Blue Origin NS-31 Launch: All-Women Crew Makes Historic Space Flight with Katy Perry and Others

Blue Origin NS-31 Launch Highlights: New Shepard’s 11th human flight has landed back on Earth with its all-women crew, carrying Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, and Kerianne Flynn, into space.

Blue Origin New Shepard mission NS-31, its 11th human flight, lifted off and landed back on earth at the landing spot in West Texas on Monday, April 14, with an all-women crew. The NS-31 crew included singer Katy Perry, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez.

Blue Origin said that the New Shepard crew reached an altitude of more than 346,000 feet, with the mission in total taking just more than 10 minutes.

Blue Origin space company is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The spacecraft is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. New Shepard is Blue Origin’s full reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight from the beginning. During the 11-minute journey, the crew of NS-31 soared past the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognized boundary of space.

The Blue Origin NS-31 had no pilots and was fully autonomous. Its pressurized crew capsule had room for six people and is environmentally controlled for comfort, having the largest windows to fly into space. Every astronaut on the plane had a window seat.

The ring and wedge fins of the spaceflight were aerodynamically designed to stabilize the booster and reduce fuel use on its way back to Earth.

The New Shepard’s development flight test program concluded in 2021 after the completion of 16 consecutive successful flight tests. This also included three successful capsule tests, which demonstrated that the crew escape system can activate safely at any point of the flight.

NS system has been made for operational reusability and minimal maintenance between flights to bring down the cost of access to space as well reduce waste. Nearly 99 per cent of the New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, ring fin, engine, landing gear, and parachutes.

New Shepard’s BE-3PM engine is fueled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The only byproduct of NS’ engine combustion during the flight is water vapor with zero carbon emissions.

The payload flights of New Shepard also support a wide range of research, education, and technology development. Its human-interactive payloads extend the laboratory of space for real-world flight operations by adding skilled hands on board.

The all-women crew of NS-31, including Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, and Kerianne Flynn, have made history with their successful space flight and safe return to Earth. This mission marks a significant milestone in space exploration and highlights the achievements of women in the field. The crew’s journey to the edge of space and back has inspired many and opened up new possibilities for future space travel.