Featured Image Credit: Blue Origin
Gayle King admitted that she ‘can’t believe what she saw’ in space as the trip left her with a profound realization.
The TV presenter made history as part of the first all-female space crew since 1963 today (April 14).
Alongside her were fellow newly-titled astronauts singer Katy Perry, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and journalist Lauren Sánchez who is the fiancée of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
The crew embarked on the 11-minute trip to space aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket.
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A star-studded crowd looked on at the launch site in Texas, which included the likes of Oprah, and reality stars Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, as Mission NS-31 took off.
After spending four minutes in space, the crew returned to Earth with the capsule door being opened by Bezos.
As the women stepped foot back on solid ground they were greeted with cheers and King shared her experience above the atmosphere.
After she returned to Earth, the broadcaster revealed that she ‘still can’t accept’ the fact that she is now an astronaut.
She continued: “It’s oddly quiet when you get up there. It’s really quiet and peaceful and you look down at the planet and think, ‘that’s where we came from’.
“For me, it’s such a reminder about how we need to do better, be better.”
King also shared that Perry sang a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ while the crew were up in space.
Perry went on to explain that while people were asking if she was going to sing one of her own songs such as ‘Firework’ or ‘Roar’, she said ‘it’s not about me, I wanted to talk about the world’.
The singer went on to say that it was ‘about a collective energy, making space for future women, it’s about the wonderful world we see out there’.
Sánchez shared similar sentiments to King about her thoughts while viewing the Earth from above.
She said: “I’m so proud of this crew, I can’t put it into words.
“I looked out of the window and we got to see the moon. Earth looked so quiet, it was quiet, but really alive.
“It was a feeling of joy and camaraderie. A feeling of gratefulness. A feeling of ‘we are doing this’.”
Visibly emotional, Sánchez added: “I don’t even know how this is going to change me.”
