Blue Origin Announces All-Female Crew for Next Mission

Blue Origin will launch NS-31 this spring. [Courtesy: Blue Origin]

Blue Origin will have an all-female crew that includes one of the biggest pop superstars and a CBS journalist for its next space tourism mission, NS-31, set to launch in spring, it announced Thursday.

"This mission will be the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 31st in its history," Blue Origin said. "To date, the program has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space."

READ MORE: Blue Origin's New Shepard Has Launched More Than 50 People to Space

Among the six-person crew are former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, CBS Mornings cohost Gayle King, global pop superstar Katy Perry, community leader Kerianne Flynn, and helicopter pilot and aviation businesswoman Lauren Sanchez.

Blue Origin NS-31 crew [Courtesy: Blue Origin]

According to the space tourism company, the mission will have the first all-female flight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.

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Earlier this month, the Jeff Bezos-backed rocket company announced it planned to lay off 1,400 of its nearly 14,000 employees—about 10 percent—primarily affecting workers in Florida, Texas, and Washington state. The layoffs were announced as the company ramps up production of its massive New Glenn rocket, which successfully launched for the first time in January.