Jeff Bezos takes one small step for feminism and social progress, and one giant leap for self-publicity

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space technology company is planning to launch the first all-female commercial flight into space. Photograph: Blue Origin/EPA

A pop star, a TV host and a billionaire’s fiancée walk into a private rocket ship. The pop star turns to the others and asks: “Is this what feminism looks like?” According to the space technology company Blue Origin, owned and founded by the Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

On Thursday Blue Origin announced it would be launching the first-ever all-female commercial flight to space with a crew of astronauts including US singer Katy Perry, the morning news host (– and close friend of Oprah Winfrey – Gayle King and Bezos’s own partner, the journalist Lauren Sánchez, who reportedly organised the mission, which will happen sometime this spring.