Gayle King, Katy Perry head to space in historic flight
Blue Origin’s “New Shepard” space vehicle will historically carry an all-female crew, including Katy Perry and Gayle King, to space.
As Blue Origin readies for its first all-female flight to space, not everyone is anxiously awaiting takeoff.
Olivia Munn sounded off on the mission in a Thursday appearance on “Today with Jenna & Friends,” calling the flight − which will bring celebrities like Katy Perry and Gayle King to space − “gluttonous.”
“What are they doing?” the actress said. “Like why?”
“I’m just saying this, I know this is probably not the cool thing to say but like there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.”
Pointing out that only one of the six-person crew is an actual astronaut, Munn expressed exasperation at the whole ordeal.
“So you’re on like Magic Mountain,” she quipped when host Jenna Bush Hager revealed the women would only be in space for about 11 minutes.
“It’s so much money to go to space,” Munn added, later pointing out that all the rocket fuel can’t be good for the planet. “There’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs … I think it’s a bit gluttonous.”
Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen will also join the space flight, which is rounded out by rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and journalist Kerianne Flynn.
“Space exploration was to further our knowledge and to help mankind,” said the actress, who was serving as a guest host alongside Hager. “What are they going to do up there that has made it better for us down here?”
The all-female crew will fly to space aboard the New Shepard rocket ship. Their trip, scheduled for spring will represent the private spacecraft’s 31st mission and the first ever made up entirely of women.
It’s a historic first − an all-women crew has not entered orbit since 1963 when Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova took a solo space flight.
The flight comes as Bezos’ Blue Origin continues to become a major player in the commercial space industry – competing with the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX for NASA’s business as well as the business of other private companies.
In an interview for the cover of Elle magazine published Wednesday, the New Shepard squad revealed they would all be in “glam” with hair and makeup for the journey.
“Space is going to finally be glam,” Perry told the outlet. “Let me tell you something. If I could take glam up with me, I would do that.”
“We’re going to have lash extensions flying in the capsule!” Sánchez added.
Hager, who had seemed less skeptical of the flight, chimed in during Thursday’s episode saying: “That’s a waste of time to get hair and makeup done.”
Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
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