Katy Perry to travel to space in all-female mission

Ellen O'Donoghue

US pop star Katy Perry is to head to space as part of a mission by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company.

She will be one of an all-female team of six, joining the 11th human flight of the New Shepard program and the 31st in its history.

American TV host Gayle King will also be on board, along with Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez, the aerospace engineering company said.

Lauren Sánchez, who brought the mission together, said that she is honoured to lead a team of explorers on a mission that will challenge their perspectives of Earth, empower them to share their own stories, and create a lasting impact that will inspire generations to come, according to organisers.

Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with more than 115 billion streams.

To date, the New Shepard program has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

This is the first all-female flight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.

The flight is scheduled for spring.