Byline: Mojave Desert – April 16, 2025

The flight lasted only 11 minutes—but Katy Perry’s emotions traveled galaxies.

Earlier this morning in the Mojave Desert, global pop icon Katy Perry reunited with the planet in the most touching way possible: by kneeling and kissing the ground moments after stepping out of Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-31 spacecraft.

While other members of the all-female crew waved at cameras and posed for celebratory photos, Katy dropped to her knees and pressed her lips to the dusty Earth, prompting a wave of awe on-site—and a flood of memes online.

“Space is beautiful… but Earth is where I belong,” she whispered, still slightly shaky from the descent.

One kiss, one planet, infinite memes

Whether spontaneous or sneakily strategic, Katy’s act went instantly viral. Social media lit up under the hashtag #KatyLanded. One tweet read, “Katy Perry just kissed Earth like it’s Orlando Bloom.” Another joked: “She was gone 11 minutes and came back like she survived 11 years on Saturn.”

Memes featuring a floating daisy, her symbolic gift for daughter Daisy Dove, quickly took over TikTok. One video showed her “sending love to Earth” with the flower gently orbiting inside the cabin.

An all-female flight, music in zero gravity, and a daughter’s cheer

Alongside Katy on this history-making flight were journalist Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, pilot Amanda Nguyen, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez—girlfriend of Jeff Bezos. The mission marked the first all-women commercial flight by Blue Origin, making headlines before even leaving the ground.

Adding to the emotional mix was Katy’s daughter Daisy, cheering from below in a tiny astronaut suit. Witnesses say she yelled, “Mommy, don’t fly away forever!” right before liftoff—melting the hearts of onlookers.

Ballads in space: ambitious promo or poetic stunt?

Katy, ever the showwoman, hinted this space trip doubled as a teaser for her upcoming album. “I wanted the universe to hear my new ballads first,” she quipped during a pre-launch press conference. Unfortunately, with no reliable Spotify access in low orbit, that dream is postponed—at least until landing.

Asked about the now-iconic kiss, she laughed: “I just needed to make sure the ground was still there—and that it still loved me.”