Images of Katy Perry tearfully holding a daisy in the air while at zero-gravity, or kneeling to kiss the Texas ground, have become memes instead of symbols of a ‘historic day for women.’ Many have criticised the Blue Origin NS-31 flight for its poor timing, happening amid global economic uncertainty and political tensions. The crazy thing is: it took millions of dollars to develop the New Shepard Rocket, which flew Perry into space, and supposedly, a single ticket for the flight could cost over $200,000, with a deposit of $150,000 required. So really, instead of a 'historic day for women', it was simply another day of reckless spending for a bunch of out-of-touch millionaires.
It begs the question- was this mission really necessary?
The Blue Origin NS-31 flight mission (if you can even call it that?) was organised by Jeff Bezo’s fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, as part of Blue Origin’s ‘space tourism’ program. The mission gained media traction for the all-female lineup, which included TV presenter Gayle King and pop star Katy Perry. However, Many took to social media to criticise the expense of the flight, with actress Olivia Munn calling the whole event ‘gluttonous.’ It’s understandable why people were shocked and borderline disgusted by such a nonchalant spending of money, when millions of people across the world are struggling to pay their rent or save enough for their weekly food shop.
it seemed incredibly out of touch with actual feminist issues faced by normal members of society
Furthermore, though the flight was framed from a ‘feminist’ standpoint, as a historical moment for women, it seemed incredibly out of touch with actual feminist issues faced by normal members of society. Katy Perry and her ‘taking up space’ co-passengers could collectively afford to support vulnerable women by donating large sums to feminist charities, which would arguably make more of a statement. Yet, they chose to spend nearly a quarter of a million each to visit space for all of 10 minutes, for no reason at all and with absolutely no benefit to the feminist cause. Gluttonous seems about right.
Not only was the mission grossly expensive, but a single Blue Origin trip into space is said to produce copious amounts of carbon emissions. Though Bezos and his engineers claimed that the rocket produces little CO2 emissions, only releasing 'water vapour' (sure, Jeff), various studies imply that a brief 11-minute flight into space results in 75 tonnes of carbon emissions per passenger. This is a shocking amount, considering that the carbon footprint of the average American is 16 tonnes (which is still a lot in terms of a global scale, but that would be over a lifetime, not within the space of 10 minutes). Taylor Swift, there are some new Carbon Queens in town.
Overall, this Blue Origin mission spreads a dangerous message about the future of 'Space Tourism.' For starters, it establishes the concept as a very exclusive and elite privilege for those who have $200,000 spare. Secondly, it demonstrates a careless and irresponsible disregard of our already damaged climate, as well as global socio-economic issues that actually deserve attention and funding by billionaires such as Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk (who, let's face it, would rather send their wives into space than actually contribute to improving society). So was the Blue Origin Feminist or futile? Futile, of course.