Katy Perry returns after Blue Origin’s space flight on Monday, April 14. Photo:
Blue Origin/Youtube
As Blue Origin’s all-female flight crew floated above the Earth for a few moments on Monday, April 14, they enjoyed a special soundtrack courtesy of Katy Perry.
The pop star, one of six women on the New Shepard rocket that blasted off from West Texas on Monday morning, sang a few bars of “What a Wonderful World.”
And then once they were back on solid ground, Perry — whose fiancé, Orlando Bloom, and daughter, Daisy, watched the flight from the launch area — promptly knelt down and kissed the soil.
CBS News’ Gayle King, who was also on the flight, later said Perry, 40, singing the Louis Armstrong standard was “the best part” of their minuteslong trip to the edge of space, just across the Karman line separating the atmosphere from the cosmos.
King said Perry began the tune once the feeling of zero gravity wore off.
“We’d been asking her to sing all the time and she wouldn’t,” King said on the Blue Origin livestream, noting that Perry could have sung one of her hits, like “Roar” or “Firework.”
But “she said, ‘It’s not about me, I wanted to talk about the world,’ “ King, 70, said.
Perry said on the livestream that she sang “What a Wonderful World” for “the benefit of Earth,” echoing Blue Origin’s motto. (Still, the private company’s rocket flights are not without controversy.)
Katy Perry returning to Earth after the Blue Origin space flight on Monday, April 14. Blue Origin/Youtube
King and Perry were joined by Lauren Sánchez, the fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, as well as former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn are also joining the group.
The mission was the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 31st in its history, according to Blue Origin.
The group was brought together by Sánchez, according to a previous company statement.
“She is honored to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create lasting impact that will inspire generations to come,” Blue Origin has said.
The Blue Origin space flight on Monday, April 14, with Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez (left). Blue Origin/Youtube; BLUE ORIGIN/AFP via Getty
Ahead of takeoff, King expressed mixed feelings about the flight.
“It’s very interesting to be terrified and excited at the same time,” she said in an interview with Elle with her fellow space travelers.
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“I haven’t felt like this since childbirth, really,” she continued. “Because I knew childbirth was going to hurt. But it’s also stepping out of your comfort zone.”
