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As you very likely heard, history was made this week.
On Monday, Lauren Sanche, Katy Perry and Gayle King were among the famous women who got launched into space on Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission, which saw the celebrities get sent into space for a brief period of time before returning to their native planet.
The rocket ship’s all-female crew set off on an 11-minute flight that took them just beyond the threshold of Earth’s atmosphere.
Many folks responded to this event with awe and applause.
But such a reaction was not universal.
Shortly after the New Shepard rocket returned from its round-trip expedition on April 14, Olivia Wilde shared a meme on her Instagram Stories featuring two photographs of Perry as she exited the capsule upon returning to Earth.
One of the pictures depicted the singer holding up a Daisy as she smiled from ear to ear while walking outside because she took a small type of this flower into space with her as a tribute to her daughter Daisy Dove Bloom, whom she shares with Orlando Bloom.
The other upload was of the artist kissing the ground after stepping down a few steps, as Perry included a caption with this post that read, “getting off a commercial flight in 2025 #BlueOrigin.
Wilde went ahead and share the meme with the message, “Billion dollars bought some good memes, I guess.”
Indeed, while the whole thing was indisputably cool, one can easily ask: Could one billion dollars have been spent on something a bit more productive or helpful to society?
Before Monday’s takeoff, meanwhile, others criticized the mission, including Olivia Munn, who wondered about its need while co-hosting the April 3 episode of Today with Jenna and Friends. Tuesday’s mission was the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 31st in its history.
“I know this probably isn’t the cool thing to say. But there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now,” she said, while actress Emily Ratajkowski added in TikTok on Monday afternoon:
“That’s end time s—. Like, this is beyond parody.”
Then there was Amy Schumer, who posted a a sarcastic video of herself announcing that she had received a last-minute invitation to join the mission, joking while holding up a Black Panther toy:
“I’m bringing this thing. It has no meaning to me, but it was in my bag and I was on the Subway, and I got the text and they were like, ‘Do you want to go to space?’ so I’m going to space.
“Thank you to everyone who got me here. I’ll see you guys in space.”
When asked about the general criticism by People Magazine in a press conference, King said that in her eyes, “anybody that’s criticizing it doesn’t really understand what is happening here.”
She added:
“We can all speak to the response we’re getting from young women from young girls about what this represents.”
Sanchez, for her part, also chimed in as follows:
“I get really fired up. I would love to have them come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don’t just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle. They love their work and they love the mission and it’s a big deal for them.
“So when we hear comments like that, I just say, ‘Trust me. Come with me. I’ll show you what this is about, and it’s, it’s really eye-opening.’”
