Picture this. You get an email from NASA, Space X or one of the crazy private space travel companies and they offer you a trip to space. No strings attached. You get to hop on this spaceship and go into space. What do you say? Do you take the chance and go? I mean it is a once and lifetime chance right? Or do you play it safe and keep yourself grounded on earth? It’s the final frontier, the infinite void, and the place where billionaires go when they get bored. To be honest, I do have a lot of fears but one of my top 5 worst fears is space. Everything about. I’d never even considered going into space, it’s a thought I don’t even want to think about but recently I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw that Katy Perry along with some other notable female celebrities, are hopping a jet and heading into space. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the post, but to be fair everything is so insane these days I feel like I’ve become numb to all of this crazy celebrity info. But it did get me thinking more about my fear of space and just Katy Perry going in general. Like doesn’t that just sound so insanely random to you? That is just an insane out of this world risk to me. And she has kids! Doesn’t she want to protect herself for her family at all costs? Or is this just something that’s an absolute no brainer “I have to do it” thing for some people? For centuries, since the beginning of time the curiosity of space has always been there for people and I guess this year we will get Katy Perry’s take on space. 

I don’t know about you but I had this understanding that only astronauts could go to space. I used to think of astronauts as the peak of human intelligence and training, brilliant scientists spending years studying, physical conditioning, and eating weird vacuum-sealed food just for the chance to float in zero gravity and collect valuable information to bring back down to earth Now it seems to me If you’ve got a fat enough wallet (or the right connections), you can book a trip to space like it’s an all-inclusive resort. Since when did space travel become so accessible and acceptable? I honestly for the life of me cannot wrap my head around this. Katy Perry is going to space. I feel like I’m viewing space travel as a trend right now, it’s kinda just like the Cyber Truck to me. Something that people want to take a ride in just to say that they have done it. It’s some sort of weird validation thing I think. Everyone is always looking to be first in something or have things that other people don’t and I think going to space is a pretty unbeatable way to one-up a crowd right? It’s the ultimate way to get ahead and show that you’ve done something that other people can only dream of. Or maybe I’m looking into this too far and Katy Perry is just truly interested in going into space and seeing what that whole zero gravity thing is all about. 

All jokes aside, why is Katy Perry even going anyway and why does it matter and why am I so enthralled with it? This will actually be the first all female group to go to space in the last 60 years. 60 years since an all female group has gone past the Kármán Line (which is the internationally recognized boundary of space). The last recorded female flight was actually done solo by Valentina Tereshkova who was also the first woman to go into space. Alongside Katy Perry will be Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez (who also just happens to be engaged to Jeff Bezos). These ladies will be jumping aboard a Blue Origin rocket making it the 11th human flight. And if you are anything like me and panicking at the idea of these ladies heading into space without any NASA people on board don’t worry because they will be joined with bioastronautics researcher, Amanda Nguyen, NASA rocket scientist, Aisha Bowe, and movie producer, Kerrianne Flynn. The exact flight date has not been named yet however you can expect this all to happen sometimes in the Spring. 

I guess putting all my fears aside I could say I get the appeal. You’d get to float around in zero gravity, look out the window, and see our beautiful blue planet from a view that only a handful of people in human history have ever experienced. I bet the feeling once you’re looking down is just a surreal moment. Everything would get put into perspective too, on earth you’re really just a tiny human wandering around, and besides planet earth, there is so much to explore. To be honest I have wondered what floating around in zero gravity is like so I guess that would be super cool to experience. Just drifting through space floating around weightlessly next to Katy Perry, sounds like a once in a lifetime chance to me. It’s the closest thing to being a superhero, and it looks like pure fun. I grew up (still am) obsessed with Harry Potter. Like so obsessed. So you can imagine my reaction when I went to visit Harry Potter land in Universal Studios in California. I was in my element, probably one of the happiest days of my life, I was shocked, amazed, and just so happy. I know there’s people out there who feel the same about Star Wars so maybe space to them is just how I felt about being at Hogwarts. 

So back to my first question, if you got that text from NASA, would you choose to go? When you weigh all the pros and cons, the answer really depends on what kind of person you are. If you live off of adrenaline and taking risks it could just be a no-brainer yes for you and totally worth all the risks that space travel brings. But if you are someone who gets nervous at just the thought of a roller coaster, then it might be best to sit this one out. To be quite frank, my answer would be a hard no. I don’t even have to think about it. I literally have no desire to go to space and experience that. And yes, while I agree it’s cool and interesting, I just wouldn’t want to willingly put myself in a scenario where I feel that level of risk to my life accompanied with high levels of my anxiety and my heart probably beating out of my chest. So, would you go?