I thought it was an affront to women, period. But yes, certainly most of all to those women who really were ready to go where no one had gone before. A pox on Bezos.
It was just a spectacle. I found absolutely nothing edifying or spectacular about a group of wealthy women making a big deal about an 11 minute flight that "changed their lives". Seriously!! And it was up to this article to even mention the 2 scientists on board. And the timing!! During a government that shuts down so much science and goodwill combined with a billionaire who marches in step with that government and who could have purchased the cost of these flights. Just a spectacle.
I wish I could be positive & say this is a good sign of coming normalization for spaceflight.
But I can't. I still mourn for Sally Ride, Christa McAuliffe, & Judith Resnick. I am gob-smacked at the courage they, other women, minorities, & a handful of white male supporters have displayed trying to open space to all. This stunt was an affront to them & display of just how f-ing shallow the rich in this country are.
Last fall, I got to spend 2 full days at the Kennedy Space Center. One thing that impressed me was that in every case, the spectatular innovations were credited to the tens of thousands of non-famous people that made it all possible.
The Smithsonian would erase the name of the first human to have made a footprint on the moon if they had been a woman or a person of color. As for this stunt, one more reason to stop paying attention to what the “rich and famous” do. Instead, let’s help one another thrive on the planet’s surface. I wonder how many under-funded schools could be improved and how many starving people could be fed for the cost of that bullshit blastoff.
The entire thing/blitz was uninspired and I was left feeling I should go out and get black extensions and buy some SKIMS, just to make this bit of sad advertising seem worthwhile. Not. And of course, Amanda Nguyen. Not only is she a Nobel Prize nominee, but a bioastronautics researcher. How we got Katy Perry and Gayle King into this thing, I am not sure. A lot of fluff trying to make Ms. Sanchez a feminist or female rights activist, which she is not, thinly veiled as a diversion from Mr. Bezos, a staunch supporter of the current administration. As a woman, the announcement of this flight, the passengers and then the actual event and the afterwards, left me feeling that this was just a pat on the head (or ass) to women and made us look like extensions, tight body suits, lengthy false eyelashes, were just an everyday shuttle moment. It totally diminished the education, the seriousness and years of research, development and LOSS of many. Who's next? Kim Kardashian and Ye? Ugh. Very disappointed.
Another recommendation for those who enjoy reading is the novel "The Calculating Stars" by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is set in an alternate timeline where the manned space program begins in the sixties and is told from the viewpoint of a woman who is in the space program as a calculator (like the ladies of "Hidden Figures") who fights to become an astronaut. And if you enjoy that book, there are three more following it in the series.
Thank you for this article and for all of the information. I now know much more about the heroic women of space and I am NOT talking about he Blue Origin crew. I certainly have lost respect for both Gayle King and Katy Perry.
That flight was the perfect example of what is wrong with this country in this moment. Kids going hungry, dying of measles, elderly being threatened with loss of health care and the social security they paid into their whole lives, while these brainless, alternate-universe rich assholes larp as astronauts. It’s pathetic and they should be shunned.
I can assure you from direct experience that sending women into space for 11 minutes could not be more opposite than a woman trying to work in the male dominated space industry. In that latter world women are, at best, used, ignored, and dismissed. Younger women face physical harassment and older successful women are despised and systemically shut out. It's a man's world, and they are absolutely not interested in letting women in.
So, of course, these Barbie girls they blasted into space are okay because they pose no threat to the men.
Not only an affront to Sally Ride, but much more an affront to Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986.
And these female yahoos were yucking it up. Typical Bezos adventure of late.
I thought it was an affront to women, period. But yes, certainly most of all to those women who really were ready to go where no one had gone before. A pox on Bezos.
A pox indeed.
It was just a spectacle. I found absolutely nothing edifying or spectacular about a group of wealthy women making a big deal about an 11 minute flight that "changed their lives". Seriously!! And it was up to this article to even mention the 2 scientists on board. And the timing!! During a government that shuts down so much science and goodwill combined with a billionaire who marches in step with that government and who could have purchased the cost of these flights. Just a spectacle.
I wish I could be positive & say this is a good sign of coming normalization for spaceflight.
