Not on my 2025 bingo card: Katy Perry goes to space
Pop icon Katy Perry added a literal “out-of-this-world” achievement to her résumé on April 14, 2025, when she soared into suborbital space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
Yes, you read that right—Katy Perry went to space.
Her flight was part of Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission, a history-making voyage that launched from West Texas and featured the first all-female crewed spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963.
The crew? A powerhouse lineup of women from diverse fields: veteran journalist Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and helicopter pilot Lauren Sánchez—who also happens to be engaged to Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
The journey lasted just 11 minutes, but it was enough to breach the Kármán line—the invisible boundary marking the beginning of space. Once aboard, the crew experienced several minutes of weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth’s curvature—a moment described by many as spiritual.
True to her dramatic, show-stopping flair, Perry turned the cabin into a zero-gravity concert hall, serenading her fellow astronauts with a gentle rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” The performance, reportedly unplanned, was met with quiet awe—and a few tears.
Perry also brought along a symbolic daisy in honor of her daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom. Watching her mother’s spaceflight from Earth in a tiny astronaut costume, Daisy became an accidental icon of the mission’s emotional heart.
Once the capsule safely touched down in the Texas desert, Perry made headlines again—not for another headline-making stunt, but for something far more grounded. She was spotted the very next morning doing school drop-off duty and packing Daisy’s lunch, complete with star-shaped sandwich bread.
The contrast between her cosmic adventure and domestic routine sparked admiration and amusement online. But not all reactions were starry-eyed.
While many hailed the NS-31 mission as a milestone for women in STEM and space exploration, the flight also sparked a wave of criticism. On social media, some users labeled Perry’s participation “tone-deaf,” pointing out the optics of a billionaire-funded celebrity trip to space amid global economic strain and social inequality.
The phrase “performative progress” trended briefly, as critics questioned whether this highly publicized mission truly moved the needle on representation—or simply offered a photogenic distraction.
Still, the symbolic weight of six women, from vastly different walks of life, floating together above Earth can’t be easily dismissed. Whether one sees the mission as a PR stunt or a powerful gesture, Katy Perry’s cosmic detour has undeniably landed its place in the story of 2025—a year that continues to blur the lines between celebrity, technology, and the final frontier.
And really, if you had Katy Perry sings in space on your 2025 bingo card, you deserve a prize.
