The Debate Over Whether Katy Perry Is an Astronaut Rages On

Jeff Bezos precocious sent a fig of precise affluent women to the borderline of space, successful a goofy media spectacle that apt has Neil Armstrong turning implicit successful his grave. The all-female Blue Origin abstraction formation has inspired a batch of beardown emotions from the internet, galore of which person been directed astatine its astir salient unit member, Katy Perry.

Indeed, ever since the spaceflight touched down, the net has been ablaze with a heated statement implicit whether the popular vocalist tin beryllium characterized arsenic a existent astronaut oregon not. The statement has reached absurd proportions, adjacent impacting editors astatine Wikipedia, who broke into a discussion past week astir whether they should classify the vocalist arsenic an “astronaut” oregon not. Unequivocally, each of the editors decided the reply was “no.”

“I’m inclined to accidental no erstwhile 1 little abstraction travel unsocial isn’t precise defining for her career,” said an exertion called SNUGGUMS. “If determination are others she embarks connected successful the future, past we could reassess the matter.”

Another editor, Ravensfire, said, “She’s a abstraction tourist, it’s not thing that should beryllium successful the pb oregon listed arsenic an occupation.”

“The communal knowing of what an astronaut/cosmonaut includes years of grooming and mostly immoderate benignant of mission,” said RCSCott91. “From the ceremonial position of NASA, who much narrowly defined the term, Katy Perry would inactive not qualify.”

For immoderate reason, America’s caller Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, besides decided to chime successful past week. Duffy took to X connected Thursday to springiness a precise backhanded compliment to the caller abstraction flight, and to fto the participants cognize that they were precise definitively not astronauts. “The unit who flew to abstraction this week connected an automated formation by Blue Origin were brave and glam,” Duffy wrote, “but you cannot place arsenic an astronaut. They bash not conscionable the FAA astronaut criteria.”

It’s unclear wherefore Duffy felt it was indispensable to dunk connected the Bezos-funded abstraction party. Maybe Duffy, who has been engaged cutting backing (or threatening to chopped funding) to infrastructure and proscription projects successful bluish states, wanted an excuse to consciousness similar a existent authorities official.

Perry besides someway managed to get successful a combat with Wendy’s (you know, the accelerated nutrient restaurant), aft the concatenation tweeted astir the singer’s instrumentality from outer space, asking: “Can we nonstop her back?” A root adjacent to Perry subsequently told quality outlets that the vocalist was owed an apology from the restaurant: “Wendy’s didn’t marque a gag — they made a choice. Their caller posts connected X aimed astatine Katy Perry were not lone disrespectful but blatantly inappropriate.” The root continued: “This wasn’t harmless banter, this was a billion-dollar marque utilizing its level to publically demean a woman.” Wendy’s subsequently refused to apologize.

God lone knows wherefore everybody has chosen to dogpile connected Perry erstwhile determination were fractional a twelve different women connected the flight, though possibly it had thing to bash with the singer’s determination to usage the excursion arsenic an accidental to beforehand her upcoming satellite tour. While successful space, Perry made a video successful which she unveiled a portion of insubstantial with the tour’s setlist connected it. A root adjacent to Perry has since told the media that she regrets “making a nationalist spectacle” retired of her travel to space.

It should beryllium noted that determination person been galore real pistillate astronauts implicit the years, whether oregon not you tin telephone Bezos’ caller 10-minute excursion a existent “all-female” abstraction mission.

In an adjacent stupider crook of events, the online rabble has besides decided that—much similar the archetypal satellite mission—the Blue Origin formation must person been faked. Much of the conspiratorial musings person centered astir a video taken aft the abstraction pod landed backmost connected Earth. Commenters said they thought the pod’s doorway had been opened from the wrong and past rapidly unopen earlier Bezos opened it with a key. The internet’s “experts” assertion this should person been impossible, though who’s to accidental whether they’re close oregon if it ever adjacent happened.

The stakes for the Apollo flights were admittedly precocious (we were trying to beryllium we were amended than Russia truthful that we could proceed laying assertion to the resources of the Third World), truthful it makes consciousness that the U.S. authorities would person faked them (I’m not saying they did, I’m conscionable saying the justification was there). What the stakes of sending a popular vocalist to abstraction are, I’m not rather sure, different than the continued relevance of a billionaire’s goofy abstraction tourism business. Which is, you know, not really that applicable to astir people.