[Archive 2025-04-20] Pop singer Katy Perry safely returns to Earth from outer space

Historical archive — originally published 2025-04-20. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

On Monday, pop music singer Katy Perry safely returned to Earth, landing in Chihuahuan Desert, located on the border of United States and Mexico, after a sub-orbital spaceflight as part of Jeff Bezos's space tourism program. It was the first all-female space flight since 1963.

Perry's fellow spacegoers included NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, journalist and aviator Lauren Sánchez, and Gayle King of CBS. According to Blue Origin, they were the first all-female space crew in over six decades, with the previous one being cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's Vostok 6 solo two days long mission in 1965.

The crew, embarking on a mission codenamed "NS-31", launched from "Launch Site One", the liftoff site at Blue Origin’s private ranch in west Texas. The type of rocket was a "New Shepard." The flight lasted approximately 11 minutes, long enough to briefly experience weightlessness. The crew were said to have traveled over one hundred kilometers above the earth's surface. The spacecraft was entirely autonomous and did not require any control input from the crew. Perry reportedly sang the song "What a Wonderful World" to the crew during the descent.

Perry said she felt more connected to life and to love upon returning to Earth, stating that she would "definitely" compose lyrics about the experience. She was quoted saying: "This is all for the benefit of Earth. I wanted to model courage and worthiness and fearlessness."

Source and licence

Text adapted from Pop singer Katy Perry safely returns to Earth from outer space by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.