Obviously, this voyage has a social justice angle to it. You couldn’t expect anything less from the pop star who just last year described women as, “Sexy, confident/So intelligent/ She is heaven-sent/So soft, so strong” on her provocative feminist anthem “Woman’s World.” Perry also said she was eager to go on this trip in order to teach her 4-year-old daughter, Daisy, that anyone can achieve their dreams, “no matter your background, your ethnicity, your economic situation, or your education level.” The sentiment was shared by known equity advocates Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian, who were there to witness the launch. Kardashian said: “Whatever you dream of is in our reach, especially in today’s day and age. Dream big, wish for the stars—and one day, you could maybe be amongst them.”​ Whatever you dream is in our reach—nice.

This whole thing certainly speaks to me as a woman with great ambition. Any time I have written a sentence that feels true, or on days I’ve run a faster 5k than ever before, I have had but one wish: “If I looked beautiful right now, everything would be perfect.” That wish is always followed by a second one: “I wish there was glam in space.” And now, thanks to Perry, there is. That is why representation matters, and that is why we need to get every woman into space as soon as possible.

I wish I could raise my eyebrows incredulously on a few Zoom calls this week and tell my coworkers, “Katy Perry going to space was not on my 2025 bingo card.” But a pop star floating in zero gravity on a mission funded by Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in history, while the rest of us guess at what economic downturn or fascist political maneuver will strike next…is exactly how I saw this year unfurling. For Perry’s class of people, nothing is at stake and nothing ever has to change, so concepts like empowerment, hope, and resilience have no material reality. They are words for an Instagram caption, lyrics to a song. The money spent on launching the missile into space has no other possible use because the issues women face on Earth are an afterthought.

This trip is also kind of the next logical step for Perry’s career. And look, I’m an empath, I get it. If I had written a few perfect songs in 2010, had never been able to replicate their magic, and was somehow worth $350 million dollars, I would probably also embark on a quest for meaning in the journeywork of the stars. Would I be honest with myself and admit to the world that this was just a million dollar carnival ride dissembling as a publicity stunt, that we are not space revolutionaries but rather celebs in couture trying to milk a few days of earned media paid for by Amazon? Who can say.