Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez and four others arrive back on Earth after space flight – as it happened
Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez and four others arrive back on Earth after space flight
Here are some images of the Blue Origin capsule landing back in Texas…
Key events
Closing summary
An all-female crew, including the pop star Katy Perry, are back on Earth after completing a trip to the edge of outer space on a rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos.
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Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-31 mission made the trip to the Kármán line – the internationally recognised boundary of space – to float about, weightlessly, in the rocket’s capsule for three minutes before returning to Earth.
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Its crew consisted of Perry, morning TV host Gayle King, former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sánchez
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The flight was the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program, which has flown 52 people, including repeat astronauts, to the Kármán line
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Perry said she would “100%” record a song about her experience, which she described as being as coming only second to becoming a mother. King revealed that Perry sang a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” while in space
Blue Origin has published its stats from today’s mission:
The Crew Capsule reached an apogee of 346,802 ft AGL / 350,449 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL).
The booster reached an apogee of 346,481 ft AGL / 350,128 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL).
Official launch time was 8:30:00 AM CDT / 13:30:00 UTC.
Capsule landing occurred at 8:40:21 AM CDT / 13:40:21 UTC.
The mission elapsed time was 10 min 21 sec.
Jared Isaacman, a billionaire tech CEO and Donald Trump’s pick to lead Nasa, has congratulated Blue Origin and the crew.
“Opening this incredible frontier – from the few to the many – is the dream,” Issacman posted to X.
Isaacman has privately funded his own journeys into space and is a close friend of SpaceX founder and Trump acolyte Elon Musk.
Katy Perry says space flight second only to being a mother
Here comes Katy Perry. She opens up her post-match interview by saying “I feel super connected to love”.
The experience has shown her how much love is inside of her, she says, adding that you cannot know how much you are loved “until the day you launch”.
Speaking about her daughter Daisy watching on and why she carried a daisy flower on the flight, she says:
Daisies are common flowers but they grow through any condition. They grow through cement, cracks, walls. They are resilient, they are strong, they are everywhere.
Flowers, to me, are God’s smile but they are also a reminder of our beautiful Earth. The beautiful magic is everywhere, all around us, even in a simple daisy.
Speaking about singing ‘What a Wonderful Life’ on the descent, she says it’s not about her and that “it is all for the benefit of Earth”. The experience today is only second to being a mother, she says.
There we go. Anyway, I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong while I take a moment digest what we have all just witnessed. Back in a bit.
Former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe says “there’s no boundaries, there’s no borders, there’s just Earth” when you get up to the edge of space.
She says the best part was “the whole thing”. She says:
When we got up there and out of our seats, we all just looked at each other.
There was this moment – and I can’t wait for everyone to see it on the video – between all of us and it’s just beautiful, so beautiful.
She says her 92-year-old grandfather watching on was nervous but then “Oprah squeezed him”.
Speaking to young boys and girls watching today, she says:
Dream it, plan it and go and do it. I never really thought I could go to space … but today just confirmed dreams are real and sometimes reality is wrong.
Gayle King says space flight is ‘reminder we need to do better … as human beings’
Gayle King says she still cannot accept the word “astronaut” and that “what happened to us was not a ride, it was a bona fide frickin’ flight”.
She is reiterating how fearful of flying she is and that she is “so proud of herself” for doing it.
She adds:
For me, it’s such a reminder that we need to do better, be better, as human beings.
If everyone could experience the peace we had up there and the kindness … I’ll never, ever, ever forget.
King adds that Perry would not sing Firework or Roar because she didn’t want to make the event about herself. But she did sing What a Wonderful World on the approach back to Earth.
That was the best part of the entire expedition, she says.
Amanda Nguyen is speaking now and expressing her gratitude to everyone who made the launch happen.
She is very emotional and tells us “no dream is too wild”.
Meanwhile, Kerianne Flynn is also emotional and says:
It was the most incredible experience of my life to be up there and see such vast darkness in space and look down on our planet.
The moon was so beautiful and I felt like that was a special gift just for me.
She adds:
I just hope these types of experiences will clear the path for everyone to be able to do that.
Now, there’s a thought.
Lauren Sanchez describes feeling of ‘joy and camaraderie’
Lauren Sanchez is telling the interviewer that “we are all connected” and now she just wants to hug everyone and tell them “we are all in this together”.
She is questioning how we feel divided by state lines but that we are all connected really. Joy is the emotion she feels, she says.
Sanchez adds:
It was a feeling of joy and camaraderie. A feeling of gratefulness. A feeling of ‘we are doing this’.
She bursts into tears as she acknowledges the achievement of the six female astronauts.
She says: “I don’t even know how this is going to change me.”
Katy Perry kisses ground – photos of women emerging from capsule
All-female crew emerges from capsule
They are starting to leave the capsule, amid screams from friends and family at the sidelines.
Lauren Sanchez does indeed emerge first and asks where her babies are. Bezos, after releasing her from a hug (expect to see that on all the front pages tomorrow), tells her to go find her babies. So, off she goes.
Next out is Katy Perry, who proceeds to kiss the hot sand of the Texas desert. Gayle King does the same thing. It’s like watching Rafa Nadal win at Roland-Garros all over again.
Multi-billionaire and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is standing outside the capsule, waiting for the women to emerge from the hatch.
His fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, is in seat one, so will exit first. There’s plenty of film crews and photographers on hand to capture the sheer emotion of the situation.
Meanwhile, the US television hosts are speculating about how Katy Perry might be changed now that she has seen the curvature of the Earth.
Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez and four others arrive back on Earth after space flight
Here are some images of the Blue Origin capsule landing back in Texas…
The capsule, shaped like a giant Tunnock’s tea cake, has touched down amid a lot of excitement from those on board.
The voice on the radio says “congratulations and welcome back to Earth”.
There’s applause and cheers among the spectators. All six of the women appear to be fine.
It seemed a bit of a bumpy landing to me but apparently that’s par for the course with vanity space trips.
Rocket coming back down to land
Well, that was quick. The rocket is already coming back down to land.
There’s the sonic boom as it re-enters the atmosphere. Crikey, that was loud.
The engines have started up. It’s touched down amid a cloud of steam but the television coverage expert says it was a perfect landing.
Here comes the capsule with the six women. They’re screaming as the parachutes float out.
There is a lot of excitement from the astronauts coming through the radio back to Earth.
It’s hard to know who is saying what but there is a lot of “oh my god” and “woah”.
The women will be experiencing weightlessness and will likely be bobbing around in the capsule right about now.
Someone has just said “oh my god guys, look at that”. Could it be the moon they are admiring?
Still no vocals from Katy Perry, I can confirm.
We have lift off
And they’re off. The rocket launches into the sky and we have lift off.
It’s just passed through 80,000 ft and has gone supersonic.
