Beyoncé released ‘Cowboy Carter’ album one year ago: A look back
It’s been one year since Beyoncé released her eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter.” Here’s a look back at the album’s impactful year.
Beyoncé models her latest Levi’s collaboration, “Chapter 3,” on Instagram.
This is the third installment of her “Reimagine” campaign with Levi’s.
The campaign includes recreations of classic Levi’s ads and features music from her album “Cowboy Carter.”
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” tour begins in April and includes U.S. and European dates.
Beyoncé Knowles Carter released a new campaign video for her lastest collection with Levi’s Jeans, and it features none other than “Cowboy Carter” collaborator Willie Jones.
In the video, Jones is seen with Beyoncé as she struts in her denim shorts inside a diner. Jones is featured on “Just For Fun” on Beyoncé’s eighth studio album. In the ad, the diner’s menu makes a nod to Beyoncé’s previous collections with Levi’s, including “Pool Hall” and “Launderette,” with a B’s combo special and more. The “Chapter 3” collection is now live on the Levi’s website.
In an Instagram post about the collection, Beyoncé shows off her curves, giving fans more outfit inspiration for her upcoming “Cowboy Carter” tour. She poses in denim shorts paired with a denim shirt and a white tank. Many fans left comments pointing out just how fierce the diva looked.
As fans know, Beyoncé first announced her collaboration with Levi’s in September. She followed up the announcement by teasing her first drop, “Chapter 1: Launderette,” in a cheekily nostalgic ad. In the video, the “Cowboy Carter” creator strips down as she recreates the brand’s 1985 “Launderette” commercial, which featured model Nick Kamen in his underwear.
She later announced the second chapter of Beyoncé’s and Levi’s “Reimagine” campaign titled “Pool Hall.” In that video, which is a nod to Levi’s 1991 ad of the same name, Yoncé rocks a denim-on-denim look as she faces actor Timothy Olyphant in a high-stakes game of pool. Of course, the clip is set to Beyoncé’s 2024 song featuring Post Malone, “Levii’s Jeans” from her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter.”
The second drop came on the heel of Beyoncé announcing her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour, and now the tour is fast approaching.
It will kick off April 28 in Los Angeles and include 32 stadium shows across the U.S. and Europe. Since the initial announcement, Beyoncé has added a handful of concerts including final shows in Las Vegas. She’s also set to make history with her scheduled tour dates.
This story was updated to include the video advertisement.
Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
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.
A pop star, a journalist and a television news host all walk into a space capsule. Yes, really.
Blue Origin’s NS-31 touched down Monday morning after bringing Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren Sánchez to space and back. The stars, part of a six-woman, all-female cadre, rocketed off alongside former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
The mission marked the first all-female space voyage in more than 60 years.
As celebrity guests like Oprah Winfrey, Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner watched on, the capsule fired off into zero gravity, and the women were all smiles, tearful and in awe of their intergalactic trip when they returned.
Katy Perry, Gayle King go to space on Blue Origin flight: Live updates
Katy Perry ‘connected to love’ after space flight
“I feel super connected to love,” Perry said of her trip to space. “This experience is second to being a mom.”
Holding the daisy she took with her on the mission, Perry remarked that she brought that particular bloom because it’s a common plant and it can grow through any circumstances. It’s also the name of her 4-year-old daughter Daisy Dove, who was present at the launch.
“This is all for the benefit of Earth,” she said. “I wanted to model courage and worthiness and fearlessness,” Perry added, revealing it was a hard decision as a mom to take that risk but that she needed to “surrender” to the universe. And she said “of course,” she would definitely write a song about the experience.
Perry, who sang a bit of “What a Wonderful World” in space, said the experience was much bigger than her music career.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about singing my songs. It’s about a collective energy in there, it’s about us, it’s about making space for future women and taking up space and belonging,” she said, later calling the flight “the highest high.”
The pop star also revealed the set list for her upcoming tour while in space, and said she carried with her 300 bracelets to bring back for children involved with Perry’s Firework Foundation, which helps underserved communities connect with the arts.
Oprah, Khloe Kardashian support star-studded Blue Origin space flight: ‘Dream big’
Gayle King conquers fears, says Katy Perry sang to the astronauts
“I can’t even believe what I saw,” King said. “I’m so proud of me right now.”
