Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez Among Blue Origin’s All-Women NS-31 Crew Set To Take Flight In West Texas – Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Boeing (NYSE:BA)

Pop star Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos‘ fiancée Lauren Sanchez will be on board Blue Origin‘s New Shepard rocket as it blasts off into space at 8:30 AM local time from the West Texas launch site on April 14. The crew also features CBS presenter Gayle King.

What happened: The mission, which will be the first of its kind, will take the six-woman crew to the internationally recognized boundary at a distance of 62 miles above the Earth.

The crew will then experience weightlessness for a few minutes before the capsule begins its descent into the atmosphere. The crew also includes former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyễn.

Why it matters: The mission is the first all-women crew since 1963’s launch, which saw Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova fly solo into space. This is also Blue Origin’s 11th human flight into space. Previous flights have included noted actor William Shatner as part of the crew.

However, some have cast their doubts over the flight’s purpose, with actor Olivia Munn questioning the purpose of the expedition. The flight has been touted as a landmark moment in the representation of women.

Interestingly, Blue Origin, joined by Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, as well as the Boeing Co BA, Lockheed Martin Corp LMT joint venture ULA, have been on the receiving end of federal contracts worth over $13.5 billion from the U.S. Space Force. Blue Origin has received $2.3 billion in funding and is expected to manage seven missions in the future.

Bezos has taken a more active role at Blue Origin and introduced a number of changes at the company, including 50-hour work weeks and laying off over 10% of its workforce. The company is still playing catch-up with Musk’s SpaceX, which has significantly more experience in the sector.

Elsewhere, Blue Origin has partnered with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Project Kuiper to launch low Earth orbit satellites on its New Glenn rocket, which will help Bezos’ former company compete against SpaceX and Starlink.

Read Next:

Image via Shutterstock