TV personality Martha Steward has become the latest in the ever-increasing list of public figures to critique the recent all-female space tourism flight conducted by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
The mission, which took place last Monday (April 14), sparked widespread criticism, with many questioning the significance of the mission, labeling it as little more than a vanity project for “out of touch” celebrities.
In an Instagram post on Thursday (April 17), Stewart shared a video from her own experience in zero gravity, something that some netizens interpreted as her taking a subtle jab at Blue Origin’s recent mission.
“In case you spaced out,” Stewart’s video was captioned, followed by, “Martha has always been ahead of her time.”
Martha Steward “trolls” Katy Perry and the rest of the Blue Origin all-female flight with a post on Instagram
The 83-year-old’s post was meant as a reminder that her own experience in zero gravity predates Blue Origin’s flight by over a decade.
Back in 2006, Stewart boarded a Boeing 727 for the “Zero-G” experience, a commercial flight providing passengers with the opportunity to feel weightless.
At the time, Stewart described the experience as “the closest I’ll ever get to space,” reflecting on how the sensation of floating in zero gravity felt like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Despite the experience being similar in terms of gravity, Stewart’s flight does not constitute a spaceflight mission, as it only mimics the experience through parabolic maneuvers, providing passengers with around 30 seconds of freefall, simulating the weightlessness of space.
In contrast, the Blue Origin mission reached the Kármán line, a space known as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. It was established in the late 1950s by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, a Swiss-based governing body and record-keeping organization.
In reaching the Kármán Line, the all-female crew consisting of pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, activist Amanda Nguyen, scientist Aisha Bowe, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn, and journalist Lauren Sánchez, were able to experience sub-orbital spaceflight.
The mission was marketed as a “breakthrough moment” for women, a statement considered “out of touch” by viewers
Blue Origin’s all-female mission was marketed as a breakthrough moment for women in science, with the presence of popular figures such as Perry being considered essential to promote the project among a younger audience.
Sánchez and the other participants have publicly described the flight as a life-changing experience and a significant milestone for women in space, but critics argue that these claims are more about creating a spectacle than any real achievement.
As Bored Panda previously reported, the singer, in particular, has drawn significant backlash for her comments after the flight.
Upon landing, she knelt and kissed the ground, a gesture many found over-the-top and performative.
“It’s not about singing my songs. It’s about a collective energy in there,” Perry said in a now-mocked post-flight interview.
“It’s about us. It’s about making space for future women and taking up space and belonging,” she continued before describing the 10-minute flight as an important event being done “for the benefit of Earth.”
Netizens took issue with the passengers being described as “astronauts,” arguing it undermines the achievements of professionals
Another point of contention has been the label of “astronaut” being applied to Blue Origin’s passengers.
According to NASA, the official definition of astronaut establishes that the person must have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,” to be considered an astronaut.
More traditional definitions specify that a person must be “trained to travel in spacecraft” to be considered an astronaut, while legal definitions—such as the one contained in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty—expand on this notion.
The treaty explains that an astronaut must have “a combination of knowledge and special skills obtained as a result of special professional training for spaceflight activity for design, testing and the operation of space technology, research, as well as the use of outer space and celestial bodies.”
Critics have taken issue with Blue Origin labeling its passengers as astronauts, feeling the term undermines the achievements and training of professional astronauts.
“Classy.” Netizens celebrated Steward’s “expert trolling” and thanked her for not being “out of touch”
