All-female crew of 6 completes space flight

Blue Origin, the space technology company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has sent an all-female crew of 6, including world-famous US singer Katy Perry, into space.

After weeks of anticipation, the crew was launched into space at 09:30 local time aboard the New Shepard rocket from the "Launch Site One" facility in Texas, USA.

The crew experienced microgravity in space for approximately 4 minutes.

A FIRST SINCE 1963

The Blue Origin flight, which marks the first space journey with an all-female crew since the 1963 solo space flight of Soviet-era cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space, lasted just over 10 minutes. The flight concluded with the rocket, which crossed the Kármán line—the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space located 100 kilometers above sea level—successfully returning to Earth after a short journey.

BEZOS'S FIANCÉE WAS ALSO AMONG THE CREW

In addition to famous singer Katy Perry, the crew included Bezos's fiancée, journalist and author Lauren Sanchez; former NASA rocket engineer Aisha Bowe; cosmic biology researcher and human rights activist Amanda Nguyen; famous CBS News anchor and journalist Gayle King; and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

KATY PERRY KISSED THE GROUND

The crew, all wearing custom designer astronaut suits, expressed great joy after the vehicle landed safely on Earth.

After hugging her fiancé Bezos, Sanchez called her family, while pop star Katy Perry held up a daisy she had brought with her toward the sky before bending down to kiss the ground.

In her first statement to the press after landing, Katy Perry said that the dominant emotion she felt during the journey was love. Stating that she would recommend the space travel experience to everyone, Perry answered "Absolutely, one hundred percent" when asked if she would write a song about this journey.

PRICE OF THE JOURNEY NOT DISCLOSED

The "New Shepard" carrier rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, and with a capacity of 6 passengers, completed its 11th crewed mission with today's flight.

While Blue Origin has not shared the price of the space journey with the public, it is known that a 150 thousand dollar deposit is required to initiate the process on the reservation page. In its first crewed flight in 2021, the company sold one seat at auction for 28 million dollars. The company's biggest competitor, Virgin Galactic, had announced that its ticket prices ranged between 250 thousand and 450 thousand dollars.

News Source: İHA