Gayle King is about to take off into space!
The CBS Mornings co-host is one of the crew members for Blue Origin’s next flight to the edge of space —it’s a historic all-women crew! The flight is expected to launch this spring.
Joining Gayle will be pop icon Katy Perry, journalist and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
This spring’s flight will be Blue Origin’s 11th human mission with its New Shepard program. So far, 52 people have experienced the thrill of traveling 62 miles above Earth to the Kármán line, the boundary where Earth’s atmosphere ends and space begins. Notable past passengers include William Shatner and Blue Origin’s founder Jeff Bezos.
Gayle shared her excitement and nerves about the upcoming journey. “I don’t know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time. It’s like how I felt about delivering a baby,” she said during the announcement on CBS Mornings.
At 70 years old, Gayle sees this as a new chapter in her life. “I thought I wanted to open myself up to new adventures and step out of my comfort zone,” she explained.
Before signing on, she talked it over with her kids and none other than Oprah Winfrey. “Once Kirby and Will and Oprah were fine with it, I was fine,” Gayle said. “I thought Oprah would say, ‘No, no.’ But she said, ‘If you don’t do it, and when they all come back and you had the opportunity, you’ll be kicking yourself.’ She’s right.”
Although Gayle wasn’t exactly dreaming of space travel, the opportunity grabbed her attention. “This was never my dream. It was never my dream,” she said, adding, “Someone said, ‘Maybe you need to have new dreams, Gayle.’”
Gayle also praised her fellow crew members, calling them “badass” with “such amazing life stories.”
Despite a few jitters, she’s all in. “I feel well prepared. I believe in Blue Origin and what they’re doing,” Gayle said. “I’m really excited and actually looking forward to it.”
