Katy Perry roars into space on all-woman flight
Pop star Katy Perry became the biggest name in an all-woman group to safely blast off into space Monday, roaring into the cosmos on one of billionaire Jeff Bezos's rockets.
The "Firework" and "California Gurls" singer was lofted more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth's surface in a vessel from Blue Origin, the space company owned by the Amazon founder.
Five other women including Bezos's fiancee Lauren Sanchez also joined the flight, which took off from western Texas shortly 8:30 am (1330 GMT) before landing again some 10 minutes later.
Their fully automated craft rose vertically before the crew capsule detached mid-flight, later falling back to the ground slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.
Monday's mission is the first all-woman space crew since Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo flight in 1963.
It is also the 11th sub-orbital crewed operation by Blue Origin, which has offered the space tourism experiences for several years.
The company does not publicly communicate the price of trips made possible by its New Shepard rocket.
The flight brought the passengers beyond the Karman line -- the internationally recognized boundary of space.
They were expected to have a brief period when the women could unbuckle from their seats and float in zero gravity.
- 'Inspiration' -
Perry recently told Elle magazine that she was taking part "for my daughter Daisy," whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom, "to inspire her to never have limits on her dreams."
"I'm just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees that rocket go, and she goes back to school the next day and says 'Mom went to space,'" Perry added.
She said in a separate video posted to Instagram that she was shocked to discover during space training that the capsule she will travel in was named the "Tortoise" and decorated with a "feather" design -- the two nicknames her parents have for her.
"There are no coincidences and I'm just so grateful for these confirmations and so grateful that I feel like something bigger than me is steering the ship," Perry said in the video.
Perry, launched onto the international stage with her 2008 hit "I Kissed a Girl," was also travelling alongside TV presenter Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen, founder of a campaign group against sexual violence.
They follow 52 previous Blue Origin passengers, including longtime "Star Trek" leading man William Shatner.
King's close friend -- talk show legend Oprah Winfrey -- was among those watching the launch in Texas.
Such high-profile guests are intended to keep public interest in Blue Origin's work, as it battles multiple rival firms in the space tourism field.
Bezos' top challenger in passenger flights is Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar sub-orbital experience.
But Blue Origin aims in the future to bring space tourists into orbit, competing directly with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
In January, Blue Origin's much more powerful New Glenn rocket successfully completed its first unmanned orbital mission.
F.Amato--PV
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