(Reuters) – Pop star Katy Perry and five other women launched into space on a Blue Origin rocket and successfully returned to Earth on Monday, marking the first all-female spaceflight in more than 60 years.
The crew lifted off from West Texas at 9:31 a.m. ET (1331 GMT) and traveled to the edge of space, where they experienced a brief period of weightlessness before returning to Earth in a flight lasting around 11 minutes, according to a live broadcast by Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The spaceflight is a high-profile win for Bezos’ New Shepard launch vehicle, which has been developed for space tourism.
The six-person crew also included Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, CBS host Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
King said that when the crew returned to their seats after weightlessness, Perry sang Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’.
“I feel super connected to love,” Katy Perry said after landing back on Earth.
She was holding a daisy flower, which she took into space, to remind her of her daughter, Daisy.
“Daisies are common flowers, but they grow through any condition … They are resilient. They are powerful. They are strong.”
It was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman in space – orbited the Earth during a nearly three-day solo flight.
(Reporting by Joe Brock, Editing by Franklin Paul)
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