Image from Sky News

Six female stars flew to space from West Texas on Monday 14th April, with famous faces in attendance to witness the historic event. Flying on a spacecraft by Jeff Bezos‘s private space firm was Popstar Katy Perry, TV Presenter Gayle King, Civil Rights Activist Amanda Nguyen, Film Producer Kerianne Flynne, Scientist Aisha Bowe and Author & Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sanchez.

This was the first time a female crew has flown to space since 1963 when Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to fly to space solo. The idea came to pass when Jeff Bezos asked Sanchez if she would like to travel to space too, following his mission back in 2021. As told by reporters on the live stream, she expressed interest but made it notable that it should be an all female crew.

Launching at 9:30am Eastern Time, the mission lasted roughly 11 minutes and allowed the women to travel 62 miles beyond Earth. They consistently screamed with excitement, each taking out personal items and showing it to the camera while they defied gravity. Perry, took a daisy flower with her to represent her daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom. As they successfully landed, she held it up to the sky and subsequently kissed the ground.

In attendance of the mission was Oprah Winfrey, Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner. Winfrey said “I’ve never been more proud of my friend”, whom she said about her best friend Gayle King. Whilst some celebrities were celebrating, others were not best pleased. Supermodel Emily Ratajkowski took to the TikTok and said “you’re going up in a space ship that’s built and paid for by a company that’s singlehandedly destroying that planet”.

There have also been complaints that this is only something that rich people have access to especially when there is still so much poverty in the world. It seems like the mission was a step forward in accessibility for commercial flights, but a step backwards for the disregard in saving the planet.