Posted on 04/17/2025 6:21:07 AM PDT by scouter
At 9:31 a.m. EDT yesterday, Katy Perry, in full hair and makeup wearing a designer cobalt blue bodysuit, was ready to make history. As she boarded flight NS-31 to make an 11-minute roundtrip journey to the edge of outer space, she endeavored to “put the ass in astronaut.” Which is so cool and brave to admit, given that she’s probably the first person ever to say those words in that particular order.
(Excerpt) Read more at pitchfork.com ...
I think it was a neat thing to do and they could have pulled it off if they had not tried to shoehorn some deeper meaning in it other then a fun 11 minute carnival ride.
Pretending it was some great achievement is where all the criticism is coming from.
You’re right! I forgot about her.
LOL...the “space-age” communicator in her hand!
Wiki --> Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.So here we are, SIXTY-FOUR years later, still putting up suborbital flights but now with giggly girls aboard.
Funny, I don't recall Alan Shepard kissing the ground (or ocean) when he returned.
Those were heady times for this then-10 year old kid. We had snippet on the TV nightly news. Luckily, Dad was in aerospace and he subscribed to Aviation Week magazine.
This stunt was embarrassing, just proving our culture is still as woke as it gets.
“I’m sure you recognize the name “New Shepard” (not spelled “Shepherd”)”
Yes. I posted his feat earlier this week on a similar thread.
I haven’t seen an article to tell us how much they paid for this 15-minute flight but I assume it was a lot.
It’s their money and they can spend it however they want, but I personally couldn’t spend a lot for a space ride thinking instead how much I could help other people with that kind of money.
It's a suborbital trip that goes barely half as high as Alan Shepard's. I don't know what kind of max velocity it achieves on descent, but it's nothing like the Mach 25 an orbital vehicle like Crew Dragon has when it hits atmosphere.
I read this morning that it requires a $150,000 DEPOSIT! But no indication of the fees after that deposit.
Right. In those days, it took a dedicated agency and career test pilots in top condition to learn the limits of the human body in the High Frontier.
Thanks to those pioneers, and others in the decades that followed, we have learned enough to make a suborbital flight safe for civilians of ages up to 90 years and in the hands of private companies.
We can laugh at silly and unserious people being so before and after their ride. But I think the achievement here is that a private company can send up and bring down safely up to six people at a time on a suborbital Mercury-type flight using reusable capsules and boosters.
It’s safe for now and I hope Blue Origin (and other companies) with serious employees in every department of their respective programs can extend that record and build on their fledgeling achievements.
That’s a good reply and is all very true. Good post.
Space Nullity (with apologies to David Bowie)
[Instrumental Intro]
[Intro]
Ground Control to Katy Perry
Ground Control to Katy Perry
Take your Denon PerL earbuds out and put your Dolce & Gabbana on
(Ten) Ground Control (Nine) to Katy Perry (Eight, seven)
(Six) Commencing (Five) countdown, engines on
(Four, three, two)
Check ignition (One) and may Gaia's love (Lift off) be with you
[Verse 1]
This is Ground Control to Katy Perry
You've really made the grade
And the influencers want to know choice in twenty-eight
Now it's time to come back home
This is Katy Perry to Ground Control
I'm doing nothing, it’s a boor
And Gayle King’s passing gas in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
[Chorus]
[Instrumental Break]
Bezos made it a short flight with one destination so that the grrrrls wouldn’t have to stop to ask for directions.
#27 June Lockhart is 99 years old...
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