Gayle King Defends Recent All-Female Blue Origin Flight After Critics' Jabs

An all-female crew went briefly to space for an 11-minute flight on Monday. The criticism that followed has lasted much longer. Pop star Katy Perry, author and former journalist Lauren Sanchez, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, film producer Kerianne Flynn and CBS host Gayle King were on Blue Origin's successful NS-31 flight this week. The crew rolled to the launchpad in Rivian electric trucks and took an elevator up to board the crew capsule. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Sanchez's fiancé, personally escorted them to the rocket. The flight lasted about 11 minutes. Perry sang What a Wonderful World during the flight, although choppy audio made it difficult to hear the women at times during the livestream. This was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo spaceflight in 1963. Tereshkova was the first woman in space. Bezos was waiting to greet the crew at the landing site and apparent ... Read full article.