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On reflection, some of the inadvertent messaging is concerning and shows a lack of progress here on Earth.
Last month a group of female American celebrities, including singer Katy Perry, chat show host Gayle King, activist and astronaut Amanda Nguyen, HR executive Kerianne Flynn, journalist Lauren Sánchez, and NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, participated in the first all-women Blue Origin space mission since Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.
Pink-washed as a feminist campaign intended to break down barriers between women and space, the mission has been dubbed “women taking up space”. A focus on the oppressed components of each woman’s character, such as their racial heritage or their gender identity, presents a blatant disregard for the American-centric wealth that made this trip possible for them in the first place – not least the fact that the rocket itself, New Shepard, was literally named after the first American man in space.
Imagine then, the glass ceiling morphed into a glass sphere, encasing planet Earth in a snow globe shaken up by the hands of the wealthy. Not only does this metaphorical layer impose limitations on women’s economic success like it has done for years, but the media coverage of this space mission also forces us to watch, trapped and helpless, as these same hands light the match and set fire to the world we’re struggling to live in.
American-centric wealth and privilege is deliberately conflated with progressive feminism, at our expense.
Sexual harassment and space
Whilst the edge of space is not defined by international law, the FAI’s definition of the Kármán line (or something close to it) is recognised by most international organisations and regulatory agencies (including the United Nations). This means that an aircraft can be differentiated from a spacecraft under legal jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, the line is slightly more blurred when it comes to deciphering between consent and harassment; in recent years Blue Origin has come under fire for sexual harassment allegations reported by women despite this outward performance of progress.
Katy Perry has expressed her hope that this ‘mission’ will ‘empower women’. However, it’s difficult to see how women working within the space industry – or across almost every other industry – who experience sexual harassment from their male colleagues will feel empowered by watching five famous women essentially act as PR for Bezos’ male-led, male-owned aerospace company.
Undoubtedly, it’s incredible for activist Amanda Nguyen, who completed an internship at NASA in 2011, that she was able to fulfil her dream of going to space. Her dream had been placed on hold after her experience of sexual assault and subsequent founding of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act. During the mission Nguyen did actually carry out microgravity experiments around plant pathology and women’s health.
However, as the media continues to emphasise Nguyen’s victimhood over her achievements as a justification for her seat on the rocket, the message imparted is not one of empowerment for young women, or of opposition to gendered violence here on planet Earth.
Rather, we’ve seen how 11 minutes of individualistic luxury is offered to Nguyen as a form of compensation for all she had endured. This message drastically overlooks the reality that, for most women, especially those from lower economic backgrounds, the possibility of (unresolved, and unprosecuted) rape is far more likely than the chance to go to space.
By endorsing the idea that space is a kind of ‘escape’ for women like Nguyen, the individualistic idea is perpetuated that we shouldn’t seek to change the system. Rather, it highlights the ability of the privileged over the poor to abandon the mess of our world that they’ve predominantly contributed to.
Andrew Tate has accused @garyseconomics of working for ‘The Matrix’. pic.twitter.com/vO6ENjTFIg
— Novara Media (@novaramedia) April 10, 2025
(Check minute 0:50 for the gold dust)
This mission wasn’t at all about women ‘taking up space’. Rather, it was about teaching us that the only way to get anywhere in life is to conform to the desires of rich(er) men, and to accept compensation rather than have equal rights.
In short, to accept an escape route at any cost.