King has been open about a fear of flying, which is in part why best friend Winfrey encouraged her to go.
“The flight instructor said that I am her best success story. Why? Because she’s never had someone go through the course who’s terrified of flying,” King said.
She also described the mission as “such a reminder of how we have to do better, be better.”
“It’s oddly quiet when you get up there, it’s really quiet and peaceful and you look down at the planet and you think ‘That’s where we came from?’” she said. “It’s so nasty and so vitriolic nowadays and I mean if everybody could experience that peace that we had up there and the kindness.”
King described the crew as a “sisterhood” and said Perry’s singing during their descent back to earth made her emotional.
Lauren Sánchez reflects on flight to space, looks ahead to Jeff Bezos wedding
After touching down, Sánchez embraced Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin and her fiancé, and then went to look for her children.
“I’m so proud of this crew,” Sánchez said in a post-flight interview. “The earth looked so quiet. I was just quiet … I don’t think you can describe it. … It was quiet but then also really alive.
“You look at it and you’re like, we’re all in this together. That’s all I could think about. We’re so connected, more connected than you realize,” she added, saying her overwhelming emotion was joy and gratitude.
“I had to come back, I mean we’re getting married,” she joked about her upcoming nuptials. “That would be a bummer for me.” Sanchez is set to wed Bezos in Italy later this year.
Comments by a Swedish DJ over the weekend have sent shockwaves through the Swiftie community, who have been suffering a drought of Taylor Swift content since the end of her Eras Tour.
Universal Music Group Sweden posted a now-deleted clip of Jacob Criborn, part of the DJ team Nause, talking about the inspiration behind his “Canelloni Macaroni” remix featuring singer Lasse Holm. Seated on a couch, Criborn explained working with Erik Arvinder, a Swedish composer and violinist.
“He did a string arrangement of 25. He got some brass guys playing trumpet, saxophone, trombone,” Criborn said in remarks translated from Swedish through Google Translate. “And they were like, ‘We’re just going to finish Taylor Swift’s record and then we’ll jump on ‘Canelloni.” No, but we really kind of pushed for this song because it deserves it.”
Arvinder has worked with a number of pop stars including Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, John Legend, Madonna, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and The Weeknd. He’s known for his orchestral sound and technique.
Long live the Eras Tour with our enchanting book
Fans have been waiting for a Swift album announcement, whether it’s the Eras Tour singer’s 12th project or a rerecorded version of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” or “Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).”
The Instagram post was quickly taken down by Universal Music Group Sweden, but not before Swifties captured and reposted the reel online. Universal Music Group is Swift’s record label.
The singer’s team and Universal Music Group Sweden did not immediately reply to emails requesting comment.
Don’t miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
Blue Origin space flight returns to Earth with star-studded crew
Blue Origin’s all-female crew returned to Earth with celebrity astronauts on board.
Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner were in attendance at the star-studded Blue Origin space flight launch Monday.
The Kardashian-Jenner family members supported the celebrity space flight as it made history with the first all-female space crew in more than 60 years launched Monday from Texas.
“It’s really something,” Jenner said, adding that Kim Kardashian was supposed to attend as well but was studying for a law school exam. “It’s a very brave thing to do,” she added of the space flight. The Kardashian family is friends with Lauren Sánchez, one of the members of the flight’s six-woman crew, and her fiancé, Blue Origin (and Amazon) founder Jeff Bezos.
“It’s a really unique experience, and we’re just so honored to be here to support them and watch this amazing part of history. And I’m so proud of her,” Jenner said. “It’s very inspirational.”
‘The highest high’: Katy Perry, Gayle King recap emotional flight to space
Khloe Kardashian added that they were proud of all the women taking flight. “It’s so empowering. Really whatever you dream of it is in our reach,” she said. “Dream big, wish for the stars and one day you can maybe be amongst them.”
The space flight crew included pop star Katy Perry, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, journalist Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
LIVE UPDATES: Katy Perry, Gayle King head to space on Blue Origin flight
The crew members, who were in flight for 11 minutes, touched down safely on Earth just a few moments after leaving. Sánchez emerged first, greated by Bezos with a kiss on the cheek before going to see her kids. Perry kissed the ground and held up the daisy she brought with her onboard. There were screams from Nguyen, cheers from Bowe, and King gestured to the sky and kneeled down to the ground. “Thank you Jesus,” King said, grabbing a handful of Texas soil.