But I can't. I still mourn for Sally Ride, Christa McAuliffe, & Judith Resnick. I am gob-smacked at the courage they, other women, minorities, & a handful of white male supporters have displayed trying to open space to all. This stunt was an affront to them & display of just how f-ing shallow the rich in this country are.
Last fall, I got to spend 2 full days at the Kennedy Space Center. One thing that impressed me was that in every case, the spectatular innovations were credited to the tens of thousands of non-famous people that made it all possible.
Thanks for sharing, it's good to know. I haven't been there since 1991, but it's one of the coolest places I've ever been.
The Challenger tragedy was and is part of my memory. Beautiful astronauts.
get over it
why get over it?
it's a stupid space flight by a rich guy
The Smithsonian would erase the name of the first human to have made a footprint on the moon if they had been a woman or a person of color. As for this stunt, one more reason to stop paying attention to what the “rich and famous” do. Instead, let’s help one another thrive on the planet’s surface. I wonder how many under-funded schools could be improved and how many starving people could be fed for the cost of that bullshit blastoff.
The entire thing/blitz was uninspired and I was left feeling I should go out and get black extensions and buy some SKIMS, just to make this bit of sad advertising seem worthwhile. Not. And of course, Amanda Nguyen. Not only is she a Nobel Prize nominee, but a bioastronautics researcher. How we got Katy Perry and Gayle King into this thing, I am not sure. A lot of fluff trying to make Ms. Sanchez a feminist or female rights activist, which she is not, thinly veiled as a diversion from Mr. Bezos, a staunch supporter of the current administration. As a woman, the announcement of this flight, the passengers and then the actual event and the afterwards, left me feeling that this was just a pat on the head (or ass) to women and made us look like extensions, tight body suits, lengthy false eyelashes, were just an everyday shuttle moment. It totally diminished the education, the seriousness and years of research, development and LOSS of many. Who's next? Kim Kardashian and Ye? Ugh. Very disappointed.
Read "Fighting for Space" by Amy Shira Teitel to see how difficult it was for women to get into the space program/ NASA
Another recommendation for those who enjoy reading is the novel "The Calculating Stars" by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is set in an alternate timeline where the manned space program begins in the sixties and is told from the viewpoint of a woman who is in the space program as a calculator (like the ladies of "Hidden Figures") who fights to become an astronaut. And if you enjoy that book, there are three more following it in the series.
I came to the comments section specifically to see if anyone had made this recommendation.
Thank you for this article and for all of the information. I now know much more about the heroic women of space and I am NOT talking about he Blue Origin crew. I certainly have lost respect for both Gayle King and Katy Perry.
you cannot compare sally ride and christa mccaulife with the space tourism of gayle et al
You once had respect for Katy Perry?
why ?
The entire event was a vanity PR stunt for Sanchez and Bezos' space company.
yeah
That flight was the perfect example of what is wrong with this country in this moment. Kids going hungry, dying of measles, elderly being threatened with loss of health care and the social security they paid into their whole lives, while these brainless, alternate-universe rich assholes larp as astronauts. It’s pathetic and they should be shunned.
Everything about that BO ‘flight’ is vacuous.
I can assure you from direct experience that sending women into space for 11 minutes could not be more opposite than a woman trying to work in the male dominated space industry. In that latter world women are, at best, used, ignored, and dismissed. Younger women face physical harassment and older successful women are despised and systemically shut out. It's a man's world, and they are absolutely not interested in letting women in.
So, of course, these Barbie girls they blasted into space are okay because they pose no threat to the men.
What this stunt brought to mind was John McCain anointing the totally incompetent Sarah Palin as his VP to attract the female vote.
The media keep referring to the women on this flight as "crew."
They were not crew. With one exception, they were untrained sightseers. Tourists, along for the eleven-minute ride.
The second person I wanted to be when I grew up was an astronaut. The first was a cowboy.
Hey! Same here! Except the first for me was an American Indian.
I never wanted to be anything until women weren’t allowed to be football players. I would have been killed, just in practice.
I was surprised that Gayle king agreed to do that. I thought she had more integrity.
She said Oprah told her she had to do it. Another reason to dump Oprah in the dustbin of celebrity billionaire has beens.
Oprah has long had questionable judgment. Mehmet Oz, for example.
Honestly I think that King is more of a celebrity than a journalist.JMHO