BBC Climate & Science reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Pop star Katy Perry and five other women are set to blast into space aboard Jeff Bezos’ space tourism rocket.<\/p>\n The singer will be joined by Bezos’s fianc\u00e9e Lauren S\u00e1nchez and CBS presenter Gayle King.<\/p>\n The New Shepard rocket is due to lift off from its West Texas launch site and the launch window opens at 08:30 local time (14:30 BST). <\/p>\n The flight will last around 11 minutes and take the crew more than 100km (62 miles) above Earth, crossing the internationally recognised boundary of space and giving the crew a few moments of weightlessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Also on board are former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.<\/p>\n The spacecraft is fully autonomous, requiring no pilots, and the crew will not manually operate the vehicle.<\/p>\n The capsule will return to Earth with a parachute-assisted soft landing, while the rocket booster will land itself around two miles away from the launch site.<\/p>\n “If you had told me that I would be part of the first-ever all-female crew in space, I would have believed you. Nothing was beyond my imagination as a child. Although we didn’t grow up with much, I never stopped looking at the world with hopeful WONDER!” Mrs Perry said in a social media post.<\/p>\n Blue Origin says the last all-female spaceflight was over 60 years ago when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space on a solo mission aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. <\/p>\n Since then, there have been no other all-female spaceflights but women have made numerous significant contributions. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Blue Origin is a private space company founded in 2000 by Bezos, the billionaire entrepreneur who also started Amazon.<\/p>\n Although Blue Origin has not released full ticket prices, a $150,000 (\u00a3114,575.85) deposit is required to reserve a seat\u2014underlining the exclusivity of these early flights.<\/p>\n Alongside its suborbital tourism business, the company is also developing long-term space infrastructure, including reusable rockets and lunar landing systems. <\/p>\n The New Shepard rocket is designed to be fully reusable and its booster returns to the launch pad for vertical landings after each flight, reducing overall costs.<\/p>\n According to US law, astronauts must complete comprehensive training for their specific roles.<\/p>\n Blue Origin says its New Shepard passengers are trained over two days with a focus on physical fitness, emergency protocols, details about the safety measures and procedures for zero gravity.<\/p>\n Additionally, there are two support members referred to as Crew Member Seven: one provides continuous guidance to astronauts, while the other maintains communication from the control room during the mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The rise of space tourism has prompted criticism that it is too exclusive and environmentally damaging.<\/p>\n Supporters argue that private companies are accelerating innovation and making space more accessible.<\/p>\n Professor Brian Cox told the BBC in 2024<\/a>: “Our civilisation needs to expand beyond our planet for so many reasons,” and believes that collaboration between NASA and commercial firms is a positive step.<\/p>\n But critics raise significant environmental concerns.<\/p>\n They say that as more and more rockets are launched, the risks of harming the ozone layer increases.<\/p>\n A 2022 study by Professor Eloise Marais from University College London found that rocket soot in the upper atmosphere has a warming effect which is 500 times greater than when released by planes closer to Earth.<\/p>\n The high cost of space tourism makes it inaccessible to most people, with these expensive missions out of reach for the majority.<\/p>\n Critics, including actress Olivia Munn, questioned the optics of this particular venture, remarking “There’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs,” during an appearance on Today with Jenna & Friends.<\/p>\n Astronaut Tim Peake has defended the value of human space travel, especially in relation to tackling global issues such as climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Peake voiced his disappointment that space exploration was increasingly seen as a pursuit for the wealthy, stating: “I personally am a fan of using space for science and for the benefit of everybody back on Earth, so in that respect, I feel disappointed that space is being tarred with that brush.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/744b\/live\/52c33bf0-1557-11f0-b1a2-c9cc9d197e2f.jpg.webp\")
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BBC \/ Maddie Molloy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nWatch Blue Origin’s Last Spaceflight on the New Shepard Rocket<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n