Women are seriously underestimated in aerospace sectors around the world, but they regularly escape the Earth's atmosphere. Since Sallyride became the first American woman in 1983, more than 100 people have gone to space. For example, if all-female spaceflight was chartered by NASA, it could represent the pinnacle of decades of serious investment in female astronauts. (In 2019, NASA was embarrassed to embarrass all women's spaceships when they realized they didn't have enough suits to suit them.) Spaceflight of all women's blue origins means that several women have accumulated social capital to become friends with Lauren Sanchez.
Blue Origin is one of several private space flight companies, including Virgin Galactic, Space Adventure, SpaceX, and more. The new Shepherd Rocket was self-stunned, with the six women not having technical obligations on the flight. Two participants had aerospace experiences (Bow worked at NASA and Nguyen interned there), but Sanchez said she chose everything because she is a “storyteller” who can promote their experiences through journalism, film and song. In its blue origin, its value is explicitly in amateurism. Kristin Fisher, a journalist and daughter of NASA astronaut Anna Lee Fisher, who joined the livestream, called the flight's roster “very refreshing.” In the early days of human spaceflight, astronauts “were all white male military test pilots and had to have the 'right thing'. You couldn't talk about your nerves, or anything tense, or how you felt,” Fisher said. “But now, in 2025, that's right.”
Sanchez arranged for her favorite fashion designers to create suits for their missions, and used them for yet another branding opportunity. Flight souvenirs for sale on the Blue Origin website feature a kind of Yassified Shuttle Patch Design. It includes Mike, the King's signature shooting star, explosive fireworks representing Perry, and fly representing Sanchez's 2024 children's book on dyslexic insect adventures. Each woman was encouraged to use 4 minutes of weightlessness to practice another in-flight activity tailored to her interests. Nguyen planned to use them to perform two disappearingly simple science experiments. One of them was related to menstruation, but Perry said, “I vowed to put my astronauts on my astronauts.
The message is that little girls can grow up to become what they want. Rocket scientist, pop star, television journalist, or billionaire's fiancé is empowered to pursue her various ambitions and whims in the face of incredible costs. In either case, she stands to win a free trip to space. She can have it all, including her family on Earth. “What do you think it is?” Sanchez told El. “Mom goes to space.” (Fischer, the first mother in space, went there in 1984.)
The whole reminds me of the advice that Cheryl Sandberg took over to the woman from “Lean In,” her memoir about expanding the ladders of companies in the tech industry. When Google's CEO Eric Schmidt offered Sandberg a position that didn't match his professional goals, he told her: “If you're offering a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat you want. Just get on.” It's not the goal of the mission itself, but the proximity to power is important.
