WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - An all-female crew is set to fly to the space aboard Blue Origin's space tourism rocket Monday.
The Blue Origin sub-orbital spaceflight mission is scheduled to launch from Launch Site One in West Texas at 9:30 AM ET.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company's 11th human flight is scheduled to last just 11 minutes, during which the rocket will travel more than 100 kilometers above Earth.
New Shepard astronauts ascend toward space at more than three times the speed of sound. They pass the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, before unbuckling to float weightless. The crew returns gently with a parachute-assisted soft landing.
There are no pilots aboard the fully autonomous spacecraft, leaving the space tourism travelers time to gaze upon Earth from giant windows comprising one-third of the capsule's surface area.
The spacious and pressurized capsule has a seat-capacity of six.
The six-person crew include pop superstar Katy Perry; film producer Kerianne Flynn; bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen; former NASA rocket scientist and the CEO of STEMBoard, Aisha Bowe; award-winning journalist and co-host of CBS Mornings Gayle King; and pilot, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Lauren Sánchez, who is also Jeff Bezos' fiancee.
The selected crew members undergo astronaut training program to learn key parameters for a safe spaceflight.
Monday's spaceflight will be the first all-female crew since Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova made a solo voyage on Vostok 6 more than 60 years ago.
New Shepard began flying humans to space in 2021. Full ticket price for a journey reportedly costs $150,000.
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