Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has announced the crew for its 31st New Shepard (NS-31) mission, scheduled for launch this spring. For the first time in more than 60 years, an all-female crew will go into space.
The crew includes Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Gayle King, a famous singer Katy Perry, Carianne Flynn and Lauren Sanchez, a journalist and wife of Jeff Bezos, who will be the mission's commander.
Sanchez emphasized that the flight will be an important event to inspire future generations and popularize space exploration.
This flight will be the 11th manned flight of the New Shepard program and the 31st in its history. To date, the program has carried 52 humans beyond the Karman Line, the internationally recognized limit of space.
This flight is especially significant because it is the first all-female crew. Previously, Valentina Tereshkova was the only woman in the world to fly into space. In 1963, she flew solo for nearly 3 days.
Earlier this year, Blue Origin conducted the first test launch of its powerful New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
