Blue Origin’s first-ever all-female spaceflight is scheduled to launch on Monday (April 14).
If all goes according to plan, the NS-31 suborbital mission, which will be Blue Origin’s 11th human flight to date, will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). Space.com will host a livestream of the launch, courtesy of Blue Origin.
This mission features the first all-female crew to launch into space since 1963, when the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova into orbit by herself. Here are the six people who will fly on NS-31.
Aisha Bowe
A former NASA rocket scientist, Aisha Bowe graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s in space systems engineering. Bowe is CEO of STEMBoard, an engineering company that works with governments and other organizations.
She also founded LINGO, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education technology company. Bowe is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Her work has been recognized with a NASA Engineering Honor Award, a STEM for Her Woman of the Year and a Black Enterprises Luminary Award.
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Kerianne Flynn
Producer Kerianne Flynn has worked on documentaries and other films, including “This Changes Everything” (2018), about the history of women in Hollywood, and “LILLY” (2024), about fair-pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter. She’s also served as a board member and helped with nonprofit work at a number of New York-based schools and organizations.
Flynn has been interested in space travel for a while. Previously, she signed up to visit space with Virgin Galactic. “I think there’s going to be nothing like going up there and looking back down on the Earth, which is what I think I’m most excited about,” she said in a 2021 interview about Virgin Galactic. “Hopefully, the next generations will be able to explore what’s up there.”
Amanda Nguyễn
Before pursuing a career in bioastronautics as a research scientist, Amanda Nguyễn graduated from Harvard. In her research career, she’s worked at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, MIT, NASA and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences.
Nguyễn was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and awarded TIME’s Woman of the Year for her advocacy for sexual violence survivors. Nguyễn will make history during this space mission as the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut. Nguyễn’s memoir, “Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope,” was released by AUWA Books last month.
Gayle King
Award-winning broadcast journalist and media personality Gayle King has a career that spans over 40 years in radio, television and print. King co-hosts “CBS This Morning,” and she’s an editor-at-large at “O, the Oprah Magazine.”
King also hosts a radio show on SiriusXM, “Gayle King in the House.” She’s been awarded three Emmys, as well as the American Women in Radio & Television Gracie Award for Outstanding Radio Talk Show in 2018. Time Magazine named King one of its “100 Most Influential People of 2019.” King graduated with a psychology degree from the University of Maryland in 1976.
Katy Perry
With 115 billion streams, pop star Katy Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. After debuting her first album in 2010, Perry went on to record six albums, which sold 19 million copies, for Capitol Records. Her latest album was released last year.
As a philanthropy advocate, Perry founded the Firework Foundation and serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Perry has been nominated for 13 Grammy awards and was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2012.
Lauren Sánchez
Author and journalist Lauren Sánchez worked as an anchor at a number of news stations, including the 1999 Emmy award-winning KCOP-TV team. Sánchez is also a helicopter pilot and founded Black Ops Aviation, the first female-owned and operated aerial film and production company.
In 2016, she became engaged to Jeff Bezos, who founded both Amazon and Blue Origin. Sánchez’s debut children’s book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space,” was published in 2024 and went on to become a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
