Lauren Sánchez made history Monday, becoming part of the first all-female crew to launch toward space in the 21st century since cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s pioneering 1963 mission.
Alongside Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn, Sánchez rode Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket to the Krmn linethe internationally recognized boundary between Earth and space, situated 62 miles above the planet’s surface.
“It was a feeling of joy, camaraderie, and gratefulness,” Sánchez reflected after returning to Earth. The journalist and helicopter pilot noted the profound experience of their brief suborbital journey, drawing parallels to Alan Shepard’s historic 1961 flight.
During approximately three minutes of weightlessness, Sánchez experienced what astronauts call the “overview effect”an overwhelming sense of global interconnectedness. “Earth looked so quiet,” she said. “We’re all in this together, more connected than you realize.”
The moment echoed similar emotional accounts from previous space travelers. William Shatner, who also flew with Blue Origin in 2021, described the experience as revealing “the enormity and suddenness of life and death.”
Sánchez particularly highlighted her crew’s bravery, singling out Gayle King’s transformation. “She doesn’t even have ear piercings, yet she entered the capsuleand I think it profoundly changed her,” she remarked.
Jeff Bezos falls face-first on national TV 🤣 pic.twitter.com/LzgJViKlvO
— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) April 14, 2025
Founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin continues advancing its space tourism and exploration objectives. While currently limited to suborbital flights, the company successfully launched its orbital mega-rocket New Glenn in January, designed for heavy payload transport to space and lunar missions.
Bezos’s long-term vision remains ambitious: potentially enabling one trillion people to live and work in space, though this goal remains distant.
Katy Perry seemingly kisses the ground after returning from Space. pic.twitter.com/ugi07THOjC
— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 14, 2025
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