Blue Origin's New Shepard space mission elicits praise and controversy

VAN HORN, Tx. - Blue Origin, the space technology company founded by Jeff Bezos, took six women to space on their New Shepard rocket as part of their New Shepard program.

Passengers included pop star Katy Perry, TV personality Gayle King, activist Amanda Nguyen, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, journalist Lauren Sánchez and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

The mission targeted liftoff on April 14. With this mission, the rocket has completed its 31st mission to space. The flight spanned 11 minutes and took the six women over 100 kilometers (62 miles) above earth.

When the crew disembarked, they were more than happy to be back.

"I'm so proud of this crew," Sánchez said. "For me, I can’t put it into words but I looked out the window and we got to see the moon, it wasn’t pink but it was almost full."

Perry kissed the ground and lifted a daisy to the sky. She took the daisy in honor of her 4-year-old daughter named Daisy.

King also kissed the ground. “I just want to have a moment with the ground, just appreciate the ground for just a second,” she said.

Several celebrities watched the launch, including Khloé Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey.

This was the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6.

Since then, no other all-female space flights have occurred. King said that the astronauts had a huge, positive response from young women and young girls.

Space tourism is still trying to get started, so every successful launch demonstrates the safety of these commercial flights.

However, this flight has its share of controversies. Some critics say this mission was merely tourism and would not help benefit humans, unlike space science, where astronauts undertake missions to help humanity.

These flight costs are also expensive, with a $150,000 deposit to just reserve a seat, indicating that only wealthy people can afford these flights and others cannot experience these moments.

There are also concerns about environmental impact as a result of these short and expensive flights. Blue Origin claims that the only byproduct of the rocket’s engine combustion is water vapor with no carbon emissions.

Eloise Marais, a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Quality at University College London, challenges this, highlighting that water vapor “alters the chemistry of the stratosphere, depleting the ozone layer, and also forms clouds that affect climate”.

Additionally, many people have called the flight fake. Perry has been subject to backlash about the flight, having been trolled by people such as podcast host Joe Rogan, celebrity chef Martha Stewart, comedian Emily Ratajkowski and even the fast food chain Wendy’s.

Prithvi Sudhakar is a third-year majoring in cybersecurity. To contact him, email pzs5683@psu.edu.