(VOVWORLD) - The American Blue Origin rocket company on Monday completed its latest spaceflight, NS-31, to space. This was the first all-female crew since Soviet Union astronaut Valentina Tereshkova's pioneering flight in 1963.
 NS-31's all-female crew (clockwise from bottom left): Lauren Sánchez, Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe and Kerianne Flynn (Photo coutersy of Blue Origin)
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The crew of six women includes aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, CBS Mornings host Gayle King, pop singer Katy Perry, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez, an author, TV host turned philanthropist and Bezos’s fiancée.
About four minutes after liftoff, the New Shepard booster separated from the RSS Karman Line capsule and began its descent toward the landing zone, located approximately 3.2 kilometers from the original Launch Site One.
The RSS Karman Line continued on its curved trajectory into space, allowing the crew to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. Eight minutes after launch, the booster successfully executed a vertical landing. With the aid of parachutes, all six astronauts safely touched down in the West Texas desert. The mission lasted about ten minutes after liftoff.
Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, said right after stepping out of the spacecraft that she was very proud of the crew, adding, “I don't think I can put it into words. I looked out the window and the Earth looked so quiet but also so alive.”
The NS-31 mission was the 11th human flight and 31st overall of New Shepard, Blue Origin’s fully reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight. Other missions were non-human flights.
Flights aboard the New Shepard spacecraft often last 10 to 12 minutes from launch to landing and travel beyond the Kármán line, which is considered the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. This line is located at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
After the capsule separates from the booster, the crew experiences a few minutes of weightlessness and enjoys breathtaking views of the Blue Planet set against the darkness of space.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 to pursue his childhood dream of space travel. In April 2015, the New Shepard spacecraft made its maiden flight. As of now, Blue Origin has not publicly disclosed ticket prices for this experience.