On Monday, April 14, the second all-female crew to be blasted off into area within the final 62 years launched and landed safely aboard a rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin firm.
In response to NPR, Bezos’ fiancé, Lauren Sánchez, was one of many six ladies who traveled above the ambiance Monday morning, as have been bioastronautics analysis scientist and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyá» n, movie producer and philanthropist Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist and STEM advocate Aisha Bowe (extra on her in a sec), and — get this, y’all — Katy Perry and Gayle King. (Sure, that Katy Perry and Gayle King.)
From NPR:
The star-studded crew flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch automobile, which since 2021 has ferried dozens of scientists, entrepreneurs and celebrities above the Kármán line, the internationally acknowledged boundary of area, about 62 miles above Earth’s floor.
Monday’s mission, NS-31, had garnered appreciable consideration in current weeks due to its well-known passengers and historic nature.
It was the primary all-female spaceflight since 1963, when Soviet-era cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova — the first lady in area — orbited the Earth throughout an almost three-day solo flight.
Blue Origin’s flight was considerably shorter, lasting 10 minutes and 21 seconds.
It took off from Blue Origin’s Launch Web site One in West Texas at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, after weeks of anticipation.
BOSSIP simply wouldn’t be BOSSIP if we didn’t acknowledge how cool it’s to see a few Black ladies launch into area. There’s simply no method many people had “Gayle King, the astronaut” on our 2025 Bingo playing cards. Oprah Winfrey will need to have been beside herself.
In reality, in line with Folks, Oprah was among the many attendees on the launch website in West Texas, outdoors El Paso, the place she spoke on the Blue Origin livestream about King and her huge, improbable voyage.
“It goes past this second of simply going up in area. I believe this will likely be an eternal expertise,” Winfrey stated. “Gayle has been there for me for a whole lot of occasions — I can’t even bear in mind them. However none of us will ever neglect this present day.”
Upon her return, King kissed the bottom and spoke about her expertise in area.
“It’s oddly quiet whenever you stand up there,” she stated. “It’s actually quiet and peaceable, and also you look down on the planet and assume: That’s the place we got here from? To me it’s such a reminder about how we have to do higher, be higher.”
Whereas we’re celebrating glorious Black ladies doing Black excellence issues, let’s give a particular shout out to Aisha Bowe, who will not be solely a Black lady who was employed as a rocket scientist by NASA, but in addition the primary individual of Bahamian heritage to journey to area.
Throughout a current interview with Elle, Bowe stated she seems like she’s been coaching for this second her complete life.
“I needed to go to area, however I didn’t assume it was attainable,” she stated. “I used to be afraid to do it. I used to be afraid to even dream about it. And I began to say to myself, You recognize what, Aisha? Why are you afraid of the one factor that you just’ve waited your complete life to do? Simply go do it.”
In response to Fashion, Bowe graduated from Washtenaw Group School earlier than incomes her bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in aerospace engineering and area methods engineering on the College of Michigan. She recalled in a current interview that, in highschool, a steering counselor really useful that she pursue a profession in cosmetology.
“I point out this not as a result of there’s something fallacious with that discipline,” she stated. “However I prefer to make folks conscious that youthful people – particularly youngsters – will internalize what adults assume their future appears like.”
So, congrats to King, Bowe, and the remainder of the women who traveled aboard the Blue Origin’s New Shepard. Salute!
