Katy Perry has explained why she brought a daisy flower with her onboard her historic space mission.
On Monday, the 40-year-old pop star took part in Blue Origin’s first all-female space flight. Led by Jeff Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez, the six-member crew comprising Perry, Sanchez, activist Amanda Nguyen, CBS Mornings’ Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and movie producer Kerianne Flynn, launched into space for an 11-minute journey.
After landing safely, each astronaut disembarked from the spacecraft, overjoyed by their feat. Perry, who was the second to exit the rocket ship after Sanchez, lifted a small daisy to the sky before kissing it.
In an interview after the expedition, Perry was told that her four-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, was proudly watching from the ground.
“And you brought a real-life daisy up,” the reporter told Perry as she held up the white daisy to the camera. “It was important for you not only because it’s your daughter’s name, but why else was that important for you to bring up?”
“Daisies are common flowers, but they grow through any condition,” the “Firework” singer explained. “They grow through cement; they grow through cracks; they grow through walls.”
She continued: “They are resilient; they are powerful; they are strong; they are everywhere. Flowers to me are God’s smile, but it’s also a reminder of our beautiful earth and the flowers here, and the beautiful magic that is everywhere — all around us — and even in a simple daisy.”
While in space, Perry also delivered a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
“I’ve covered that song in the past,” Perry told reporters of her song choice, “and obviously my higher self is always steering the ship because I had no idea that one day I’d be singing that song in space.
“To go to space is incredible and I wanted to model courage and worthiness and fearlessness,” she added, calling the experience “the highest high.”
“I couldn’t recommend this experience more,” Perry said.
Monday’s early morning launch, which took off from Blue Origin’s West Texas base, was an 11-minute flight that blasted them past the Kármán line, an internationally recognized border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
It marked the 11th human flight for the Blue Origin program, which has taken passengers, including the company’s billionaire founder, Bezos, to space since 2021.
