Pop singer Katy Perry safely returns to Earth from outer space

Sunday, April 20, 2025 

Perry in 2024

On Monday, pop music singer Katy Perry safely returned to Earth, landing in Chihuahuan Desert, located on the border of United States and Mexico, after a sub-orbital spaceflight as part of Jeff Bezos's space tourism program. It was the first all-female space flight since 1963.

Perry's fellow spacegoers included NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, journalist and aviator Lauren Sánchez, and Gayle King of CBS. According to Blue Origin, they were the first all-female space crew in over six decades, with the previous one being cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's Vostok 6 solo two days long mission in 1965.

The crew, embarking on a mission codenamed "NS-31", launched from "Launch Site One", the liftoff site at Blue Origin’s private ranch in west Texas. The type of rocket was a "New Shepard." The flight lasted approximately 11 minutes, long enough to briefly experience weightlessness. The crew were said to have traveled over one hundred kilometers above the earth's surface. The spacecraft was entirely autonomous and did not require any control input from the crew. Perry reportedly sang the song "What a Wonderful World" to the crew during the descent.

Perry said she felt more connected to life and to love upon returning to Earth, stating that she would "definitely" compose lyrics about the experience. She was quoted saying: "This is all for the benefit of Earth. I wanted to model courage and worthiness and fearlessness."

Sources

• Anna Kaufman and Eric Lagatta. "History made: Katy Perry, Gayle King go to space on Blue Origin flight" — USA Today, April 14, 2025
• Maddie Molloy and Victoria Gill. "Blue Origin crew safely back on Earth after all-female space flight" — BBC, April 14, 2025