Emotions, empowerment, and spectacle as media personality Gayle King joined five other trailblazing women for a suborbital journey aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Monday, April 14. The flight, dubbed NS-31, marked the first all-female space mission since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963—and the first of its kind for Jeff Bezos’s space tourism company.
The six-member crew included aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, singer Katy Perry, film producer Kerianne Flynn, philanthropist and Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez, and King, the veteran CBS Mornings host known more for compelling interviews than space exploration.
For King, who has openly discussed her fear of flying, the flight was deeply personal. Upon landing safely in the West Texas desert after 10 minutes in space, she knelt and kissed the ground.
“This was not a ride,” she said. “This was a bonafide freakin’ flight.”
A New Kind of Space Crew
The launch brought a celebratory energy to the world of private space travel. Bezos himself escorted the women to the capsule and stayed to greet them on their return. Family and friends—including Oprah Winfrey, Khloé and Kris Kardashian, and Perry’s daughter, Daisy—watched from the sidelines.
“This moment belongs to all of us,” Sánchez said tearfully after landing. “The Earth looked so quiet. So peaceful.”
Perry brought a daisy with her as a tribute to her daughter, later saying, “I feel super connected to love.”
The mission didn’t aim to break scientific ground but rather to break barriers—showcasing the power of representation in a field historically dominated by men. “There are no borders up there,” said Bowe. “Just Earth.”
Critics Ask: Glam or Gimmick?
Despite the historic nature of the flight, not everyone was applauding.
Backlash brewed following an Elle magazine cover story that highlighted the crew’s “glam prep” for space—lash extensions, lipstick, and designer flight suits. Perry quipped that the group would “put the ‘ass’ in astronaut,” while Sánchez joked about glam lashes floating mid-capsule. Nguyen defended the duality: “Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”
Critics like actress Olivia Munn questioned the mission’s purpose: “What’s the point? Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride?” she asked on NBC. “There are people who can’t even afford eggs.”
New York Times columnist Jessica Grose echoed the sentiment, calling the flight a “morally vacuous space stunt” and critiquing its perceived shallowness: “This should be another nail in the coffin of celebrity feminism.”
While some see the mission as a frivolous luxury wrapped in good PR, others argue it represents a bold reimagining of who space is for—and what it can symbolize.
Amanda Nguyen, a sexual assault survivor and human rights advocate, emphasized the power of narrative: “Visibility matters. If even one girl sees this and believes she can be both brilliant and beautiful, it’s worth it.”
Regardless of which side of the debate one falls on, the NS-31 flight sparked conversation about the future of space tourism, the intersection of feminism and fame, and what progress really looks like in a world still grappling with inequality.
As King summed up with unfiltered honesty: “I was scared. But I did it. And I will never be the same.”
