The first all-female flight “crew” in over 60 years launched into space on April 14, 2025. This should mark a historic milestone in progress toward gender equality. Instead, the flight was a flashy performance by celebrity women going to space and billionaire men sending them there under the guise that it was “for all womankind.”
The group consisted of popstar Katy Perry, journalist and Jeff Bezoz’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez, TV host Gayle King , former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe , film producer Kerianne Flynn and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen. The crew boarded billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin New Shepherd Rocket in front of a famous audience, including Khloé and Kris Kardashian, Orlando Bloom and Oprah Winfrey. They are called “crew members,” however the Blue Origin line is for space tourism, so the group can experience outer space without piloting the ship. The first antifeminist aspect of the trip was Sanchez’s role. She headed the mission and declared it to be for the promotion of women, but it was launched by her male fiancee’s company. This relays that women’s progress relies heavily on men, a sentiment that should not be perpetuated.
The rocket launched the women into space at 2,000 miles per hour. Once they crossed the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space, the women floated around, each carrying an object they brought with them from home. Most of the women gazed out the window in awe of the world, however, Katy Perry grinned into the camera, holding a daisy for her daughter and her next set list inscribed on a paper butterfly. This turned into a viral internet meme. After the group returned to Earth, fast food chain Wendy’s tweeted a dig, seemingly directed at Perry, “Can we send her back.” Where’s the beef, Wendy’s?
Blue Origin disguised the launch as a feminist milestone to appeal to the market. The company declared the women pioneers, hoping to influence prospective patrons. This seems unlikely, considering a customer must place a $150,000 deposit for a seat on a Blue Origin flight, and the exact price of a ticket remains unknown, however, a seat sold at an auction for $28 million, an unrealistic price for the majority of Americans.
The spaceflight also impacts the environment. Blue Origin claims that the New Shepard spacecraft only emits water vapor into the atmosphere, no carbon dioxide. While this may seem like an environmental benefit, water vapor can negatively impact the environment. By inserting water vapor into the atmosphere, we are altering the chemistry of the stratosphere and damaging the ozone layer.
The glamorous women were sent to space in full hair and makeup. They were photographed with their suits slightly unzipped, displaying a sliver of skin. As Perry very eloquently said in an interview with Elle, “We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.” The “feminist” stance they took emphasizes girlishness and superficiality instead of painting women as people of substance. In the interview, the women concerned themselves with their “glam” in space and whether their eyelash extensions would detach. They used an important political ideology and movement to promote a large corporation.
Celebrity women in space also diminish the impact of real women astronauts, like physicist Sally Ride , the first American woman in space. Or May Jemison. , the first African American woman in space who conducted forty-four experiments in microgravity. These women inspire young girls to become astronauts because of their brains and hard work, not because of money and fame.
If the celebrity women genuinely wanted to contribute to the feminist movement, they could use their fame to their advantage. They could raise awareness using their popular platforms, promote policy change and raise or donate funds to aid a cause of their choosing. A woman on Earth who struggles with paying for menstrual products can not spend millions of dollars on a trip to space, so this “feminist” mission does not inspire her. Conquering space should not be first on the agenda when there continues to be sexism down on Earth. Wealthy people can spend their money on whatever they choose, but using an important political ideology that changes the lives of many people is tasteless.
