Gayle King, Katy Perry, Aisha Bowe, Lauren Sánchez, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn just did what most people only dream about—leaving the Earth for a few minutes. On Monday (April 14), the all-female crew boarded Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, blasted off from West Texas, and returned in less than 10 minutes after a round-trip journey to the edge of space.
For King, the trip was historic, but it was her facial expression that initially made headlines. As the CBS News anchor climbed aboard the capsule, she looked visibly distressed and nervous. While her crewmates smiled with glee, Gayle’s expression said what many of us were probably thinking: “What did I just sign up for?”
The clip quickly went viral and became a meme. “Gayle King is all of us on a Monday,” one X user typed in their post.
X/DarkSkinPrue
Later, Gayle addressed the moment at the post-mission conference, saying, “At that moment, I was so afraid. I just wanted to get into my seat because I just wanted to let the training kick in.”
And while she admitted walking up to the capsule felt “daunting,” she managed to find humor in her nerves, recalling a friend’s bold advice: “Once you get there, you’re going to feel like it’s sex with the gods,” to which she responded, “Well, I’ve never had sex with a god to my knowledge, so thank you for the visual.”
Still, once the rocket soared and it became reality that she was in space, Gayle had a moment of awe. “It’s the neon blue up in space, and it’s still and it’s quiet and you’re all feeling this experience together. I know I will never forget it,” she said. “I walked out of there thinking, gosh, I can do anything. I’m so proud of us. I really am proud of me—because I never in a gazillion years thought I could do this.”
Of course, the women’s journey to space didn’t come without scrutiny (because naturally when women make history someone always has something to say). Actress Olivia Munn publicly questioned the value of such an expensive ride to Page Six, calling it “gluttonous” while asking what real benefit the trip had for those on Earth. But the crew didn’t shy away from addressing it. Bowe, a former NASA engineer, reminded everyone that representation matters. She shared how a high school counselor once told her to pursue cosmetology instead of engineering, and “now she’s been to space.”
Gayle had her own sharp words for the critics. “Anybody that’s criticizing it doesn’t really understand what is happening here,” she said, pointing to the overwhelming support from young women who’ve been inspired by the mission. “We can all speak to the response we’re getting from young girls about what this represents.”
To drive her point home, she wrapped up her response with a confident mic drop: “Any other questions?”
See Blue Origin’s post-mission conference below.
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