Recommendations of the editorial team
The space flight of the US pop star Katy Perry ensures a lot of conversation-and not just positive reactions. The former boss of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, sharply criticized the campaign-and accused Perry of unnecessarily high CO₂ consumption.
“Katy Perry caused more CO₂ emissions yesterday in 10 minutes than an average person in his whole life,” wrote Lang on the short messages of the short messages X (formerly Twitter).
However, readers contradict in the community notes that were added to the posting: “The new shepard rocket uses approx. 50 tons of hydrogen and oxygen, and there is no CO₂ during flight,” it says.
Reactions to Ricarda Lang’s criticism: “Progress was never climate -neutral”
Some also contradict Langs in the comments. For example, the prominent Islamism expert Ahmad Mansour writes: “The progress was never climate-neutral-and yet it was necessary. Anyone who takes morally accounts every individual act loses their eyes for the collective: curiosity, discovery, technical innovation. Not everything can be measured in CO₂-and certainly not the human urge.”
Lang’s objection: “And what collective progress does Katy Perry bring in space?” She asks and continues in another comment: “This is not about space travel as such that is without question a driver for technical innovation and human progress, but about a PR campaign in which a few celebrities were shot for a few pictures for 10 minutes.”
Katy Perry: Space flight with celebrity cast
On Monday (April 14th), a purely female crew on board the New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin started into space. The flight lasted just ten minutes and 22 seconds, but at least led the crew at a height of 105 kilometers – and thus officially across the border to space.
There were TV star Gayle King, entrepreneur Kerianne Flynn, the scientists Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen, Lauren Sánchez-partner of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos-and pop star Katy Perry. Even before the start, Perry was emotional: “I dreamed of flying into space for 15 years,” she wrote on social media. In the weightlessness, she sang the classic “What a Wonderful World” for her fellow travelers.