The “Firework” singer will be aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight, which is set to lift off on April 14
So that’s what Katy Perry has been fueling up for. On April 14, a little over half a year since she released her globally panned 143 album, the pop star will be exiting earth in search of friendlier alien music critics. Perry will be among the passengers on Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company Blue Origin’s spacecraft New Shepard.
Other voyagers include broadcast journalist Gayle King, activist Amanda Nguyen, movie producer Kerianne Flynn, entertainment reporter (and Bezos’ fiancée) Lauren Sánchez, and, fortuitously, an aerospace engineer who previously worked at NASA, Aisha Bowe. Liftoff will take place at “Launch Site One” in West Texas. Blue Origin reports that the launch window opens at 8:30 a.m. CT.
The flight will be the New Shepard’s 31st overall and 11th suborbital flight with humans aboard. The company has so far launched 52 people above the Kármán line 330,000 feet above sea level, which the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale defines as the edge of space. It will be the first all-female space flight since cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova took to the heavens on a solo flight and became the first woman in space in 1963.
Trending Stories
“If you had told me that I would be part of the first ever [sic] all-female crew in space, I would have believed you,” Perry wrote on Instagram last month. “I am motivated more than ever to be an example for my daughter that women should take up space (pun intended). That’s why this opportunity is so incredible — so that I can show all of the youngest & most vulnerable among us to reach for the stars, literally and figuratively. I am honored to be among this diverse group of celestial sisters.”
Perry’s expedition will take place between rehearsals for her Lifelines Tour, which will kick off in Mexico City on April 23. Although the tour supports 143, marketing materials for Perry promise she’ll be performing “all of her hits, drawing from her extensive catalog.” Expect her to sing “Firework” with a little more oomph after this.
