Blue Origin completes first all-female crew flight into space

HAMILTON, Canada

Blue Origin completed an all-female crew suborbital spaceflight on Monday, marking the first such mission since 1963, when Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

The New Shepard rocket lifted off at 8:30 AM CDT from Blue Origin's launch site near Van Horn, Texas, carrying six women, including pop icon Katy Perry and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.

Other members of the crew included Lauren Sanchez, a former journalist and fiancee of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics researcher; and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

During the roughly 10-minute flight, the capsule crossed the Karman line — the internationally recognized boundary of space located about 62 miles above Earth — before descending under parachutes and landing safely in the Texas desert.

The flight marked another milestone for Blue Origin’s space tourism ambitions, adding to the company's push to expand access to space.

The crew is expected to make a news conference on Monday.