Katy Perry’s Blue Origin flight drew jokes and criticism from social-media users and public figures—not just “stans.” The suborbital trip lasted about 10 or 11 minutes, and the reaction focused on its brevity, celebrity spectacle, Perry’s singing and post-landing moment, and broader questions about extravagance and purpose.
What happened on Katy Perry’s Blue Origin flight?
On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin launched its New Shepard capsule from West Texas with six women aboard: Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Kerianne Flynn, Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen. The automated suborbital flight reached about 66 miles (107 kilometers), included a few minutes of weightlessness and returned to Earth. The Associated Press describes it as roughly 10 minutes; Rolling Stone calls it an 11-minute trip. “About 10 or 11 minutes” reflects the difference in how those reports rounded the duration.
The crew was not made up of celebrities alone: it also included a former NASA engineer, a scientist and advocate, a journalist and a film producer. Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” during the flight. She later said the experience was about collective energy and making room for women in space. As the AP quoted her after landing: “We weren’t just taking up space. We were making space for the future.”
Why did the flight draw jokes and criticism?
The short flight and the idea of “going to space”
Some online jokes played on the trip’s brief duration, while other posts showed confusion about what a suborbital flight involves. A social-media user quoted by Rolling Stone wondered why they had thought Perry would “stay in space for a few days/weeks.” That is one person’s comment, not evidence of how widely people misunderstood the flight.
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New Shepard’s flight was suborbital: it crossed the commonly used boundary of space but did not put the crew into orbit. Its short profile was a feature of this kind of trip, not a multi-day stay in space.
Celebrity spectacle and Perry’s moments on camera
Rolling Stone highlighted memes about Perry’s singing and an image of her kissing the ground after landing. For some commenters, those moments became shorthand for the larger spectacle: a famous singer taking a highly visible trip that lasted only minutes. Such posts illustrate the tone of some online reactions; they do not establish what fans or the public as a whole thought.
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Questions about extravagance and purpose
Other criticism was less about the flight’s duration and more about whether a high-profile private space trip was wasteful, indulgent or out of touch. Public figures joined online commenters in criticizing the flight, according to the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian. Those judgments are opinions about the mission’s priorities and symbolism, not disputes about the basic flight facts.
Blue Origin declined to disclose how much the flight cost or who paid, the AP reported. The available reporting therefore does not establish a price or payer.
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What did Perry say about the backlash?
On April 30, 2025, Perry replied to a supportive fan post with: “Please know I am OK, I have done a lot [of] work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me.” The Guardian also quoted her describing the online world as trying to make her “a human piñata.” The Los Angeles Times noted that she did not directly mention the Blue Origin flight in that comment, so it is best understood as a response to online scrutiny rather than a specific statement about the mission.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why was the all-women crew historically notable?
The AP described the flight as the first US spaceflight with women in every seat. That is a crew-composition milestone, not the first time women traveled to space. The only earlier all-female crew in human spaceflight was Valentina Tereshkova’s solo 1963 mission, the AP reported.
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At the time of the flight, the AP said women made up barely 15% of the more than 700 people who had traveled into space. That figure is historical context reported in 2025, not a current statistic.
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What is established—and what is not?
- Established: The flight took place on April 14, 2025; six women flew aboard New Shepard on a suborbital trip lasting about 10 or 11 minutes.
- Established: Coverage documented jokes and criticism from social-media users and public figures, including reactions to the flight’s brevity and spectacle.
- Not established: The reports do not quantify how many fans criticized Perry or show that online posts represented public opinion generally.
- Not established: Blue Origin did not disclose the flight’s cost or payer in the AP’s report.
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