Space travel is one of human civilization’s greatest accomplishments. Yet, it’s hard to argue that humanity’s latest voyage into space hasn’t tainted this achievement.
With Blue Origin‘s space flight on Monday, six women were passengers on a commercial trip to space. It is a neat story, but far from any kind of triumph. Yet, inexplicably, it was hailed as a feminist milestone. It’s indicative of how low the bar has become for contemporary feminism.
Moreover, the absurdity of the hoopla behind this voyage was amplified when one of the passengers on Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission, pop singer Katy Perry, emphasized the importance of “glam” on the space journey — not engineering, not mathematical or scientific brilliance, but glam. As such, we’ve gone from NASA aerospace engineer and flight director Gene Kranz’s immortal words of “Failure is not an option” to Katy Perry’s commentary: “We are going to put the a** in astronaut.”
These are not serious people who accomplished serious things. It is emblematic of the dumbing down and societal regression in the country. It’s an outright embarrassment when passengers on a space flight are hailed as feminist heroes, even more so when one of them emphasized “putting the a** in astronaut.” If this was supposed to represent anything significant, then it’s abundantly clear that feminism is a cataclysmic failure.
Could you imagine the reaction if a group of men celebrated a trip to space for doing nothing but participating in the ride?
Space travel, a field predicated on complex science, mathematics, and engineering, was once revered for its ground-breaking intellectual triumphs. On Monday, it was all about the affluent elitist class in sleek, aesthetically pleasing “spacesuits” the passengers wore. Again, this was not some incredible feat accomplished by women. Being a passenger on a commercial flight is something anyone — man or woman — could do.
Furthermore, both men and women have previously done it. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who could remember the names of the passengers on the first commercial flight to space. That’s how insignificant it was. Yet, when it was a wealthy pop singer and Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Blue Origin, it was branded as female empowerment.
Give me a break. If sitting down and participating in a flight is now something that warrants celebration, then the bar for feminism has fallen so low it’s not worth even mentioning anymore.
If anyone involved with NS-31 is to be recognized or celebrated, it’s the scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who made the space flight possible. And if there were any women whose minds and intellect contributed to the science and engineering of NS-31, they are the ones who deserve to be honored and celebrated. Not the jesters who put the “a** in astronaut.”
To paraphrase Neil Armstrong (after the legitimate accomplishment of becoming the first human to set foot on the moon), Monday’s Blue Origin flight is little more than one small stumble for feminism and one giant leap backward for today’s feminists.
SINGER KATY PERRY TRAVELING TO SPACE ON MONDAY WITH ALL-FEMALE CREW
Female empowerment used to mean celebrating women’s achievements and accomplishments, shattering glass ceilings, and breaking the patriarchy. It meant honoring the resilience, grit, and determination of women held back in a society that repressed their rights and restricted their opportunities for advancement and achievement.
Now, in 2025, all feminism appears to be is celebrating cronyism and the benefits of being in a romantic relationship with a billionaire man.