Oprah watches Gayle King head to space
King’s best friend Oprah Winfrey watched on as the fellow famed interviewer readied to take flight and, upon lift-off, held her hands to her face in awe.
“I’ve never been more proud of my friend than today,” Winfrey said in an earlier interview, adding that she felt very calm about the whole ordeal. Winfrey, as well as King’s family, wore a bright yellow sweater in honor of King’s call sign, which is “sunshine.”
“This is bigger than just going to space,” she said of her friend, who has long been a fearful flier. “This is overcoming a wall of fear, a barrier. I think it’s going to be cathartic in so many ways for her.”
Before blast-off, King told Blue Origin that when she first began toying with the idea of going to space, her children and Winfrey signaled immediate support.
Winfrey immediately encouraged her to take the chance, King said, saying her friend pointed out how much regret she might have if she had to watch the flight take off and wonder about what it would be like to be on it.
“I think life is about continuing to grow into the best of yourself, and the fullest expression of yourself. And I think this is one of the fullest expressions of yourself that you could possibly have,” Winfrey said.
“You should always know that no dream is too big,” King said.
Sneak peek at NBC’s “Yes, Chef!” with Martha Stewart and José Andrés.
Watch a preview of NBC’s “Yes, Chef!” a new cooking competition show with Martha Stewart and José Andrés.
Martha Stewart has experienced plenty of ups and downs in her dramatically successful life, and, yes, chefs, she’s now here to help you with your problems.
Stewart is teaming up with World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés for a new NBC cooking competition show, “Yes, Chef!” (premiering April 28, 10 ET/PT), whose dual premise is not just to find the best chef among 12 contestants but also to coach the dozen past whatever personal demons stand in the way of their success.
“Our job is to be judge and mentor,” Stewart, 83, tells USA TODAY. “As for the issues, well, there’s anger management, there’s also ‘I’m the best and no one else can do anything as well as I do.’ There are those who can’t cooperate with others or can’t delegate. Perhaps all normal issues, but they’re heightened because it’s a competition setting where you’re trying to put out the best food you can for two foodie people like me and José Andrés.”
Stewart, the doyenne of eponymous home decor and fashion brands, has lived an emotionally charged life. As detailed in the 2024 Netflix documentary “Martha,” that includes a hardscrabble childhood, love affairs and a famous stint in prison after she was convicted of conspiracy related to insider trading. Put another way, there’s likely little these aspiring chefs can throw at Stewart that she hasn’t already experienced.
“I can use a tremendous amount of my experience to help,” she says. “I still work all the time, I’m a seven-day-a-week worker. Besides doing this show, spring is happening in the garden at my farm, so there’s the stress and pressure of all that stuff, plus I run my own design company, so I’m getting products done, worrying about tariffs. There’s a lot to think about all the time, but it engenders enthusiasm for living.”
Part of the appeal of ‘Yes, Chef!’ for co-host Martha Stewart? Spending time with chef José Andrés
Stewart says “Yes, Chef!” ― named after the obligatory response elicited by kitchen workers to a head chef’s command ― gave her the opportunity “to be part of a cooking competition from start to finish,” but also to spend time with Andrés, whose humanitarian work she admires.
“He had me give a pep talk to his team working in Ukraine when we were filming this back in February, which was inspirational to me, because that’s such tough work,” she says.
“Yes, Chef!” also presents Stewart with another first: spending 28 straight days in Toronto, where the series was filmed.
“We were working 14-hour days, six days a week, nonstop, in full makeup, and then the first day I did get off, the (Delta plane) flipped over at the Toronto airport and none of us could get home,” she says. “But it was overall a great experience, and the show was intense and great fun.”
Stewart gives a short laugh, then adds: “At my age, I’m always looking to do things I’ve never done before.”
Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal discuss father-daughter relationship
“The Last of Us” stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reveal they didn’t enjoy their character’s estrangement in season 2.
How can a TV show adapt a video game as narratively complex as “The Last of Us Part II”? We’re about to find out.
