Katy Perry to soar in Space with all-female crew

Pop star Katy Perry will be the biggest name in an all-female group set to touch the edge of space Monday, roaring into the cosmos on one of billionaire Jeff Bezos' rockets.

The singer of "Firework" and "California Gurls" will be transported in a vessel from Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon's founder, to more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the Earth's surface.

Five other women, including Bezos's fiancee Lauren Sanchez, will join the flight, which is slated to depart from western Texas around 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).

Their fully automated craft will rise vertically before the crew capsule detaches mid-flight. Later, it will fall back to the ground, slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.

Monday's mission is the first all-female space crew since Valentina Tereshkova's historic solo flight in 1963.

It is also Blue Origin's 11th suborbital crewed operation, and it has been offering space tourism experiences for several years.

The company does not publicly communicate the price of trips made possible by its New Shepard rocket.

The flight, which lasts around 10 minutes, will bring the passengers beyond the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

There will be a brief period when the women can unbuckle from their seats and float in zero gravity.

'Inspiration'

Perry recently told Elle magazine that she was taking part "for my daughter Daisy," whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom, "to inspire her never to have limits on her dreams."

"I'm just so excited to see the inspiration through her eyes and the light in her eyes when she sees that rocket go, and she goes back to school the next day and says 'Mom went to space'," Perry added.

Perry, who launched onto the international stage with her 2008 hit "I Kissed a Girl," will appear alongside TV presenter Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, and Amanda Nguyen, founder of a campaign group against sexual violence.

They follow 52 previous Blue Origin passengers, including longtime "Star Trek" leading man William Shatner.

Such high-profile guests are intended to keep public interest in Blue Origin's work as it battles multiple rival firms in the space tourism field.

Bezos's top challenger in passenger flights is Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar sub-orbital experience.

However, Blue Origin aims to bring space tourists into orbit in the future, competing directly with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

In January, Blue Origin's much more powerful New Glenn rocket completed its first unmanned orbital mission.