Blue Origin’s upcoming eleventh crewed spaceflight, scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. CDT liftoff on April 14, is unlikely to garner the widespread attention of other crewed launches, despite its brief, suborbital journey lasting only 11 minutes.
This contrasts sharply with the fanfare surrounding Alan Shepard’s May 5, 1961 flight, a similar suborbital hop that made him the first American in space. Shepard was immediately celebrated and honored with NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal at the White House. Since then, many individuals have surpassed the 50-mile altitude mark considered the edge of space. Blue Origin alone has flown 52 people past the Kármán line (62 miles), the internationally recognized boundary, since 2021.
However, Blue Origin highlights its next flight as unique due to its all-female composition. The New Shepard spacecraft will carry six women: pop star Katy Perry; television personality Gayle King; journalist Lauren Sánchez, engaged to Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos; filmmaker Kerianne Flynn; bioastronautics researcher and advocate Amanda Nguyen; and former NASA rocket scientist and STEMboard CEO Aisha Bowe.
While female astronauts are now common, this mission marks the first time since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963 that a crewed spacecraft will have no men on board.
Gayle King expressed her excitement, stating, “These women are so badass…they have such amazing life stories, all that they’ve accomplished…This was never my dream…And somebody said, ‘Maybe you need to have new dreams, Gayle.’”
Lauren Sánchez added, “If you had told me that I would be part of the first ever all-female crew in space, I would have believed you…Nothing was beyond my imagination as a child. I can show all of the youngest & most vulnerable among us to reach for the stars, literally and figuratively. I am honored to be among this diverse group of celestial sisters.”
Blue Origin promoted the launch in an email to journalists, calling it an “epic crew.”
The question arises: Is this truly newsworthy, or is there an element of condescension in emphasizing an all-female flight? Valentina Tereshkova flew 62 years ago. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space 42 years ago. Eileen Collins was the first female shuttle commander 26 years ago. Peggy Whitson became the first female commander of the ISS 18 years ago and also holds NASA’s record for the most cumulative time in space, at 675 days.
In 2019, the first all-female spacewalk, performed by Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, made the idea of celebrating such milestones feel dated.
Retired astronaut Marsha Ivins recalled in 2019 the early challenges of providing appropriate clothing and hygiene products for women astronauts, but noted that by the time she flew in the 1990s, these issues had been resolved, and a crew member was simply a crew member. She questioned the continued emphasis on gender as a significant factor.
Ivins feels similarly about the Blue Origin flight, recalling a rejected proposal from the mid-1990s for an all-female shuttle flight, which she and other female colleagues found insulting, emphasizing that gender played no role in the teamwork required for successful missions.
However, astronauts acknowledge the value of Blue Origin’s flights. Terry Virts, a retired astronaut and former ISS commander, stated that space tourist flights like Blue Origin’s New Shepard are positive because they support the commercial space industry and allow more people to experience seeing Earth from space and feeling weightlessness.
The crucial terms are “tourists” and “humans,” rather than gender-specific labels or “astronauts.” Passengers on New Shepard flights pay for the experience, and while the cost isn’t publicly disclosed, Blue Origin requires prospective passengers to complete an application.
Despite being a tourist flight, a New Shepard flight requires courage. The rocket reaches approximately Mach 3 and after a few minutes of weightlessness, the capsule plunges back through the atmosphere before deploying parachutes. This applies to all passengers equally, regardless of gender.
John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University, believes the all-female crew is “basically irrelevant,” emphasizing women’s capabilities and the minimal piloting involved. He sees the flight as a way to attract business to adventure travel.
A more significant example of space diversity is NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission to the moon. Artemis II, planned for 2026, will include Christina Koch and Victor Glover, the first woman and the first Black person to travel to the moon. The Apollo missions excluded women and people of color, a historical injustice that the Artemis program aims to rectify.
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