Gayle King and Katy Perry Went to Space This Morning

In a historic, all-female “Blue Origin” flight, “Teenage Dream” singer Katy Perry and American TV personality Gayle King took off in a rocket for a trip that lasted just over 10 minutes.

Before this morning, almost 700 people had visited space since it became possible 63 years ago. And this was the first all-female spaceflight since 1962, when Valentina Tereshkova orbited the Earth alone. Notably to date, of NASA’s 360 astronauts, only 18 of them have been Black and a mere 12 of them were Hispanic. This morning though, six women, including King, Perry, Aisha Bowe —a Black, former NASA rocket scientist — and Lauren Sánchez — a Mexican-American, Emmy-winning journalist and pilot who also happens to be married to the founder of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos.

The ladies, looking fabulous, gave interviews to media and hugs to their loved ones before leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. The moment, albeit historic, didn’t come without its fair share of criticism.

Actress Olivia Munn voiced her discontent on Today with Jenna and Friends, a couple of weeks ago, saying, “What are they doing? I know this probably isn’t the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.” Later adding, “If you wanna go to space, why do you need to tell us about it, you know? It’s just like, go up there, have a good time, come on down.”

The show’s host, Jenna Bush Hager mentioned that he women intend to fly in full glam, to which Munn responded, “What? They said this out loud?”

While in the space capsule, Perry said she sang “What a Wonderful World,” and when they came back down to Earth — no pun intended — she and King were seen kissing the ground.

“I’ve covered that song in my past,” Perry told Variety. “Obviously my higher self is steering the ship. I had no clue I’d one day decide to sing a little bit of that in space. It’s not about me. It’s not about my songs. It’s about a collective energy and making space for future women. It’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it. This is all for the benefit of Earth.”