First pics of Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King in space on Blue Origin flight
The first pictures of Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King in space have been released after they completed their Blue Origin flight on Monday.
The all-female crew spent just four minutes in zero-gravity space, and took much of the time to mug for the camera inside their space capsule.
In one picture, pop star Perry, 40, holds up a daisy as she smiles at the camera.
“Daisies are common flowers, but they grow through any condition,” the “Roar” singer told reporters after she landed safely and kissed the ground. “They are resilient. They are powerful. They are strong.”
Perry also sang “What A Wonderful World” during the space trip, rather than opting for one of her own songs.
“It’s not about me. It’s not about singing my songs, it’s about a collective energy in there, it’s about us, it’s about making space for future women and taking up space and belonging, and it’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it,” Perry said. “This is all for the benefit of Earth.”
In another picture, Sanchez, 55, the fiancée of Amazon boss and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, grins broadly as she clings onto a railing inside the spacecraft.
Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist, held up a patch representing the Bahamas while other members of the female crew performed handstands and forward rolls in space.
The crew members were also heard gushing over spotting the moon from space in recorded footage released by Blue Origin.
Ahead of the trip, the star-studded crew defended their brief voyage into space after critics accused them of taking part in a vanity project.
“Many people think that if you’re devoting resources you’re taking things away from Earth,” CBS host Gayle King, 70, told “CBS Mornings.”
“It isn’t an either-or. It’s a both-and,” she went on. “And what happens in space also benefits what’s happening on Earth.”
The six women returned safely to Earth after their 11-minute journey following the launch Monday morning from Blue Origin’s West Texas base.
Lift off took place around 9:30 a.m. ET from the launch site in Van Horn, just over 100 miles southeast of El Paso.
In an emotional message after the trip, another one of the crew members, Amanda Nguyen, talked about her experience as a rape survivor.
“I just want every survivor and every person who’s ever had a dream deferred to know that your dreams are valid,” she said at the post-voyage press conference.
“And even if your dreams are as wild as going to space, they matter. And you can get there too. If I can get there, you can get there too.”
Film producer Kerianne Flynne was the last crew member.
Blue Origin’s mission is to make space travel more accessible to humans, the company’s senior team says.
“We want to do that first and foremost, as we say, for the benefit of Earth, and New Shepherd plays a really important role in that vision,” the project’s head of flight operations and maintenance Audrey Powers said.
