How Katy Perry prepared for historic all-female spaceflight
The pop star will be joined by Jeff Bezosâ?? fiancee Lauren Sanchez, journalist Gayle King and three other women on the all-female spaceflight
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Katy Perry listened to âCosmosâ by Carl Sagan and read a book on string theory to prepare for the all-female Blue Origin spaceflight.
The pop star made the revelation at her Southern California rehearsal space last Wednesday, ahead of the mission with Jeff Bezosâ fiancee Lauren Sanchez, journalist Gayle King and three other women.
âIâve always been interested in astrophysics and interested in astronomy and astrology and the stars. We are all made of stardust, and we all come from the stars,â she said.
âI am talking to myself every day and going, âYouâre brave, youâre bold, you are doing this for the next generation to inspire so many different people but especially young girls to go, âIâll go to space in the future.â No limitations.â
Perry said she has been âpsychologicallyâ preparing for the spaceflight by reading work from the late Sagan and other scientists.
âIâm really excited about the engineering of it all. Iâm excited to learn more about STEM and just the math about what it takes to accomplish this type of thing,â she said.
An all-female spaceflight seems an apt endeavor for the 40-year-old Perry, whose collection of hits include songs about extraterrestrials (âE.T.â) and fireworks shooting across the sky (âFireworkâ), as well as feminist anthems like her 2013 hit, âRoar,â and âWOMANâS WORLD,â off her most recent album.
Perry said that whenever she is doing something new or daunting, she looks inward for strength and confidence.
Perry said she has been âpsychologicallyâ preparing for the spaceflight (2025 Invision )
âUsing that feminine divine that I was born with and definitely unlocked when I had my daughter even more. It leveled up for sure. Being a mother just makes you level up with that type of power,â she said. Her daughter, Daisy, 4, joined Perry before her rehearsal.
Bezosâ rocket company Blue Origin announced the crew in February.
Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and former TV journalist, picked the women who will join her on a 10-minute spaceflight from West Texas aboard a New Shepard rocket. Perry, Sanchez and King will be joined by Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist who now heads an engineering firm, research scientist Amanda Nguyen and movie producer Kerianne Flynn.
âI am feeling so grateful and grounded and honored to be invited and included with this incredible group of women,â Perry said.
Whenever she gets nervous about the trip, she reminds herself how important it is.
The Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launching (AFP via Getty Images )
Blue Origin has flown tourists on short hops to space since 2021, after Bezos climbed aboard with his brother for the inaugural trip; the upcoming trip will be the company's 11th human spaceflight. Some passengers have received free rides, while others have paid a hefty sum to experience weightlessness.
The company declined to comment on who is footing the bill for Monday's flight.
The news of the upcoming trip has not been without critiques, most recently from actor Olivia Munn, who bemoaned the mission's cost and publicity. But Perry believes an all-women crew â the first since Valentina Tereshkovaâs solo spaceflight in 1963 â has historic ramifications.
âItâs an important moment for the future of commercial space travel and for humanity in general and for women all around,â she said, citing the fact that only about 11 per cent of the people who have gone to space have been women. âIâm excited for that number to be even more equal after this flight. And I just feel like, âPut us in coach.ââ