The one news story that the entire world cannot stop talking about just keeps going.
That’s right, I’m referring to the “historic” all-female Blue Origin space flight, which took a crew of six women—including three very famous ladies—to suborbital space and back in less than 11 minutes on Monday.
The rocket trip has been the subject of criticism and ridicule this past week, particularly aimed at philanthropist Lauren Sánchez (better known as Jeff Bezos’ fiancée), journalist Gayle King (better known as Oprah’s best friend—sorry, Gayle, it’s true), and singer Katy Perry (better known as current-day flop) for exhibiting astronomical levels of out-of-touch-ness in times that are best described as “troubled.” Even their fellow richies, including such celebrities as Olivia Munn, Olivia Wilde, and Emily Ratajkowski, have piled on, calling the event “gluttonous” and “end times shit.”
King has since defended her decision to become an astronaut for a day, telling Extra that she wishes “people would do more due diligence” before criticizing them. “My question is, ‘Have y’all been to space?’ Go to space or go to Blue Origin and see what they do and how they do and then come back and say, ‘This is a terrible thing.’ Is it expensive? Yes. But one of the things they’re trying to do, if you get enough people who are interested — it doesn’t have to be that expensive.” She commended herself for inspiring “many girls and women and some guys” to consider going to space, and added that she’s “not going to let people steal my joy and steal the joy of what we did or what we accomplished that day.”
Sánchez, on her part, told People that she gets “really fired up” by the critics: “I would love to have them come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don’t just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle … So when we hear comments like that, I just say, ‘Trust me. Come with me. I’ll show you what this is about, and it’s really eye-opening.”
Judging by the space explorers’ defensive reactions, it seems clear that they were expecting to be applauded for bravely going to space and proving that—to borrow Sánchez’s words—“We’re all in this together,” rather than being made fun of for their cosmic inability to read the room. In its own special way, this expedition has proven one thing: The spirit of “Imagine” is still alive and with us.
The 2020 music video starring Gal Gadot and two dozen of her closest celebrity friends singing John Lennon’s song at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remains one of the most fascinating cultural artifacts of the 21st century. Intended to be a morale booster as people everywhere were confined in their homes, staring down a terrifying disease and an uncertain future, the Instagram video instead served as a magnum opus of hollow platitudes and empty gestures. It did bring people together, if mostly in mockery, which is life-affirming in its own way.
Blue Origin’s space stunt is the “Imagine” video of 2025. Far from uniting the world in love for our pale blue dot, it’s a maddening reminder that some of the most-resourced individuals on the planet—from people with enormous platforms to the woman marrying Jeff Bezos—are happier to use those resources to simply play on rocket ships while streaking greenhouses gases across the sky. Plus, remember, Katy Perry apparently sang “What a Wonderful World” to her captive audience on the flight—you can’t get any more “Imagine” than that.
So congratulations are in order to these galactic warriors for their stunning achievement: They have united us once again, by finally giving us a worthy successor to the most cringe pop-culture video of the past five years. Mission accomplished.
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