“The Last of Us” returned April 13 on HBO for the premiere of its second-season, which is based on the game franchise’s 2020 second installment. But even more so than in Season 1, the “Part II” story relies so heavily on the way a video game works that translating it to TV requires major changes.
In Sunday’s premiere, co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s plan for tackling that challenge comes into focus. Here’s how the episode differs from the game and what that means for the future of the show.
How does the dance scene compare to the game?
Sunday’s premiere culminates in one of the game’s most famous scenes: a dance where Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) kiss, which makes local bigot Seth (Robert John Burke) upset and sparks Joel (Pedro Pascal) to defend them. The scene is roughly the same in the game, though the show’s version of Joel is more aggressive; Joel knocks Seth to the ground in the show, but only lightly pushes him in the game. A bigger change is that this scene comes at a much different point in the narrative.
The game’s main story begins the day after the dance, meaning players initially only hear about what happened there through dialogue. But the dance isn’t shown until near the end of the game, which frequently jumps around in time and makes liberal use of flashbacks. Because the show is adapting “Part II” across more than one season, this means a more literal adaptation wouldn’t show the dance at least until the end of Season 3. (HBO has already renewed the show.)
‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 finds its horrors but loses the plot: Review
The rearrangement has larger implications beyond one scene. The game’s sprawling, time-hopping narrative structure is beloved among some players but hated by others, and both camps have wondered whether it was even possible to translate it to TV. But the premiere suggests Mazin and Druckmann aren’t necessarily married to the original structure, and are open to reimagining it when it makes sense.
Were Joel and Dina friends in the game?
Both Season 2 and the game begin with a time jump. But the game skips forward four years, whereas the show jumps ahead five. In both cases, Joel and Ellie now have a strained relationship. But in the show, Joel gets along well with Dina and talks with her about Ellie. Joel and Dina don’t have this kind of one-on-one friendship in the game, and barely interact.
Joel constructing homes in Jackson, Wyoming, while dealing with the question of how many people to let in also isn’t a plot point in the game, nor is the existence of a town council.
Was Ellie bitten (again) while on patrol in the game?
Later, Ellie goes out on patrol with Dina and has to hide the fact that she’s been bitten. While this patrol sequence is included in the game, Ellie isn’t bitten.
Ellie and Dina also went on patrol as a duo in the game, but in the show they go with several other characters, including Kat. The show marks the onscreen debut of Ellie’s ex, who is only referred to in the game.
Were Joel’s therapist Gail and her husband Eugene in the game?
Joel’s therapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara) is a new character who wasn’t in the game. Druckmann says adding her provided an “opportunity to get more into Joel’s head and to see what is he honest about” by exploring “What does he lie about? What does he get really uncomfortable about?”
While Gail’s husband Eugene is mentioned in the game, his backstory has been dramatically altered: The premiere reveals that Joel killed him.
What we know about ‘Last of Us’ Season 2 : Release date, cast, more
That’s almost the complete opposite of Eugene’s function in the game, which uses him as an example of someone lucky enough to die of natural causes. He dies from a stroke in the game, and Ellie tells Dina she hopes to go out as he did, peacefully. Eugene never appears in the game, but Joe Pantoliano plays the role on TV, suggesting flashbacks may depict his new, very much not-peaceful end.
How does the depiction of Abby compare to the game?
Easily the premiere’s biggest change concerns the new character of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
In the opening scene, viewers learn she’s on a mission to kill Joel as revenge for his massacre at the hospital where he saved Ellie’s life. Revealing this upfront is a big departure from how Abby is originally presented. In the game, she is initially an enigma, and players are given almost no information about her identity or motives.
In her first scene in the game, Abby arrives outside Jackson pursuing an unnamed man, and we only later learn she’s searching for Joel. Still, even then Abby’s motive for hunting him remains a mystery. The connection to the hospital is revealed much later, meaning TV viewers will process her story in a drastically different way than gamers do.
In a press conference last month, Druckmann said the show spilled the beans in part to ensure viewers connect with Abby. “You play as Abby (in the game), so you immediately form an empathic connection with her, because you’re surviving as her,” he said. Because this isn’t the case in the show, “we need other tools” to build this connection, Druckmann said, so “that context gave us that shortcut.”
Another reason to reveal Abby’s motives sooner stems from the fact that the story will be told on TV across several years, whereas the game can be played in a single weekend.
