Blue Origin’s all-female crew, which included pop star Katy Perry, completed their trip into space Monday morning.
The flight lasted around 11 minutes and traveled more than 60 miles above Earth, according to Blue Origin, passing the Kármán line, which at 62 miles above sea level is considered to be the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
Along with Perry, the crew included Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ journalist fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, who is also a helicopter pilot.
Journalist Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn rounded out the crew, according to Blue Origin.
Upon landing back on Earth and exiting the capsule, Perry raised her hand to the sky and kissed the ground.
Speaking after touchdown, Perry said she brought a daisy with her into space, in honor of her 4-year-old daughter, Daisy, whom she shares with fiancé Orlando Bloom.
“I feel super-connected to love,” Perry said. “I think this experience has shown me how much love is inside of me.”
In a separate interview, King said that Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” while the group was in space.
Oprah Winfrey, who is King’s best friend, was in the crowd watching the launch, and removed her glasses and wept when the capsule touched down.
King, who has said she’s afraid of flying, kissed the ground as she climbed out of the capsule, thanking Jesus and then Bezos.
“I am glad I did it. I have no regrets. I’m stepping away from my comfort zone. I may now get my ears pierced,” King joked. She then followed by paraphrasing a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Courage is doing something that scares you, but you do it anyway.”
During a news conference at Blue Origin’s Texas facilities on Monday afternoon, the six-person crew reflected on their experiences being aboard the flight.
Sanchez described the trip as “profound,” adding, “I was up there and you see Earth and then you know it’s completely black, but … we got to see the moon and it was in complete and utter darkness and then you look back at Earth and it’s like this jewel.”
King addressed some criticism the space trip has received, saying that she had heard people refer to the trip as a “ride” – a word she said she resents, adding that “journey” is a better descriptor.
“We’ve had some cranky Yankees and haters,” she said. “I’ve heard you. I’m not going to let you. I’m not going to let you steal our joy but most people are really excited and cheering us on and realize what this mission means to young women, young girls and boys, too.”
Perry agreed with describing the trip as a ‘journey,” adding that it was a “supernatural one.”
The Blue Origin mission marks the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, according to the company, following Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.
NASA’s early astronaut program was exclusively male for nearly two decades after the Soviet mission.
The six-person crew emerged from a staging hanger around 8:00 a.m. CDT with family and friends lining a small pathway, cheering and giving high-fives as the crew made their way to the launch site.
The launch window opened on Monday morning at about 8:30 a.m. CDT, according to Blue Origin.
“I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality,” Perry said on social media on Sunday.
The 11th crewed New Shepard flight, which is officially called NS-31, lifted off from the company’s Launch Site One in western Texas.
