A few weeks ago, I was working on an assignment when an email notification popped up in the upper right corner of my laptop screen. It was from The New York Times, informing me that Katy Perry had just gone to space. I usually don’t succumb to clickbait, but this time I caved. I opened the article “One Giant Stunt for Womankind,” prepared for the joke to be revealed. To my dismay, there was no punchline.
NATHAN VILLASEÑOR / DAILY NEXUS
On April 14, 2025, Katy Perry and a team of five other women were sent beyond the Kármán line, the nationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. This expedition was led by Blue Origin, a spaceflight company founded by none other than multibillionaire Jeff Bezos. Does that name ring any bells? With a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, Bezos successfully founded the e-commerce company Amazon, which has an approximate current net worth of 2 trillion dollars and holds a 37.6% market share of all online retail sales in America. To put this into perspective, Amazon’s runner-up is Walmart with a market share of 6.4%. Let’s just say, Bezos has accrued quite the slice of pie in the e-commerce industry.
So what exactly does Mr. Bezos know about spaceflight? Although Bezos lacks an aerospace engineering degree, he has access to a resource far more important in today’s climate: money! Bezos founded Blue Origin on September 8, 2000 to privatize and commercialize space flight. According to the company’s website, their mission states, “We’re building a road to space for the benefit of Earth.” Part of this plan includes reducing the cost of space travel and learning to harness resources found on expeditions, such as lunar dust to fuel solar power. In theory, this concept could be exciting; an opportunity to see space without the years of rigorous training, and the potential to help heal our planet with alternative energy sources. But how much does this expedition cost, both fiscally and environmentally?
The 2025 expedition NS-31 did not publicly disclose the price of a seat within the rocket system New Shepard; however, in 2021, one was auctioned for $28 million with a fully refundable $150,000 deposit. This is where we begin to see the cracks in Blue Origin’s claims. So let’s do some rough math. Six women were sent on this expedition. If each seat was worth roughly $28 million with a required $150,000 deposit, excluding any other additional costs Blue Origin may not have publicly disclosed, the mission itself cost roughly $168 million. $168 million to send six members of the public to space. But, at least the deposit is refundable!
However, the price of this expedition isn’t abnormal when it comes to space launches. The Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in Santa Barbara County spends an average of $316 million per launch. Although the VSFB is owned and operated by the U.S. military, it works alongside SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk. Another influential name, Musk is also known for his creation of Tesla and his current position as senior advisor to President Donald Trump. So in comparison, Blue Origin is technically succeeding in its original mission to reduce the cost of spaceflight. But for what purpose?
Although the price of an average space launch for VSFB is hefty, their mission is different from Blue Origin’s. The website for the space base states, “Space Launch Delta 30, Vandenberg’s host unit, supports West Coast launch activities for the Air Force, Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, national programs and various private industry contractors.” This normally entails activities such as missile testing and installation infrastructure for sending satellites into orbit.
However, VSFB has established an environmental team that is heavily involved in ecological research for Santa Barbara County. They help to protect 42 miles of coastline, including its history, flora and fauna. The base works in conjunction with quite a few conservation agencies, such as The Nature Conservancy and the Coastal Conservation League. These partnerships help to preserve the life and research conducted in the area.
Additionally, this team is involved in efforts to help mitigate the effects of the base and their work. VSFB monitors the impact of their launch activities on the native animals, such as the birds and marine mammals. They are also attempting to find remediation technology for contaminants such as 1,4-dioxane, a toxic compound that can infiltrate water supplies in the surrounding area. To combat this issue, researchers at the base have applied propane biosparging to the groundwater, which has seen a 99% success rate at reducing concentrations of the toxic chemical. The base has become a leader in this developing technology, providing yet another example of how they remain environmentally conscious.
VSFB has a vast number of different projects and goals. But Blue Origin has one — space tourism. An emerging market, space tourism is a concept that is defined as space travel for recreational purposes. Recognizing that this term is no longer a foreign idea presented in science fiction and Hollywood is kind of insane. Their entire mission is to explore, not for research or the benefit of the planet, but to treat space travel like a flight to a tropical island.
The environmental ethics of this alone are questionable. The company has created reusable rockets, such as New Shepard (the vessel used for the recent mission) and New Glenn. These are fitted with reusable engines and cleaner-burning fuel. For example, New Shepard utilizes liquid oxygen and hydrogen (carbon-free fuels), which emit water vapor as a byproduct instead of carbon emissions.
Although this reduces the environmental impact of a typical rocket, this process still contributes to climate change. Water vapor will continue to break down in the stratosphere, and deplete the ozone layer through a series of reactions. The ozone layer acts as a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere. This causes an increase in the net cooling effect, which is a temporary event that can mask the effect of growing concentration of greenhouse gases. As a result, this worsens ozone depletion, acting as a negative feedback loop. Additionally, the launch itself creates a generous release of soot into the atmosphere, which can warm the planet 500 times more than an airplane.
So the question is, why are we glamorizing and commodifying space travel when the environmental and monetary impact is so enormous? Blue Origin is attempting to become the frontrunners in an emerging market, which claims their innovation is for the good of Earth. This mission is contradictory when their actions are directly contributing to the climate crisis and allocating money towards nonessential missions. Money that could be used for environmental research to reverse or remediate the damage that we have done to our planet.
The NS-31 expedition on April 14, just a week before Earth Day, was a tone deaf and blatant display of wealth on behalf of the women who were sent with no prior background in aerospace research, training or engineering. Funding for bases such as the VSFB needs to be upheld, especially now as the future of space travel morphs into a completely new market.
A version of this article appeared on p.10 of the May 8, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
