Blue Origin adds a new chapter to women and space travel
A COLUMN By Kathryn Ross
Blue Origin’s All Woman Space Flight made history on April 14th, 2025 when six women aboard the New Shepard spacecraft launched from a site in West Texas and returned to that site in West Texas. On board were Journalist Gayle King, 70; activist/Independent Filmmaker Kerianne Flynn, 57; Musical Artist Katy Perry, 40; former NASA scientist Arisa Bowe, 39; Bioastronautics’ Research Scientist Amanda Nguyen, 33; and Filmmaker Lauren Sanchez, 32.
They flew 66 miles into space crossing the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary for space. The historic flight took off at approximately 9:30 a.m. and returned to West Texas at approximately 9:40 a.m. The flight lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds. The passenger, all-woman, crew had two days of training prior to launch. The spacecraft was flown by remote control.
The Blue Origin New Shepard rocket is owned by Jeff Bezos who is pioneering space tourism. This was the 31st flight. On the 18th voyage Star Trek Commander William Shatner was onboard. A down payment of $150,000 is required to make the trip. Shatner rode for free.
Many of us still remember the excitement we felt when President John F. Kennedy announced to the world in 1961 that the United States would explore space and also predicted we would go to the Moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy was a dynamic personality who enthralled and inspired generations with his rhetoric, and his declarations from the Peace Corps to the Space Race. We have not seen his like since those Camelot years, yet the patriotism, pride and faith in what this country can do, still remains in many of us.
In 1963, Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. For nearly three days she orbited Earth.
Astronaut Alan Shepard was the first American and second man in space, after Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who spent 108 minutes in space that April. On May 5th, 1961, Shepard piloted the Mercury-Redstone 3 mission. The New Shepard is named in his honor.
On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon. Twelve men have since walked in his footsteps, but no women.
In 1978 NASA opened the space program to women. It required women astronauts be no older than 35. The first six received 100 hours of training. In 1983, Sally Ride who was part of that first class, became the first American woman in space spending six days orbiting the Earth and deploying satellites. Elmira’s Eileen Collins, a graduate of Corning Community College and Syracuse University was the first woman to become a space shuttle pilot.
I haven’t watched a space launch since January 28th,1986, when the Challenger spacecraft blew up with New Hampshire social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe on board. She was the first American civilian woman lost in space. That was the day we learned that space travel was anything but routine.
That was 39 years ago. Only two of the New Shepard astronauts are old enough to have firsthand recollection of the incident; of the white smoke billowing from the rocket as it exploded across a bright blue sky and fell into the ocean. Only two share the memory of the loss of our innocence. I wonder how they felt after the vibration of the launch that hurled them at 2,000 miles per hour toward space? I wonder how their relatives and friends, including King’s pal Oprah, watching the launch from the site, felt. I’m sure they were holding their breath, because I was as I watched the newscast on my computer.
I wouldn’t have been surprised to see another tragedy. I’ve gotten used to it, unfortunately we all have.
The women who flew into space, on April 14th on the all-women crew are accomplished women, Perry is a musical artist who is noted as the bestselling female artist in Capital Record history. King is an award-winning journalist and Co-host of the CBS Morning Show. Sanchez is a journalist and Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend. Nguyen is a bioastronautics research scientist and is from Vietnamese descent. Flynn Is the first Bahamian in space. She carried that country’s flag into space. She is a film producer, best known for the documentary “This Changes Everything” about women in Hollywood. Bowie is a former NASA rocket scientist and the CEO of STEMboard.
Now, these six are not only accomplished women, but also brave and historic women who have set a very high standard for women of all ages.
