The “Firework” and “California Gurls” singer will be lofted more than 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface in a vessel from Blue Origin, the space company owned by the Amazon founder.
Five other women including Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez will join the flight, slated to blast off from western Texas at around 9.30 pm Hong Kong time.
Their fully automated craft will rise vertically before the crew capsule detaches mid-flight, later falling back to the ground slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.
Monday’s mission is the first all-woman space crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963.
It is also the 11th sub-orbital crewed operation by Blue Origin, which has offered the space tourism experiences for several years.
Lasting around 10 minutes, the flight will bring the passengers beyond the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.
There will be a brief period when the women can unbuckle from their seats and float in zero gravity.
Perry recently told Elle magazine that she was taking part “for my daughter Daisy,” whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom, “to inspire her to never have limits on her dreams.”
“I’m just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees that rocket go, and she goes back to school the next day and says ‘Mom went to space’,” Perry added.
She said in a separate video posted to Instagram that she was shocked to discover during space training that the capsule she will travel in was named the “Tortoise” and decorated with a “feather” design — the two nicknames her parents have for her.
“There are no coincidences and I’m just so grateful for these confirmations and so grateful that I feel like something bigger than me is steering the ship,” Perry said in the video. (AFP)
