Gayle King, Katy Perry, and Lauren Sánchez will join three other women on Blue Origin’s next mission, announced on Thursday.
The 11th crewed flight of the company’s New Shepard rocket is scheduled for this spring, though a specific date hasn’t been provided.
The crew will consist of King, co-host of “CBS Mornings,” Sanchez, Bezos’ girlfriend, Perry, a pop star, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, and movie producer Kerianne Flynn. They’ll be joined by the all-female crew of six.
New Shepard completed its 10th crewed flight on Tuesday, just outside Van Horn, Texas.
These brief journeys, lasting around 11 minutes, reach an altitude of just over 100 kilometers (62 miles), considered the boundary between Earth and space. The autonomous and pilotless suborbital vehicle returns after passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and views. Three large parachutes facilitate a safe touchdown.
Previous notable names who’ve participated in such flights include company founder Jeff Bezos, “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, former New York Giants great Michael Strahan, and astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley.
The rocket is named after the elder Shepard, the first American in space.
Tickets to ride New Shepard cost well into the six digits, though the company doesn’t explicitly list a price on its website.
The Blue Origin ticketing application informs potential space travelers that the company will collect a $150,000 USD fully refundable deposit to initiate the order process.
