In Feminist America, getting blasted into suborbital space and flown around for a few minutes in a remotely-piloted spacecraft makes you an astronaut - and apparently, reading a book on science makes you a physicist.
Adding yet more hilarity to the claim that a handful of millionaire celebrities became the first “all-female crew” to go into space, Katy Perry explained how she “read a book on string theory” before boarding the 10-minute Blue Origin tourist flight earlier this week, where she, CBS host Gayle King, and Jeff Bezos’ finance floated around in zero-gravity for a few minutes while passing around flowers and stuffed animals.
“I’m really excited to learn about the engineering of it all. I’m really excited to learn about STEM, the math about what it takes to accomplish this type of thing,” Perry said in a pre-flight interview.
To do this, Perry said she prepped for the flight by “listening to ‘Cosmos’ by Carl Sagan and reading a book on string theory” after a show rehearsal.
“Going to bed, that was definitely, like, helping,” she said, as the interviewer said, “Oh, wow.”
Which, as we all know, is basically the same thing as studying engineering and physics for years, earning multiple degrees, becoming an accomplished pilot, going through rigorous flight training, and checking all the standard boxes for becoming an astronaut - Perry here listened to a podcast in the shower, so that counts.
Related: Gayle King Calls Blue Origin Flight Critics Sexist, Compares Herself to Alan Shepard
The “Teenage Dream” singer added she’s “always been interested in astrophysics and astronomy and astrology and the stars.” (Astrology being the pseudoscience that claims mankind is somehow connected and supernaturally influenced by the movements of celestial bodies, such as through horoscopes and planetary positions.)
Katy Perry reading a book on string theory and then expecting to understand string theory is like standing in your garage and expecting to turn into a car.
— Samantha (@SN1onX) April 15, 2025
What an incredibly dumb woman. As a woman I’m annoyed. As an engineer I’m disgusted pic.twitter.com/W6McRcWsLk
After being remotely piloted in for a landing and kissing the ground like a woman who'd just been rescued from the International Space Station after nine months (too soon?), Perry in a post-ride interview said she just hopes that "people understand that we weren't just taking up space, we were making space for the future," calling the trip a "supernatural journey."
One small step for man, one giant leap backwards for womenkind.