“Where that revelation happens in the game, if we were to stick to a very similar timeline viewers would have to wait a very, very long time to get that context,” Druckmann said. “You would probably get spoiled between seasons, and we didn’t want that.”
Coachella 2025: Sen. Bernie Sanders makes surprise appearance at fest
Sen. Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday night, urging political action.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., made a surprise appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Saturday night.
As part of an introduction to the performer Clairo, Sanders told Coachella attendees that the fate of America lay with the younger generation. He urged younger people to become politically active to fight for progressive causes like universal healthcare, women’s rights and action on climate change.
“This country faces some very difficult challenges,” he said. “And the future, what happens to America, is dependent on your generation. And you can turn away and ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do that at your own peril.”
With him, Sanders brought U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, a congressman from Florida’s 10th Congressional District, which includes Orlando, who, at 28, is the youngest member of Congress.
Sanders apparently brought Frost to inspire the festivalgoers with a person of a similar age.
“We need you to fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, social justice and racial justice,” he told the crowd of thousands, who had arrived at the Empire Polo Club for the second day of Coachella. “We’ve got a president of the United States…”
Coachella 2025: Shaboozey, Megan Thee Stallion and other Sunday highs and lows
Many people in the crowd interrupted Sanders to yell obscenities. Sanders waited a moment before saying, “I agree.”
“He thinks that climate change is a hoax,” Sanders continued, referring to President Donald Trump. “He is dangerously wrong.”
Attendees were largely supportive of Sanders during his roughly four-minute speech. They frequently cheered his statements, cheering especially loudly when he urged the crowd to support women’s rights.
Green Day, Charli XCX and other Coachella 2025 Saturday highs and lows
Sanders, an independent senator for Vermont with strong ties to the Democratic Party, is well known for his stances on reducing economic inequality. He brought up that topic Saturday night as well.
“We have an economy today that is working very well for the millionaire class, but not for working families,” he said. “We need you to help us in creating an economy that works well for everybody.”
Although not the only politician to speak onstage at Coachella, he is likely the most prominent in festival history. Sanders’ appearance, which occurred at around 8:15 p.m., was largely unexpected. Many people rushed toward the stage as soon as his name was called over the loudspeakers.
He said he appeared with Clairo because the musician had used her prominence to fight for women’s rights and bring an end to the war in Gaza.
“So I want to thank Clairo not only for being in a great band, but the great work she is doing,” he concluded before ushering her and her band onstage.
Earlier in the day Saturday, Sanders co-led a rally in Los Angeles with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that was attended by thousands of people dissatisfied with President Donald Trump. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are currently on the “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go from Here” tour.
Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at [email protected].
Queue “E.T.” – Katy Perry went intergalactic (literally).
The singer, along with several other members of a star-studded, all-female crew, blasted off Monday as part of Blue Origin’s latest space mission, taking off and landing successfully. Perry put her pop star duties on hold to explore the outer orbit for 11 minutes.
The mission, called NS-31, also included television personality Gayle King and journalist Lauren Sánchez, who is engaged to Blue Origin (and Amazon) founder Jeff Bezos. The crew is rounded out by former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn. The six women became the first all-female space crew in more than 60 years, Blue Origin has said.
In the lead-up to the flight, Perry, King and Sánchez all expressed nerves and an eagerness to bring a female finesse to space. And on the day of the launch, celebrity friends including Oprah Winfrey, Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner joined the historic moment at the site in Texas.
REWATCH: Katy Perry, Gayle King, 4 other women go to space with Blue Origin launch
“I feel super connected to love,” Perry said of her trip to space.
Holding the daisy she took with her on the mission, Perry remarked that she brought that particular bloom because it’s a common plant and it can grow through any circumstances.
“This is all for the benefit of Earth,” she said. “I wanted to model courage and worthiness and fearlessness,” Perry added, revealing it was a hard decision as a mom to take that risk but that she needed to “surrender” to the universe. And she said “of course,” she would definitely write a song about the experience.
“I can’t even believe what I saw,” King said. “I’m so proud of me right now.”
King said the opportunity was “such a reminder of how we have to do better, be better,” she added, echoing Sánchez’s sentiment that it was very quiet in space and invited reflection on how important it is to take care of one another on earth.
