Jeff Bezos' very exclusive, decades-old passion project, Blue Origin, launched its 11th human flight from their Launch Site One in West Texas on Monday, April 14. The all-women crew comprised of Jeff's fiancé Lauren Sanchez, singer Katy Perry, CBS's Gayle King, producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and advocate for survivors of sexual violence.
The 11th flight, lasting 11-minutes, should have made a whole lot of (good) noise considering it was the first all-women space crew since Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo flight in 1963. Instead, majority of the reactions from the public have been quite dissuading, with the same recurring sentiment — what exactly was the need for this?
Comments like "People can’t afford to eat and they are going to space for fun", "I don't get what the point was in going into space for 11 minutes?", "I don’t support this, men or women. I do not understand its purpose. The resources and money spent is abhorrent.", "Bezos could single handily end world hunger and still keep his billionaire status.", "all the resources and money could have gone into saving the planet, feeding hungry ppl instead", "It’s not jealousy. With the billion dollar they could actually do something that could help mankind, how did these inexperience women make any sort of impact by going up there for selfies" and "What carbon footprint does this indulgence have on our environment", capture the range of reactions.
{{/usCountry}}Comments like "People can’t afford to eat and they are going to space for fun", "I don't get what the point was in going into space for 11 minutes?", "I don’t support this, men or women. I do not understand its purpose. The resources and money spent is abhorrent.", "Bezos could single handily end world hunger and still keep his billionaire status.", "all the resources and money could have gone into saving the planet, feeding hungry ppl instead", "It’s not jealousy. With the billion dollar they could actually do something that could help mankind, how did these inexperience women make any sort of impact by going up there for selfies" and "What carbon footprint does this indulgence have on our environment", capture the range of reactions.
{{/usCountry}}And if you happen to be someone who thinks this is just a spiteful sour grapes situation, know that many well-known names too have spoken up about the seemingly vain trip to space. Actor Emily Ratajkowski, taking to TikTok said, "That space mission this morning...this is beyond parody...I'm disgusted...Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space. What was the marketing there?".
Others who spoke up about their disagreement with the apparent logic of the situation include actor-director Olivia Wilde who on her Instagram stories, shared, "Billion dollars bought some good memes I guess"; actor Olivia Munn, who in an exasperated reaction on talk show Jenna & Friends asked, "Space exploration was to further our knowledge and to help mankind. What are they going to do up there that has made it better for us down here?"; and comedian Amy Schumer who mocked the trip by saying, "Guys, last second they added me to space and I'm going to space".
What's your take on this controversial trip to space?