Blue Origin launched its 11th crewed mission on Monday with a star-studded, all-female team onboard. The six women included pop star Katy Perry and veteran journalist Gayle King, marking a major moment in space tourism.
The company’s New Shepard rocket lifted off from West Texas around 9:30 a.m. ET and completed its brief suborbital flight, landing safely back on Earth approximately 10 minutes later.
The rocket crossed the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space at 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.
This flight is notable not only for its celebrity passengers but also because it adds to the still-small number of women who have been to space. Of the over 700 people who have traveled to space in history, only about 15% have been women.