WASHINGTON - US pop star Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, are set to fly to the edge of space and back on a Blue Origin rocket on Monday, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
The launch from west Texas of the reusable New Shepard vehicle, operated by Bezos' space company, is scheduled for 8:30 am (1330 GMT), although the timing may shift depending on weather conditions.
Joining the all-civilian crew are US morning television presenter Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist and scientist Amanda Nguyen, and entrepreneur Kerianne Flynn.
Blue Origin notes that this will be the first time since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo flight in 1963 that a spacecraft will fly with only women aboard.
The suborbital flight is expected to last just over 10 minutes and reach an altitude of 100 kilometres, taking the six passengers just above the Kármán line, an invisible boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.
For comparison, the International Space Station orbits about 400 kilometres above Earth.
The Blue Origin crew will be able to briefly unbuckle and float weightless before returning to the Texas desert via a parachute-assisted landing.
The New Shepard vehicle is fully automated - there are no pilots on the voyage.
Blue Origin has been offering short trips for space tourists since 2021. The company has successfully completed 10 such missions, carrying 52 passengers to the edge of space.
Bezos himself was aboard the inaugural crewed flight, and the company has gained attention for sending celebrities, however briefly, into space. Legendary "Star Trek" actor William Shatner boarded a flight in 2021. - BERNAMA-dpa