Blue Origin mission ends safely with all-female, star-studded crew

The Blue Origin launch today made history in space travel.

Everyone on board the New Shepard was female.

Katy Perry says she will write song

Update 10:28 a.m. ET, April 14: Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, Katy Perry said she will be writing a song about her once-in-a-lifetime mission.

“It is the highest high, and it is surrender to the unknown, trust. ...I couldn’t recommend this experience more,” she said. And when asked if she would pen a song, she said, “Oh, for sure, 100%.”

Gayle King shared that Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” during the flight, despite being encouraged to sing one of her own songs.

King also said that the flight allowed her to face her fears about flying.

“I stepped out of my comfort zone in a way that I never thought was possible for me,” King said. “And now that I’ve done it, I really do feel like I can take on anything.”

Lauren Sánchez said that the Earth looked quiet but “also so alive.”

She was the first out of the capsule when her fiancé Jeff Bezos opened the door.

Perry was second and kissed the ground when she. Then Amanda Nguyen and Aisha Bowe followed Perry out of the spacecraft.

Bowe said “I’ll never be the same” after seeing the Earth.

Gayle King followed in Perry’s footsteps and also kissed the ground. The final person out of the capsule was Kerianne Flynn, who cheered when she stepped outside.

The crew reached an altitude of more than 346,000 feet during the just over 10-minute flight.

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Mission lands safely

Update 9:42 a.m. ET April 14: And about 10 minutes after the launch, the New Shepard capsule has returned safely to Earth.

Mission control told the six passengers, “Welcome back to Earth,” when they touched down.

Before they landed, the crew could be screaming with excitement during the livestream of the mission.

Booster returns

Update 9:40 a.m. ET April 14: The New Shepard capsule separated from the rocket booster and continued on its trip as the rocket booster returned to Earth so it can be reused on the next mission.

Blue Origin launches successfully

Update 9:32 a.m. ET April 14: Blue Origin successfully launched right after 9:30 a.m. ET.

Not only were there celebrities on the rocket, but there were also ones on the ground watching the launch.

Oprah Winfrey was there to support her longtime friend Gayle King. King said Winfrey encouraged her to go.

“She said, ‘I really think you should do it, because you’ve been talking about it, and when it comes back and you’re not on it, you’re going to be kicking yourself, saying, I could have gone and I didn’t, and I don’t want to have to hear about it for the next few years,‘” King said.

Kris Jenner and Khole Kardashian were also at the launch site.

Original report: It will be the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, the company said.

Lauren Sánchez hand-picked the crew to join her for the just over 10-minute trip: Katy Perry, Gayle King, Kerianne Flynn, Amanda Nguyen and Aisha Bowe.

Sánchez is a journalist, helicopter pilot and the fiancée of Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos.

She also designed the new flight suits.

The rocket will go about 65 miles above Earth, crossing the Kármán line, but won’t orbit. The line is the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space and is 62 miles above the planet.

They will have a few minutes of weightlessness.

It will be the 31st overall flight for New Shepard, but only the 11th with people on board. In all, 52 people have flown on a Blue Origin mission before Monday.

The spacecraft is flown autonomously, so no one onboard is actually flying it and is at the center of Bezos’ push for space tourism, offering rides to celebrities such as William Shatner and Michael Strahan. Bezos also wants to save the Earth by giving humans a way to work and live in space.

The launch window opens at about 9:30 a.m. ET. It will take off from Launch Site One, about 140 miles east of El Paso, Texas.

The first all-female mission launched into space was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.

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