Lately, I have been hearing Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Gayle King and Kerianne Flynn were the celebrities on the Blue Origin all-female crew on April 14. 

Accompanying them were aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe and bioastronautics researcher Amanda Nguyen. The flight was eleven minutes long in total. People can do whatever they want with their time and money, but Perry specifically has been acting like she cured cancer. 

One interviewer was brave enough to call her an astronaut which is extremely disrespectful to those who are working hard for that title. When Katy Perry is praised in the same breath as women who spent years studying aerospace and physics, it sends a disturbing message: fame is more valuable than knowledge or contribution. Why not spotlight women like Dr. Sian Proctor, the first black woman to pilot a spacecraft, or Dr. Swati Mohan, who played a key role in NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover landing?  

The flight was more of a PR stunt and marketing extravaganza than an opportunity to inspire future women in STEM. There are far more deserving women (women in the actual field who do this as their career) that should be able to go to space, especially for free. 

It is unknown if anyone on board paid for the flight or went for free as a guest. For regular folks Blue Origin requires a $150,000 deposit for anyone interested in going. The whole operation being covered so heavily online felt unnecessary and insensitive. Perry said she felt “super connected to life and love,” after her return to Earth. 

There are currently multiple wars going on in the world, an economic crash/failure, people who cannot afford a house while working over forty hours a week. Additionally, Jeff Bezos, owner of Blue Origin and Amazon, is infamous for mistreating and underpaying his employees.  There is no reason we should be giving him or his company any attention.

In a world that is currently drowning in misfortune and capitalism, why highlight the elite using space as an escape?

Photo by: Inside Edition via Youtube