Six people are preparing to launch into space on a Blue Origin rocket on Monday morning, April 14. A 59-foot-tall suborbital spacecraft called the New Shepard rocket will be carrying the crew to the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space.
The passengers on the NS-31 mission are Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez. Like every other Blue Origin launch, the vehicle will lift off at Launch Site One on Corn Ranch, which is a private ranch in rural West Texas. It is located over 140 miles east of El Paso.
Who is Kerianne Flynn?
Flynn is an American film producer best known for her work on independent films, and has contributed to various popular projects, such as The Automatic Hate (2015), This Changes Everything (2018), and Lilly (2024). She has been fascinated by space for a long time, and even signed up to fly as a passenger on a Virgin Galactic spaceflight in 2011. The flight, however, has not occurred.
Blue Origin says on its website that Flynn “has always been drawn to exploration, adventure, and space, and hopes her Blue Origin space flight serves as an inspiration for her son, Dex, and the next generation of dreamers to reach for the stars.”
{{/usCountry}}Blue Origin says on its website that Flynn “has always been drawn to exploration, adventure, and space, and hopes her Blue Origin space flight serves as an inspiration for her son, Dex, and the next generation of dreamers to reach for the stars.”
{{/usCountry}}The website says, “After a successful career in fashion and human resources, Kerianne Flynn has spent the last decade channeling her energy into community-building through board service and nonprofit work with The Allen-Stevenson School, The High Line, and Hudson River Park,” adding that she is “passionate about the transformative power of storytelling.”
Blue Origin has already flown 30 missions, and 10 of them have carried as many as 52 people to the edge of space. The spacecraft's first crewed flight, NS-16, had Jeff Bozos as a passenger in 2021. The flight followed a whopping 15 test flights, USA Today reported.