Do the all-female Blue Origin rocket crew count as astronauts? And what Katy Perry sang in space
It’s been more than 60 years since a woman travelled into space without a man. And now six of them have blasted off from Earth.
Popstar Katy Perry, author Lauren Sanchez, journalist and TV presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn successfully took off in Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin rocket this afternoon (UK time).
It was the latest flight of the New Shepard programme, named NS-31, and was aimed at creating a “lasting impact that will inspire generations”, with the women forming the first all-female crew since Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight to space in 1963.
Blue Origin rocket launch latest: Follow live updates
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All-female crew is launched into space
The capsule landing with a thud. Pic: Blue Origin
Among the celebrities gathered to watch the historic launch were Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, and Oprah Winfrey, a long-time friend of Gayle King.
She told Blue Origin host Charissa Thompson that she had “never been more proud” of her friend.
“I think life is about continuing to grow into the best of yourself, and I think this is one of the fullest expressions of yourself that you can have,” she added.
The flight path of the New Shepard rocket. Pic: Blue Origin
The trip only lasted around 11 minutes, with the reusable self-driving rocket taking off from Launch Site One in West Texas, at 8.30am local time (2.30pm BST).
It reached a maximum height of 107km (62 miles) above Earth, with the women technically entering space as the capsule crosses the Karman line, which is internationally recognised as the boundary of space.
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Kardashians share support for all-female crew
They will not, however, be classed as astronauts by the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA or US military, which all have different eligibility requirements for people to become commercial astronauts.
While in space, the crew had about four minutes of weightlessness to float around and take in the views of Earth from the capsule’s large windows.
The crew capsule then descended back to Earth using three parachutes.
(L-R) William Shatner and Jeff Bezos before their respective New Shepard flights. Pic: Reuters/AP
Before Monday’s flight, 52 people had been taken into space as part of billionaire and Amazon chief Mr Bezos’ programme, including the man himself, who joined the New Shepard’s maiden voyage in 2021.
Star Trek actor William Shatner became the oldest person in space when he joined the mission at the age of 90.
Sanchez hugging Bezos after going up into space. Pic: Blue Origin
How the crew was picked
Mr Bezos’ fiancee led the mission. Sanchez told Elle magazine she chose her fellow crew members because each had “proven their ability to inspire others”.
She said all the women will be able to spread the word on what they felt like during the trip, and also expand on ideas of what the next generation of space explorers will look like.
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Katy Perry gears up for spaceflight
Perry, who is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, told Elle that she had been wanting to go to space for almost 20 years, so it was a no-brainer when she got the call.
She said: “Even when Blue Origin was first talking about commercial travel to space, I was like, ‘Sign me up! I’m first in line’. And then they called me, and I was like, ‘Really? I get an invite?’.”
Journalist and broadcaster Gayle King. Pic: Reuters
For King, who is best known as the co-host of US breakfast show CBS Mornings, the decision wasn’t quite so easy.
“When I got the call from Lauren and Jeff, my first reaction was a no,” she said, adding that she still had “a lot of trepidation” ahead of the trip.
Former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe. Pic: AP
Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist and chief executive of technology company STEMBoard, said she feels like she has been “training for and waiting for this moment [her] entire life”, while civil rights activist Nguyen and film producer Flynn both said the opportunity was a dream come true.
“It was the most incredible experience of my life to be up there and see such vast darkness in space and look down on our planet,” Flynn said.
Civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen. Pic: Reuters
Filmmaker Kerianne Flynn. Pic: Demis Maryannakis/AP
Glammed-up astronauts?
As well as making history by being the first all-female crew in space, the women were also thought to be the first group of astronauts to have their hair and makeup done for a mission.
“Who would not get glam before the flight,” Sanchez said, before joking that fake eyelashes would be “flying round the capsule”.
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Highlights from William Shatner’s Blue Origin flight in 2021
Bowe said she had already tested out the hairstyle she planned to have on launch day – by skydiving in Dubai.
“I think it’s so important for people to see us like that,” Nguyen said. “This dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion. We contain multitudes. Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”
Perry put it another way: “We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.”
The all-female crew of NS-31, the space programme owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
The women also shared details of what they planned to take to space, including the original flag from Apollo 12 – the second mission to the moon – a stuffed animal, shells from Malaysia, and conch chowder, the national dish of The Bahamas, which Bowe grew up eating.
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Did Perry sing in space?
Before the flight, Perry said she felt like she should perform while floating above the Earth, which would make her the first artist to sing in space.
There was speculation that she might sing one of her own songs, but later revealed she actually chose Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World.
Perry kissing the ground after going to space. Pic: Blue Origin
She said: “I think that it’s not about me or about me singing my songs, it was about a collective energy in there. It’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it.”
She added that she would “for sure” write a song about her experience in space, which she said was “10/10”.
Pic: Blue Origin
Perry said she was taking part in the mission for her daughter Daisy Dove Bloom, who she shares with British actor Orlando Bloom, to teach her that “any type of person can reach their dreams”.
Exiting the capsule after landing, the Firework singer held up a real daisy flower in the air, before kissing the ground.
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
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In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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IDF chief says conditions ‘created’ for Gaza ceasefire
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal ?
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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