Katy Perry, Gayle King launch into space on Blue Origin rocket
April 14 (UPI) -- Pop singer Katy Perry and TV host Gayle King launched into space Monday as part of Blue Origin's eleventh space tourism launch.
The all-female crew took off at 9:30 a.m. EDT in Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle, known as NS-31, from the company's Launch Site One, around 30 miles outside of Van Horn, Texas.
New Shepard touched down at 9:39 a.m. as the crew parachuted back down to Earth and landed in their capsule with a puff of dust near the rocket at 9:42 a.m. following the brief flight.
The crew emerged from the capsule shortly after 9:50 a.m.
"I'm so excited about this launch," Perry said in an Instagram video earlier Monday, and then teased she would make a special announcement once she reaches zero gravity.
Oprah Winfrey, who was on hand for the launch, posted a video of King and the rest of the NS-31 crew as they drove to the launchpad Monday, during which King appeared to wipe away tears.
The NS-31 Mission crew also includes former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, researcher and Nobel Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn and journalist Lauren Sanchez.
Their destination is the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, better known as the Karman line, and, once they arrive, will be weightless for approximately four minutes.
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