One big question over Katy Perry going to space as singer set for lift-off today
Katy Perry is going to space today.
Yes, the singer Katy Perry, the one who performed tunes like 'I Kissed a Girl', 'California Girls', and 'Teenage Dream', is blasting off into space later today.
For many people the news that the singer is heading beyond our planet has prompted them to ask one big question; why?
Learning that she's set to become an astronaut has got plenty wondering 'what did I miss' and wondering 'why tf is Katy Perry going to space'.
Advert
Plenty want to know 'why is Katy Perry seriously going to space', and we've got a whole load of spectacular answers for you about any of the questions you might have.
Why is Katy Perry going to space?
Let's tackle the big one first.
The obvious answer is because she was invited; they don't just let famous people wander onto spacecraft that are about to take off and decide that it'll be fine if they tag along.
Along with five others, Katy Perry is going into space on board Jeff Bezos's New Shepard rocket, which is set to take off from West Texas today at 8:30am local time (2:30pm BST).
Launched by the company Blue Origin, which Bezos started in 2000, this trip to space is part of his drive for space tourism, though it's not going to come cheap, as while ticket prices haven't been released, it'll require a $150,000 (£114,000) deposit to book a seat.
Space, formerly the one place that hadn't been corrupted by capitalism, is now something of a billionaire's playground as various other rich folk like Elon Musk and Richard Branson have their own space programmes.
Other famous faces have been on a ride to space in New Shepard rockets, as Star Trek star William Shatner previously went up in one.
The equipment is designed to be reusable, with rocket and capsule meant to be in good working condition after the mission.
Who else is going with her?
Five other women will be in the capsule with Katy Perry as they head for space.
Jeff Bezos owns Blue Origin, and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez will be one of Perry's crewmates.
He could hardly say no, could he?
Joining them on their sojourn are CBS presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe.
The singer is going to be part of the first all-female crew in space since 1963 when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space during a solo mission.
How long will the space trip last?
While Tereshkova spent almost three days in space on her solo trip, the New Shepard crew will only be in flight for about 11 minutes.
The capsule is only supposed to go just above the Karman Line, a boundary set 100km above the surface of the Earth which draws a line between the limit of our planet's atmosphere and actual outer space.
So if all goes well ,this is going to be a genuine trip into space, not just the Earth's upper atmosphere.
What has Katy Perry said about going to space?
She seems quite excited about the whole thing.
"If you had told me that I would be part of the first-ever all-female crew in space, I would have believed you," she wrote in a post on social media.
"Nothing was beyond my imagination as a child. Although we didn't grow up with much, I never stopped looking at the world with hopeful WONDER!"
It seems that when the offer to go to space was made there was only going to be one answer for her, as she also said she's 'dreamt of going to space for 15 years'.
Perry recently told AP she's been reading up on the science behind space travel, and has been getting herself set psychologically, telling them: "I am talking to myself every day and going, 'You're brave, you're bold, you are doing this for the next generation to inspire so many different people but especially young girls to go, 'I'll go to space in the future.' No limitations.
"I’m really excited about the engineering of it all. I’m excited to learn more about STEM and just the math about what it takes to accomplish this type of thing."
The singer has admitted to being a bit nervous, but that's quite understandable considering she's going to space.
What will Katy Perry experience in space?
While she has been reading up on the science behind space travel and doing some training for her trip, if everything goes to plan, then Katy Perry won't need to do anything but enjoy the ride.
The journey is all automated, so the crew in the capsule won't need to do anything to pilot it.
If it works, then the rocket will go up to near the Karman Line and release the capsule once it's about 76km up. The capsule will climb for another 30km so it makes it 6k into outer space before coming back down and deploying parachutes that safely land it back down into the desert.
The rocket is set to land back on Earth just a couple of miles from where it first takes off.
Since they're going into actual outer space, Perry and her fellow astronauts will experience proper weightlessness for a time before getting a very significant re-introduction to gravity.
Beyond the physical effects, there may also be psychological ones, as many who go to space are profoundly changed by the experience.
When William Shatner went into space he described the experience as 'among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered'.
He said: "The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness."
The Star Trek star added: "It can change the way we look at the planet but also other things like countries, ethnicities, religions; it can prompt an instant re-evaluation of our shared harmony and a shift in focus to all the wonderful things we have in common instead of what makes us different."
This is called the 'Overview Effect', and Katy Perry may end up going through something similar herself.
Topics: Celebrity, Jeff Bezos, Katy Perry, Space
Joe Harker