The all-female flight by Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, recently launched a pod full of women into space, including Katy Perry and Bezos’s partner, Lauren Sánchez. This highly publicized flight was meant to symbolize feminism and scientific progress but instead served as a spectacle of decadence and decline in the US. Blue Origin, a product of the government’s abandonment of space exploration, is criticized for its focus on tourism over scientific inquiry and slow technological development compared to SpaceX.

The flight’s promotion as a feminist triumph is questioned, especially as it highlights the corruption of the profit-driven motive behind space exploration. The flight not only mocks the aspirations of scientific advancement and feminist progress but also reveals the defeat of American feminism. Sánchez’s role in organizing the flight is seen as perpetuating an antifeminist model by being dependent on her male fiancé.

The crew members, while including accomplished women like an aerospace engineer and a civil rights entrepreneur, have been criticized for promoting a vision of women’s empowerment that focuses on superficiality and vanity rather than substance. Their emphasis on makeup and appearance in interviews has drawn backlash for reinforcing stereotypes and detracting from more meaningful aspects of space exploration.

Overall, the Blue Origin flight and its promotion highlight deeper issues of sexism, materialism, and the commodification of feminism. The spectacle raises concerns about the direction of women’s empowerment and the values being perpetuated in society.