On April 14, pop star Katy Perry, TV personality Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, social activist Amanda Nguyen, producer Kerianne Flynn, journalist Lauren Sánchez—who happens to be the fiancé to the CEO of Blue Origins, Jeff Bezos—were launched into space as the crew of the New Shepard rocket’s 31st mission and was dubbed the “first all-women flight crew” on multiple media platforms. That is, if you completely acted like Valentina Tereshkova, who did it alone in 1963, doesn’t exist.
Out of everyone to ever be in space, Katy Perry? Really? I mean, I can bear some understanding of the situation because it’s not illegal for rich people to flaunt their wealth and buy their way into a joyride, but to deliberately make it a political statement and surround it with publicity seems… bold.
It’s safe to say the women-only Blue Origin space exploration is a wake-up call for media consumers. Perhaps, in how we’ve appraised media, we’ve allowed rich folk to think we are gullible and will turn a blind eye to blatant abuse of resources and media attention.
Now, there isn’t anything wrong with a bunch of people being launched into space regardless of their requirements. The closest thing Katy Perry has done for astrophysics and space science was sing “E.T.” If she could afford a spot on a space tour, let her be, right?
Also, in their defense, they did make some kind of effort in deciding who gets to board the rocket. Bowe is a former NASA rocket scientist was included in the voyage. Nguyen, an activist for sexual assault survivors who studied astrophysics at Harvard prior to her advocacy, was also among the crew. Sadly, only Nguyen and Bowe seem to be the only ones who qualify for space exploration.
The apples that spoiled the barrel for me were Perry and King’s media interactions regarding the 11-minute flight.
In an interview, Perry said she’s very excited to, “Learn more about STEM, and the math about how what it takes to accomplish this type of thing.”
Perry said she has also been “reading a book about string theory,” and “listening to ‘Cosmos’ by Karl Sagan.” To that, I scoff.
If you have to sit down to talk about an exciting opportunity such as going to space as a pop star, why would you even attempt to sound learned about these topics at all when you so blatantly don’t?
What’s more maddening is King’s reaction to the backlash. In an interview, King said, “Have you been? Have you been? If you’ve been and you still feel that way after you come back, please, let’s have a conversation.”
As if to claim that only the very few who have gotten the chance to explore space can criticize her. King made a spectacle of herself by reacting in such a hostile manner.
While Perry could have been honest about her purpose, and King could have dealt with the backlash with more grace, I don’t think there is a villain in this story.
The fault, however, may lie in how we as media consumers focus our attention on cultural phenomena.
It’s useful to consider that Blue Origin has launched 30 space crews before on the New Shepard rocket alone. None of them, however, received as much coverage as this recent launch did.
While advertisement for New Shepard launches are frequent, the all-women crew had a live 45-minute press conference after the launch.
“We weren’t taking up space, we were making space,” Perry said in the conferece, almost anticipating backlash hours after the ride.
It’s clear that the advertisement for the space trip is deliberate, and that people expected us to react positively to the voyage.
The label “first-ever women-only crew” is no doubt exciting. In a way, the fact that six women were in space is still quite iconic, and whoever made the voyage happen expected us to react like it is.
However, Perry using this event to promote her tour and dangle a flower at a camera leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
It’s worth noting that none of the women have reported their findings and what they’ve learned. It’s nothing significant anyway. I’m certainly not expecting a full scholarly thesis paper, but if you claim you are “trying to make things better here on Earth,” I’m struggling to see how.
What I don’t struggle to see is the frivolousness of the ride and how it glorifies space tourism for the rich.
If you want to go look at some good ol’ great unknown, hop on a rocket ship and do so if you can afford to. But please, stop using the media to turn a joyride into a groundbreaking event or to promote your brand.
That is to say, the backlash that the space crew got made me somewhat hopeful for the future. It’s rare to see celebrities being called out for their ignorance and smugness. Perhaps, it’s time to move toward de-platforming rich folk out for obvious abuse of resources and careless media manipulation.
