Katy Perry and her all-female space crew are planning to “put the ass in astronaut” with full makeup and designer suits instead of focusing on actual space science.
At a Glance
- Blue Origin’s NS31 mission will feature an all-female crew including Katy Perry, Gayle King, and four other women on an 11-minute suborbital flight.
- The crew posed for glamour photoshoots in designer space suits and plans to wear full makeup during the mission.
- Perry declared “space is going to finally be glam” and said “we are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.”
- Lauren Sánchez plans to wear Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS underwear during the brief flight.
- The mission represents the first all-female space trip since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.
Fashion Over Function: Space Suits Get a Designer Upgrade
In what appears to be a bizarre prioritization of style over substance, Blue Origin’s upcoming all-female space crew has spent significant preparation time on fashion photoshoots rather than focusing on the scientific aspects of their mission. Lauren Sánchez, girlfriend of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, collaborated with designers Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim to create what they’re calling more “feminine” space suits. The crew, which includes pop star Katy Perry and CBS host Gayle King, seems more concerned with how they’ll look during their 11-minute joyride than with any scientific contribution.
“Let’s reimagine the flight suit. Usually, you know, these suits are made for a man. Then they get tailored to fit a woman. I think the suits are elegant but they also bring a little spice to space.” – Lauren Sánchez
Despite the attempt to frame this as some kind of feminist triumph, the focus on designer space suits and makeup seems to trivialize the serious accomplishments of real female astronauts who have spent years training for actual space missions. Each crew member’s suit reportedly features insignia and symbols representing their careers, as if this brief suborbital tourist flight somehow compares to the work of NASA astronauts who spend months on the International Space Station conducting vital experiments.
Full Makeup in Zero Gravity: Priorities in Question
In perhaps the most telling indication of this mission’s true focus, the crew has announced plans to go to space in full makeup. This bizarre priority has even been championed by Perry, who proclaimed that “space is going to finally be glam.” One has to wonder if the real female pioneers of space exploration – women who faced genuine discrimination and overcame substantial barriers based on their capabilities rather than their celebrity status – would view this Hollywood-style approach as advancement or mockery.
In what might be the most cringe-worthy statement about space travel ever uttered, Perry doubled down on this superficial approach, declaring: “If I could take glam up with me, I would do that. We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.” Nothing says respecting the legacy of female space pioneers quite like reducing their hard-fought achievements to a juvenile play on words about appearance. Meanwhile, Sánchez has announced she’ll be wearing Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS underwear during the flight, information absolutely no one needed to know.
A Brief Tourist Flight Marketed as Historic Achievement
Lost in all the glamour talk is the reality of what this “mission” actually entails: the New Shepard booster will launch the crew capsule on a brief suborbital trajectory, separating two minutes after liftoff. The entire experience will last a mere 10-11 minutes before the capsule returns to the Texas desert via parachute. This is essentially an extremely expensive roller coaster ride that barely crosses the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space at approximately 62 miles above Earth’s surface.
While Blue Origin claims the mission will include scientific experiments in partnership with universities and science groups, the promotional materials and crew interviews have focused almost exclusively on the celebrity status of the participants and their fashion choices rather than any meaningful scientific contributions. Each crew member reportedly has a 3-pound weight limit for personal items – space that could be used for additional scientific equipment but will instead carry photographs, plant samples, and symbolic trinkets.
Trivializing Real Female Achievement in Space
The timing of this publicity stunt is particularly tone-deaf as real female astronauts continue to make genuine breakthroughs in space science and exploration. While NASA and other space agencies work to increase meaningful representation of women in space through rigorous selection based on scientific and engineering excellence, Blue Origin’s celebrity joyride risks sending the message that women in space should be valued for their glamour rather than their contributions to humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.
The constant references to making space suits “sexy” and “flattering” rather than focusing on their technical specifications or safety features reveals the true nature of this exercise. If we want to celebrate women in space, perhaps we should be highlighting the accomplishments of the female engineers who design rockets, the astrophysicists who expand our understanding of the universe, or the NASA astronauts who conduct vital research on the International Space Station – not celebrities taking glamour shots in designer space suits for an 11-minute tourist flight.
