It took off right on time, at 9:30 am in Texas, or 3:30 pm in Italy, with New Shepard , Blue Origin's suborbital spacecraft, on board Lauren Sanchez , Jeff Bezos' future wife, pop star Katy Perry , CBS journalist Gayle King , scientist Aisha Brown, Amanda Nguyen , civil rights activist and bioastronautics researcher, and Kerianne Flynn , film producer and activist, on board.
The Mexican journalist and pilot, who will marry the founder of Amazon in Venice at the end of July, and the other five women remained on the Blue Shepard for an 11-minute flight in microgravity conditions: the first all-female crew mission since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. Once they reached their target altitude— 100 kilometers above sea level versus double that for Tereshkova more than 60 years ago —the six space tourists were able to unbuckle their seatbelts to float in microgravity and admire the Earth from above for about four minutes before the start of their descent.
Sanchez herself designed the space suits with the help of two stylists , Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim , the co-founders of the Monse label who are creative directors of Oscar de la Renta and who designed the dress she wore last year on the pink carpet of the Met gala. "We reinvented the astronauts' dress: usually they are made for men and then adapted for women," Sanchez said. "Ours are elegant, but with a little spice."
Only 11% of all people who have traveled in space are women. Before leaving, the six on the New Shepard (the vehicle is named after the first American astronaut Alan Shepard) dedicated an interview to Elle on the importance of having more women in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and on the value of famous role models for young black girls. Sanchez, who organized the mission with the help of her future husband's billions, said she chose each of her companions for their proven ability to inspire. "Each one is a storyteller in her own way," she said. "They will go into space and will be able, each in their own way, to convey what they felt."
