Women Reach for Space
Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is preparing to launch a groundbreaking mission: its first-ever all-female crew. Set to take off this spring, the NS-31 mission will include journalist and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez — who is also Bezos' fiancé — alongside CBS host Gayle King, pop icon Katy Perry, NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics researcher Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
This groundbreaking voyage is a key chapter in Blue Origin’s New Shepard program, which has already propelled 52 individuals past the Kármán line — the globally acknowledged threshold of space, positioned 62 miles above our planet. Blasting off at speeds exceeding three times the speed of sound, the crew will ascend into the cosmos, where they will experience the surreal sensation of weightlessness before making their journey back to Earth.
For Sánchez, this flight represents more than just a journey beyond our planet. "I want to inspire young girls to dream big and know that space is within their reach," she shared.
The upcoming launch will be the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet engineer Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. Blue Origin has previously flown high-profile passengers, including actor William Shatner, Good Morning America host and former NFL player Michael Strahan, and Bezos himself. Now, the company is set to make history again — this time, with a mission that celebrates female pioneers in space exploration.
