On the morning of April 14, 2025, history lifted off from the West Texas desert. Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission marked the first time an all-female crew entered space together — a moment decades in the making. Aboard the New Shepard rocket were six trailblazing women, including global music icon Katy Perry, veteran broadcaster Gayle King, philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
Beyond its cultural significance, the mission was also a technological and environmental milestone — emitting zero carbon emissions, thanks to Blue Origin’s liquid hydrogen and oxygen-fueled BE-3PM engine, which produces only water vapour.
🕒 Timeline of the Mission (All Times in Central Time, CT)
9:37 AM CT – Liftoff
The New Shepard NS-31 rocket launched from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility, piercing the sky in a smooth, vertical ascent. The engine burned clean, releasing no carbon dioxide — just steam.
9:40 AM CT – Main Engine Cutoff & Capsule Separation
At just under three minutes into flight, the main engine shut off, and the crew capsule detached, continuing its momentum toward the edge of space. At this point, the six women were 60+ miles above Earth and still climbing.
9:41 AM CT – Microgravity & Weightlessness
Crossing the Kármán line (62 miles / 100 km), the crew experienced several minutes of weightlessness.
Katy Perry floated freely and sang “What a Wonderful World”, carrying a daisy flower in honor of her daughter. Her gesture and voice symbolized not just personal love, but a tribute to Earth and a vision of unity beyond borders.
9:45 AM CT – Reentry Begins
The capsule began its fall back toward Earth. Though silent to the world below, inside, the women braced for reentry, gazing out the wide windows at the curvature of the planet.
9:48 AM CT – Parachute Deployment & Descent
As the capsule slowed in the thicker atmosphere, parachutes deployed, lowering the spacecraft gently toward the desert floor.
9:49 AM CT – Touchdown
Exactly 11 minutes and 55 seconds after launch, the capsule touched down safely in the desert of Van Horn, Texas. Cheers erupted from the ground team as the hatch opened to six smiling women, forever changed by their time in space.
🚀 A Mission of First
This was the first all-female space crew in human history — a feat of representation, engineering, and inspiration.
- Gayle King became one of the few Black women to reach space.
- Lauren Sánchez represented Latinas in aerospace.
- Amanda Nguyen made history as the first Vietnamese-American woman in space.
- Aisha Bowe, once a community college student, stood as proof that STEM is for everyone.
The crew was more than symbolic — it was diverse, qualified, and deeply meaningful.
♻️ Zero Carbon, Maximum Impact
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket doesn’t rely on fossil fuels. Its BE-3PM engine runs on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, meaning it leaves behind only water vapor — not carbon emissions. It’s a huge step for sustainable space travel, especially as interest in commercial and tourist spaceflights grows.
The flight was a compact but monumental one: short in time, massive in message.
💬 “The Earth Looked Fragile — and Worth Fighting For.”
Speaking after the flight, Katy Perry was visibly emotional:
“You don’t really understand how small we are until you’re up there. The Earth looked fragile — and worth fighting for. I felt love, connection, and power. We went up as individuals, and came down a team.”
🌍 What Comes Next?
Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission signals the start of a more inclusive and climate-conscious era of spaceflight. Future missions may continue to feature diverse crews, with plans in the works for STEM-focused educational flights and additional sustainability benchmarks.
The NS-31 crew may have only spent 11 minutes in space, but their impact will echo far longer — on Earth, and beyond.