Tag: Lauren Sanchez

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All-female mission sends stars and scientists to space

Blue Origin New Shepard launch
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket ship rises from its Texas launch pad. (Blue Origin via YouTube)

Six women rode Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship today on a short suborbital space trip that was notable because of a crew that included pop superstar Katy Perry, morning TV host Gayle King — and Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of the space venture’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos.

Liftoff from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas occurred on time at 8:30 a.m. CT (6:30 a.m. PT). Blue Origin streamed coverage of the nearly 11-minute mission via its website and YouTube.

The spacefliers marveled at the views, including a just-past-full moon that was hanging in a darkened sky. “Look at the moon,” one could be heard saying over an audio link. “Oh my God,” another replied.

After touchdown, both Perry and King knelt to kiss the ground. “What happened to us was not a ‘ride.’ This was a bona fide frickin’ flight.” King told an interviewer.

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Blue Origin’s next space trip will feature all-female crew

Six photos of Blue Origin crew: Lauren Sanchez, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn and Amanda Nguyen
Blue Origin’s NS-31 spacefliers include Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee; Gayle King, co-host of “CBS Mornings”; pop superstar Katy Perry; and Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn and Amanda Nguyen, three advocates for women in STEM. (Blue Origin Photos)

The next suborbital spaceflight planned by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is due to follow through on the dream of Bezos’ fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, to lead an all-woman crew — and that crew will include pop superstar Katy Perry and morning-TV host Gayle King.

Three advocates for women in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, will round out the six-person crew for a mission known as NS-31, Blue Origin announced today. The flight date hasn’t yet been announced, but the company says it will launch this spring.

“This will be the first all-female flight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963,” Blue Origin said in a reference to the Soviet space pioneer.

Sanchez called her crewmates “fearless explorers” in a posting to Threads. “I really see this group as explorers, and storytellers, each of us about to be changed by a remarkable view of our beautiful planet,” she said. “The countdown starts now!”

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Lauren Sanchez plans to ride her beau’s spaceship

Lauren Sanchez at Blue Origin in 2021
Lauren Sanchez is flanked by Blue Origin personnel after her boyfriend Jeff Bezos' space trip in 2021. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Lauren Sanchez is planning to follow in the footsteps of her billionaire boyfriend, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, by taking a trip aboard the suborbital rocket ship built by Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. And she plans to bring an all-female crew with her on the mission, which she hopes will take place by early 2024.

Sanchez discussed the space mission, her experience as a helicopter pilot and a media producer — and her relationship with Bezos — in a wide-ranging interview published today by WSJ. Magazine.

The relationship between Sanchez and Bezos — and Bezos’ divorce from his wife MacKenzie Scott — fueled a wave of tabloid stories in 2019. Two years later, Bezos took a ride on Blue Origin’s first crewed spaceflight with Sanchez watching from the wings. Sanchez said Bezos will be “cheering us all on from the sidelines” when she takes her turn aboard the New Shepard spaceship.

“As much as he wants to go on this flight, I’m going to have to hold him back,” she told the magazine.

Sanchez said her five crewmates will be “women who are making a difference in the world and who are impactful and have a message to send.” Their identities haven’t yet been revealed.

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