THEIR LATEST MESSAGE BACK TO US HERE ON EARTH. I CALL IT A LITTLE VACATION FROM EARTH. NEEDHAM NATIVE SUNI WILLIAMS REMAINS REMARKABLY CALM ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. DAY 250 INTO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A WEEK LONG SPACE MISSION. YOU KNOW, SINCE WE’VE BEEN HERE, WE’VE HAD A WAY TO GET HOME IF WE REALLY NEEDED TO IN AN EMERGENCY. WILLIAMS AND FELLOW ASTRONAUT BUTCH WILMORE ARE SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THE MUCH LONGER THAN EXPECTED STAY. TWO ASTRONAUTS LEFT STRANDED BEHIND AFTER BOEING’S TEST LAUNCH DIDN’T GO AS PLANNED, AS THEY STARED DOWN AT EARTH FROM THE DARK GALAXY ABOVE. WILLIAMS SAYS THE PAIR IS LOOKING AT THE BRIGHT SIDE. YOU KNOW YOU DON’T WAKE UP WITH LIKE, A SORE SHOULDER BECAUSE YOU’RE ON YOUR SIDE OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. BUT YEAH, THERE’S A LOT OF BENEFITS TO BEING UP HERE, I THINK BECAUSE WE CAN ESCAPE THE EARTH FOR A LITTLE BIT. THAT ESCAPE INCLUDES FROM CLAIMS BY ELON MUSK THAT THE ASTRONAUTS WERE LEFT IN SPACE BY THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION FOR POLITICAL REASONS. I HAVE NOT HEARD THAT. I’M NOT SURE THAT THAT COULD BE THE CASE BASED ON WHAT I KNOW. WE CAME UP HERE WITH A PLAN TO TEST OUT THE SPACECRAFT AND RETURN. THE PLAN CHANGED. WILLIAMS AND WILMORE ARE SCHEDULED TO RETURN ON A SPACEX CAPSUL
Katy Perry and Gayle King are among 6 women headed to space aboard New Shepard
The number of women who have been to space has increased as space tourism has grown
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Updated: 11:06 AM CST Feb 28, 2025
Blue Origin’s next crewed flight mission aboard its tourism rocket, expected to lift off this spring, will carry an all-female crew to space.Related video: Astronaut reflects on 250 days in space, upcoming returnJournalist Gayle King, singer Katy Perry and bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen are among the six-person crew who will launch on the New Shepard vehicle. They will be joined by Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist and CEO of STEMBoard, and Kerianne Flynn, a film producer who has conducted nonprofit work with The Allen-Stevenson School, The High Line and Hudson River Park.Lauren Sánchez, a pilot, journalist and vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, “brought the mission together” and will also be on the flight, according to Blue Origin. Sánchez is also engaged to the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos.“She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come,” according to a statement from Blue Origin.Nguyen, who was a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her advocacy for sexual violence survivors, will be the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut.The mission, known as NS-31, will be New Shepard’s 11th flight carrying humans past the Kármán line, an area 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of gray area.Blue Origin has not announced a specific date for the mission.The company, founded by Bezos in 2000, said the mission will be the first all-female flight crew since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963. Since its inception, NASA has selected 61 women to be astronauts, and the first all-female spacewalk, carried out by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, occurred outside the International Space Station in October 2019.The number of women who have been to space has increased as space tourism has grown. In November, Emily Calandrelli, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer and TV host known as “Space Gal,” became the 100th woman to venture into space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-28 mission.
Blue Origin’s next crewed flight mission aboard its tourism rocket, expected to lift off this spring, will carry an all-female crew to space.
Related video: Astronaut reflects on 250 days in space, upcoming return
Journalist Gayle King, singer Katy Perry and bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen are among the six-person crew who will launch on the New Shepard vehicle. They will be joined by Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist and CEO of , and Kerianne Flynn, a film producer who has conducted nonprofit work with , and .
Lauren Sánchez, a pilot, journalist and vice chair of the , “brought the mission together” and will also be on the flight, according to . Sánchez is also engaged to the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos.
“She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come,” according to a statement from Blue Origin.
Nguyen, who was a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her advocacy for sexual violence survivors, will be the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut.
The mission, known as NS-31, will be New Shepard’s 11th flight carrying humans past the Kármán line, an area 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of gray area.
Blue Origin has not announced a specific date for the mission.
The company, founded by Bezos in 2000, said the mission will be the first all-female flight crew since Soviet cosmonaut ’s solo spaceflight in 1963. Since its inception, to be astronauts, and , carried out by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, occurred outside the International Space Station in October 2019.
The number of women who have been to space has increased as space tourism has grown. In November, Emily Calandrelli, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer and TV host known as “Space Gal,” became the 100th woman to venture into space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-28 mission.
