Blue Origin‘s New Shepard rocket had a successful trip into space Monday, but the company’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, ran into turbulence while greeting the returning astronauts.
Minutes after taking an all-female crew of celebrity astronauts to space in a history-making event not seen in 60 years, Bezos was seen falling face-first into a ditch as he tried to greet his fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
Sánchez, and popstar Katy Perry headlined the crew of six noteworthy women who blasted off from West Texas Monday morning on a nail-biting 11-minute suborbital flight during which the crew could be heard screaming on the broadcast.
The New Shepard rocket only took its famous passengers beyond the threshold of Earth’s atmosphere and into space for roughly three minutes before returning home safely.
After their safe return, Perry led the celebration, getting down on the ground and kissing the Texas dirt.
The commercial spacecraft built by Bezos’s Blue Origin company is carrying Sánchez, 55, Perry, 40, CBS co-host Gayle King, 70, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyne, 33, filmmaker Kieranne Flynn, 57, and NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, 38, on the brief zero gravity joyride.
It’s the first all-female space mission since Russia’s Valentina Tereshkova embarked on a solo spaceflight in 1963.
For Blue Origin, which has been been conducting commercial space launches since 2015, Monday’s flight was the 31st mission for the New Shepard vehicle.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket launched on time at 9:30am ET Monday morning, launching 6 women into space on the 11-minute flight
Lauren Sánchez, 55, Katy Perry, 40, CBS co-host Gayle King , 70, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyne, 33, filmmaker Kieranne Flynn, 57, and NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, 38, were the 6 women chosen for the brief zero gravity mission
Members of the Blue Origin flight exited the New Shepard spacecraft Monday and began kissing the dirt following their safe return
Just before the launch, Bezos was heard saying ‘When you get back, I want to hear how it has changed you. I love you all.’
Speaking on the Blue Origin livestream Monday morning, Sánchez said Bezos returned from his own spaceflight ‘more grounded.’
During liftoff, the rocket’s single BE-3PM engine fired and began blasting the crew into space at 9:30am ET.
Burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, the engine generates around 50,000 kg of force while producing nothing but water vapor.
Within minutes, the rocket hit speeds exceeding 2,000 miles per hour – over twice the speed of sound.
The forces on both the capsule and the crew will be intense as the rocket hits its point of maximum stress, known as Max-Q in aerospace engineering.
According to Blue Origin, Katy Perry and her fellow astronauts experienced three times the force of gravity as the booster accelerates.
During the 11 minutes in space, the all-female crew could be heard screaming with excitement inside the capsule as Bezos and a crowd of celebrities on ground waited for their return.
The capsule landed just a few miles from the launch point safely, returning the group after a successful flight just after 9:40am ET.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos was seen watching the rocket carrying his fiancée into space Monday morning in West Texas
After traveling through space for approximately 3 minutes, the New Shephard capsule landed safely a few miles from the launch site in Texas
A recovery team was quickly dispatched to the capsule to release Perry and company following their historic space flight.
Bezos was among those who first welcomed the crew upon their return to Earth.
Perry was seen kissing the ground right after exiting the New Shepard craft. King and the other celebrity astronauts followed the popstar’s emotional display.
A star-studded crowd watched nervously as the craft blasted into space, including Oprah who was in tears as she watched King, her best friend, go on the sub-orbital flight.
The Kardashian family were also in attendance, who joked about taking their reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians to space.