Was the All-Female Blue Origin Mission ‘Hopecore’?

Remember when Olivia Munn asked, “What are you doing up there? What’s the point? Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride?” of Blue Origin’s all-female space crew? Well, now that it has happened, we have our answer, thanks to crewmate Katy Perry: “Making space for future women.” In a sentence rife with double meaning, it’s clear what Perry is getting at — that there is metaphorical space for women in the world of STEM and on random trips up to the sky for 11 minutes and that literal outer space can be for women, too. For Perry, making space for future women also included revealing her Lifetimes tour set list.

The dramatic post-flight press conference was rich with platitudinal evidence of the mission’s success. Perry showed off the daisy she brought up into the sky, a nod to her daughter, Daisy, and to the notion that daisies are “God’s smile.” Gayle King, the most objectively terrified member of the crew, said the experience emboldened her so much she might finally get her ears pierced. To associate these two things puts into perspective how both nothing and everything the Blue Origin trip was: a six-person self-empowerment lecture made literal and astronomical. As King processed her fears, she also spoke to the experience of looking down on the world. “You look down on the planet and think, That’s where we came from? To me, it’s such a reminder about how we need to do better, be better,” she told reporters. It’s true that by going 30 times higher than a commercial plane, one can reflect on the deeds they’ve done rather than wonder when the beverage cart is going to come around, and that’s something to be grateful for. “Earth was quiet but also really alive,” Sanchez told reporters. “You look at this, and you’re like, We’re all in this together.” (Is there a Lauren Sánchez Democratic Socialist arc forthcoming?)

While King, Sánchez, and Perry were granted the opportunity as ambassadors of the human race, their non-celeb flightmates Amanda Nguyễn, Aisha Bowe, and Kerianne Flynn were there, maybe, to get some work done. Nguyễn, an actual astronaut, mentioned that she planned to execute an experiment with menstrual blood and fluid absorption — noting that women were initially not allowed to go into space because of the lack of tests done on how it may affect fertility. Whether that could be accomplished in the 11 minutes they were all up in the air, while Perry sang a few lines from “What a Wonderful World,” remains to be seen.

“When they write the story of Gayle King’s life, ‘astronaut and first female crew to space’ will be there,” said CBS Mornings host David Begnaud, adding, “What a billboard!” Once the Blue Origin crew was back safe, much of the conversation around their mission pivoted from hope and inspiration and female empowerment to blatant commercialization. “This” — flying to space — “could come down in price to equal an around-the-world cruise (which starts at $60,000 per person). Still a reach, but something that a lot of people could reach for,” said CBS Mornings host Tony Dokoupil. “If you launch enough of these, the price can come down,” agreed senior space consultant Bill Harwood. So of course it’s good news that Perry and King still walk among us, but if there’s anyone for whom hope is abundant, it’s the companies trying to send people into space. The more celebs who can fly up into the atmosphere and live to tell the tale — or even sing about it — the more likely that regular people will want to do the same.

For companies and businesspeople who may be stressed from last week’s tariff announcements — do not lose faith. There are more and more ways to keep making money. Just tilt your head up and look at the stars.

Related

• What Happened During the Blue Origin Celebrity Space Flight
• Olivia Munn Doesn’t Approve of the Girlboss Space Trip
• Gayle King, Please Don’t Go to Space