Blue Origin launch: Who are the all-female crew and where can you watch the lift-off?

Pop star Katy Perry is among the six women scheduled to fly into space on Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space tourism rocket. It will be the rocket’s first all-female crew.

To this date, Blue Origin has had 30 space missions, including 10 crewed flights. The programme has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, which is the internationally recognised boundary of space.

Lift-off is scheduled from west Texas on Monday April 14 at 8.30am local time. The flight will last around 11 minutes, taking the crew over 100km above Earth. The rocket flies itself so does not need to be piloted by the astronauts. Strictly speaking, it is not quite the first female-only space flight: in 1963 a Russian cosmonaut, Valentina Treshkova, went on a solo mission that entered space.

Who else will be on board and where can you watch it?

US pop star Katy Perry will be among those on board Blue Origin’s flight.

“I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality,” the singer said in an Instagram post.

Amanda Nguyen, a civil rights activist, will also be onboard.

Nguyen was named as the Woman of the Year by Time in 2022, following her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, which resulted in a change in the way law enforcement handles rape kits.

“My r*pe could have derailed my astronaut dreams,” reads one post, “Fought for survivor rights, rewrote the law, and now in 7 days I’m flying to space.”

She will be the first Vietnamese woman to fly to space.

Gayle King, the CBS Mornings co-host, will also be jetting off into space.

Unlike other crew members, King admitted that going to space “was never my dream”. However, the journalist said that she wants to “open myself up to new adventures and step out of my comfort zone”.

“I've made no secret of the fact that I’m very nervous but also very excited,” she said.

Film producer Kerianne Flynn is also among the all-female crew. She has produced a number of independent films such as Lilly (2024), This Changes Everything (2018) and The Automatic Hate (2015).

“I grew up in a small town in Michigan, and I always looked up at the stars with my grandfather. He would talk about celestial events and explain the astronomy of the sky. I wondered, what is out there and what is up there?” she told Elle USA.

“But going through the rest of my life – my career, my education – it just didn’t seem like something that was attainable. So when this opportunity came along, especially to be part of a historic all-female crew, I felt honored and excited.”

Aisha Bowe, entrepreneur and former Nasa rocket scientist, is also heading to space. Bowe is the founder of STEMBoard, a tech company that provides advisory services for federal and commercial organisations.

“This mission isn’t only about my journey, it’s for every kid who’s been told they don’t belong, who’s ever felt overlooked or underestimated,” she said on an Instagram post.

“It’s for those who choose to dream anyway, to push forward, and to rewrite what’s possible.”

Lauren Sánchez, journalist, philanthropist and Jeff Bezos’s fiancée, will also be on board.

Sánchez has been outspoken about her struggles with dyslexia as a child. She is the author of the children’s book The Fly Who Flew to Space, which she describes as “a celebration of overcoming challenges, the joy of learning, and dreaming beyond the stars”.

Blue Origin will be streaming its launch on YouTube, starting at 8am ET (1pm in the UK).

It will also be streamed live on Paramount+ and broadcast on CBS.

You can also follow coverage of the event live from Standard.co.uk.