King described the crew as a “sisterhood” and revealed Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” to the women on their descent back to earth.
After touching down and embracing loved ones, the six-woman crew reflected on what it was like to be lifted upwards towards the heavens.
“I don’t think you can describe it … it was quiet but also really alive,” Sanchez said of looking down at Earth.
“I had to come back, I mean we’re getting married,” she joked about her upcoming nuptials. “That would be a bummer.” Sanchez is set to wed Bezos in Italy later this year.
Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez will wed in Venice, city confirms
As Blue Origin employees gathered around the capsule to help prepare for opening, viewers watched anxiously on, waiting for Perry, King, Sánchez and others to emerge.
Bezos greeted the women, embracing Sánchez who had tears in her eyes and walked off to see her children.
Perry kissed the ground and held up the daisy she brought with her onboard. There were screams from Nguyen, cheers from Bowe, and King gestured to the sky and kneeled down to kiss the ground.
“Let me just appreciate the ground for just a second,” she joked. Flynn exclaimed and raised her hands before hugging Bezos.
Perry’s daughter Daisy, whom the singer shares with husband Orlando Bloom, was present at the launch and watched her mom head to space.
“She’s 4 and a half, so she’s still trying to figure out what day of the week it is,” Perry joked about her daughter’s reaction to the mission ahead of liftoff. “But it is very normal for us to talk about mommy going to space now, and I will be so excited to hold her when I land.”
The 60-foot-tall rocket topped with the gum-dropped shape crew capsule got off the ground right on time at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Launching from Blue Origin’s private west Texas ranch, known as Launch Site One, the New Shepard reached supersonic speeds surpassing 2,000 mph during its ascent.
Around the 3-minute mark, the rocket booster separated from the crew capsule, at which point the women aboard became weightless as their spacecraft continued toward apogee, or its highest point.
The New Shepard’s crew capsule then took them on its famed brief voyage above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space.
At this point, the women were permitted to safely unstrap from their seats to experience a few minutes of microgravity and gaze out the capsule’s large windows to take in a stunning view of Earth. The women on board could be heard on the webcast marveling at the moon and the thin blue line of Earth’s atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the rocket booster headed back to the ground while firing its engines and using its fins to slow and control its descent to land about seven minutes after liftoff about two miles from the launchpad.
The capsule then began what Blue Origin refers to as a “stable freefall” – plummeting back to Earth. The women on board could soon be heard whooping in joy as three massive parachutes deployed after about nine minutes into the flight and the capsule made a soft landing two minutes later in the desert, sending up plumes of dust.
King, Perry and company touched down just a few moments after leaving earth Monday. Dust blew up as the rocket landed.
The mission saw celebrities and activists alike head to space. The voices of the women could be heard screaming as they descended, shortly after they were heard mid-flight marveling about the moon as they entered zero gravity and were unable to unbuckle and float about the cabin.
The space capsule holding Perry, King and their peers launched Monday morning as a breathless crowd watched on.
Amid the dry, already alien-like backdrop of the Texas desert, Blue Origin workers and families of the six-woman all-female crew – the first of its kind – saw the rocket lift upward and turn a pop star, a journalist, an activist and others into astronauts.
When will Katy Perry, Gayle King, others head to space? How to watch Blue Origin launch livestream
The launch is happening at Launch Site One in Southwest Texas.
A livestream is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. ET, with the launch window beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET.
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.
King’s best friend Oprah Winfrey watched on as her friend and fellow famed interviewer readied to take flight.
“I’ve never been more proud of my friend than today,” Winfrey said, adding that she felt very calm about the whole ordeal. Winfrey wore a bright yellow sweater in honor of King’s call signs which is sunshine.
“This is bigger than just going to space,” she said of her friend who has long been a fearful flier. “This is overcoming a wall of fear. I think it’s going to be cathartic.”
‘Dream big’: Oprah, Khloe Kardashian support star-studded Blue Origin space flight
Before blast-off, King told Blue Origin that when she first began toying with the idea of going to space her children and Winfrey signaled immediate support.
Winfrey immediately encouraged her to take the chance, King said, saying her friend pointed out how much regret she might have if she had to watch the flight take off and wonder about what it would be like to be on it.
