Katy Perry set to travel to space as part of all-female mission

Katy Perry is set to head to space as part of an all-female mission.

The 40-year-old singer will travel on the next launch of Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin rocket, the aerospace engineering company said.

The Teenage Dream singer will be joined on the New Shepard programme’s 11th human flight by former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, research scientist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn and TV hosts Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez – who is also Bezos’ fiancee.

The mission will “challenge [the crew’s] perspectives of Earth”, “empower them” and “create lasting impact that will inspire generations”, according to organisers.

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

She said she hopes her journey will encourage her daughter and others to “reach for the stars, literally and figuratively”.

So far, the New Shepard programme has flown 52 people above the Karman line, which is internationally recognised as the boundary of space.

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

New Shepard is a reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism.

Named after Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space, it can take off and land vertically.

Other notable people who have joined the flights include Bezos, Star Trek actor William Shatner and former NFL player Michael Strahan.

The latest flight, NS-31, will launch in the spring.