist, previously worked on NASA research and was involved in the final space shuttle mission in 2011. She is also a well-known advocate for survivors of sexual violence, earning nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

Blue Origin highlighted Nguyen as the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to travel to space. The company sees her journey as a symbol of unity between the U.S. and Vietnam and the power of science in bringing people together.

For Lauren Sánchez, this mission carries personal significance. She will become the second person in her family to fly on New Shepard. Bezos himself was part of the spacecraft’s first human mission in 2021, describing the experience as “the best day ever.”

Since then, Blue Origin has launched 52 people beyond the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. This upcoming mission not only highlights women’s growing role in space exploration but also continues the advancement of commercial space travel.