Lauren Sánchez will lead an all-female crew to space on a rocket built by her fiancé Jeff Bezos’s company, Blue Origin.
Others joining the flight include pop star Katy Perry, CBS anchor Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. No date has been set for the launch, but Blue Origin announced that it would take place this spring.
In a statement, Blue Origin credited Sánchez with bringing “the mission together.”
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“She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come,” the statement read.
Sánchez has spoken about her hope to take a crew to space for years. She previously told CNN that she planned to go sometime in 2023, saying Bezos wouldn’t be joining a mission that would instead be crewed by “a great group of females.”
The flight, and King’s participation in it, was announced separately on CBS Mornings Thursday.
“I don’t know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time,” King said. “It’s like how I felt about to deliver a baby.”
King, who turned 70 in December, said she consulted her kids and Oprah Winfrey before saying yes to the opportunity.
“Once Kirby and Will and Oprah was fine with it, I was fine,” King said. “I thought Oprah would say, ‘No, no.’ She said: ‘I think if you don’t do it, when they all come back and you had the opportunity to do it, you will be kicking yourself.’ She’s right.”
The voyage will be the 11th human spaceflight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard program. So far, a total of 52 people—including Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner—have blasted off in one of the company’s rockets across the Kármán line, an internationally recognized boundary between the atmosphere and space, around 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.