“You should always know that no dream is too big,” King said.
As the all-female crew readied for takeoff, watchers were treated to a celebrity-studded sendoff with part of the Kardashian-Jenner family showing up to signal support.
“It’s really something,” Kris Jenner said, adding that Kim Kardashian was supposed to attend as well but was studying for a law school exam. “It’s a very brave thing to do,” she added of the space flight.
“Really whatever you dream of it is in our reach,” Khloe Kardashian added. “Dream big, wish for the stars and one day you can maybe be amongst them.”
Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the gum drop-shaped New Shepard launch vehicle is designed to be fully reusable
The spacecraft operates autonomously – meaning no pilots or professional astronauts are aboard.
Launches with celebrity crews may attract headlines, but the majority of spaceflights Blue Origin has conducted to date with New Shepard haven’t even had humans aboard at all. Across 30 total spaceflights, an uncrewed New Shepard spacecraft has multiple times flown with scientific payloads on behalf of paying customers, including NASA.
For nearly four years since its first crewed spaceflight, New Shepard has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin’s commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry.
Spaceflight, once a sector dominated by government space agencies like NASA, is increasingly becoming a commercial enterprise as billionaire-led companies like Bezos’ Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic look to develop their own spacecraft.
The U.S. space agency is even poised to soon be potentially led by Jared Isaacman, himself a billionaire who has funded two of his own private spaceflights with SpaceX.
As Perry, King and the rest of the crew prepared for takeoff, they loaded up into a set of trucks with the windows open, waving to loved ones and Blue Origin workers. Bezos drove one of the Rivian trucks with fiancée Sánchez.
Where flights set to enter full orbit and remain in space for a few days require their astronauts to quarantine, this 11-minute flight doesn’t hold the same requirements, allowing for the women to give cameras a shot of them reaching out to fans and family for a personal send-off.
In a pre-flight interview, a tearful Perry talked about the love she felt for her family and a sense of pride about what the trip represents. Perry revealed she will bring a real-life daisy with her into orbit, to remind her of the preciousness of the earth (and a tribute to her daughter Daisy, no doubt).
“The message to my family is that I love them so much. And I am so grateful to be representing a fearless female in my family which is a domino effect from my mom, from my sister and definitely something I feel from my daughter,” she said.
“I love you,” Perry posted on X in all caps Monday morning, hinting at a last earthly goodbye.
Katy Perry space flight glam: ‘I’m going to be wearing lipstick’
“Space is going to finally be glam,” Perry told Elle magazine earlier this month, revealing she would be getting her hair and makeup done for the mission. “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 joked, assuring a worried King that hers are securely glued on so they would stay put.
“I think it’s so important for people to see us like that. This dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion,” Nguyen added. “We contain multitudes. Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”
Olivia Munn calls new Blue Origin space flight with Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez ‘gluttonous’
King, who has achieved icon status as a television host and author, said while she’s sure others seeing her up there will hold significance, one audience member stands out as special.
“My grandson, who’s 3½, thinks it’s the coolest thing,” she told Elle. “He will be there at the launch. He already has a little astronaut uniform.”
Gayle King admits to having nerves before Blue Origin flight
Mere days ahead of he expedition, King admitted to having some nerves in an interview with Vladimir Duthiers for “CBS Mornings” that released April 11.
“I’ll be ready Monday morning, I promise,” she said. ” But I still have a ways to go before I’m like, ‘OK, put me in, coach. Let’s go.’”
She explained the historic nature of the space launch is what encouraged her to be part of the adventure.
“There was something about being part of the first female team to me,” she said. “The group of women that they put together is so extraordinary to me that I thought, ‘Wow. Why would I not wanna be a part of that?’”
“I’m looking forward to just floating in space, and just seeing what that feels like, and what that looks like,” she said.
William Shatner space flight, more celebrities in space
Katy Perry and Gayle King are going to space. These celebrities have already been.
Monday’s blast-off represents the first all-woman flight to space since the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova’s solo venture in 1963.
Perry and King are not the first big-name stars to take their fame into orbit, however: “Star Trek” actor William Shatner became the oldest person to head to space in 2021, and NFL player turned television host Michael Strahan also boarded a Blue Origin flight that same year.
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY; Natassia Paloma, El Paso Times
