The Japan Times - Baby, you're a firework! Katy Perry to blast off into space

As if answering the call of her hit song "E.T.," Perry will embark on a star-studded journey alongside journalist Lauren Sanchez, who is Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos's fiancee, and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.

Blue Origin began launching wealthy tourists and celebrities into space in 2021 aboard its New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

To date, the company has flown 52 people to suborbital space across 10 crewed missions.

New Shepard missions launch from the company's Launch Site One in West Texas.

Flights typically last just 10 or 11 minutes from liftoff to landing, with passengers experiencing a few minutes of microgravity as their capsule soars beyond the Karman line -- the internationally recognized boundary of space, 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.

The rocket booster makes an upright vertical landing, while the capsule deploys parachutes for a gentle touchdown in the Texas desert.

Also on board will be research scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

Past luminaries aboard New Shepard include Star Trek legend William Shatner, as well as Bezos himself, who flew on the inaugural crewed flight.

Ticket prices remain undisclosed, though celebrities are often given complimentary seats.

This mission will mark the first all-female spaceflight crew since Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo flight in 1963.

Like Elon Musk -- the only person wealthier than him -- Jeff Bezos has an enduring passion for space.

But while Musk dreams of colonizing Mars, Bezos envisions shifting heavy industry off-planet onto floating space platforms to preserve Earth, "humanity's blue origin."

In January, the company successfully launched its giant New Glenn rocket for the first time -- a crucial step in its expansion into the lucrative commercial launch sector.

Blue Origin already holds a NASA contract to build a lunar lander for one of the upcoming Artemis missions, which will return Americans to the Moon.

New Glenn will also support the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation designed to rival Musk's Starlink.

S.Yamada--JT