POP STAR KATY PERRY WENT TO SPACE
She was part of the all-female team on Blue Origin’s latest space mission. Filmmaker Kerianne Flynn, journalist Gayle King, philanthropist Lauren Sanchez, NASA scientist Aisha Bowe and astronaut and bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen were also part of the crew that spent eleven minutes off the face of the planet.
STARRY-EYED MICHIGANDERS
Beyond the starry-eyed singer crooning in space, this was a historic space flight. According to GeekWire, “This mission, known as NS-31, marked the 31st flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship and the 11th crewed flight…NS-31 was the first women-only space mission since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.” But it’s not the only time women have made history in space. Including some with Michigan roots.
Cathy Olkin was born and raised in Michigan. While she’s never left Earth, her research and work on planetary atmospheres (she’s a Doctor, receiving her Ph D. in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from MIT in 1996) has led to unprecedented knowledge of our outer solar system. Dr. Olkin is currently leading the research in the Lucy mission, a 12-year space probe mission visiting the asteroid belt around Jupiter.
New Horizons deputy project scientist Cathy Olkin of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, CO Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls…