Gayle King announced she will travel to space on board Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin NS-31 rocket.
Gayle, 70, will join an all-women crew of space tourists, including pop singer Katy Perry, Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
King announced the space mission on “CBS Mornings” on Thursday, Feb. 27.
“I’m so afraid, but I’m also so excited about it. I don’t know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time. It’s like how I felt about to deliver a baby,” she said.
King has previously admitted she is “terrified” of heights. Multiple X users are betting she backs out at the last minute.
The cost for a seat on Blue Origin is an eye-watering $30 million per ticket. But celebrities fly for free, courtesy of Bezos.
On July 20, 2021, Blue Origin’s New Shepard performed its first space mission carrying tourists into space.
The flight lasted approximately 11 minutes from takeoff to landing. The tourists crossed the Kármán line (about 62 miles above sea level) before returning to Earth.
The passengers were Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen. An auction winner who paid $28 million (later revealed to have been Justin Sun) dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.
The next Blue Origin launch, with Gayle King on board, is set for sometime in April.
Who says women can’t break the glass ceiling? #GayleKing's smashing through and heading straight to the stars, 'cause she's joining a bunch of trailblazing women making their way into space. #Exclusive story HERE: https://t.co/3JSbfvY7OS pic.twitter.com/00coNQgabK
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 27, 2025
