Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket carrying the all women crew lifting off from Launch Site One in Van Horn, Texas. — TNS
ON April 14, rocket company Blue Origin sent six women to the edge of space, the first time an all-female crew made the trip since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova completed a three-day solo mission more than six decades ago.
The flight included a pop star, a TV journalist, an aerospace engineer, a film producer, and a bioastronautics research scientist-turned-activist. Also on board was Lauren Sanchez, a businesswoman, journalist, author, philanthropist and the fiancée of Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person and founder of Blue Origin. The roster had “the energy of an American Girl doll collection,” as the New York Times’ Amanda Hess put it.
