Gayle King, the unflappable queen of morning television, is trading her CBS anchor desk for a seat aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft—and she’s terrified. In a candid reveal during a recent CBS News segment, King confessed to battling a whirlwind of emotions ahead of her groundbreaking journey to space this fall.
“I have to tell you I’m so afraid. I am. I’m so afraid, but I’m also so excited about it.”
The mission, orchestrated by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, marks the first all-female crew launch since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963. But for King, 69, the opportunity initially felt more like a curveball than a bucket-list moment. “When they asked me around Thanksgiving, I was like, ‘No, no, no,'” she recalled.
But meeting her fellow crew members was a game-changer. The historic mission, spearheaded by Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin team, features an all-female lineup: Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, Lauren Sánchez, and, of course, King herself. As she listened to the personal stories of her fellow space travelers, the gravity of the moment hit her.
“One was told, ‘Your dreams are too big.’ Another was told, ‘Women don’t go into space.’ One mom’s son was called a liar because he told his classmates his mom was going to space. Now, she’s really doing it,” King shared. She was particularly inspired by Sánchez, who is not only a philanthropist and skilled helicopter pilot but also engaged to Bezos.
The legendary journalist admitted that space travel was never on her bucket list. “This was never my dream. And somebody said, ‘Maybe you need to have dreams, Gayle,'” she revealed with a laugh. She compared her conflicting emotions to childbirth: “I don’t know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time. It’s like I’m about to deliver a baby.”
This mission represents the 11th crewed launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard program and its 31st flight.
As the countdown begins, King’s journey slowly approaches. Will she panic mid-launch? “Probably,” she laughs.—and maybe even cry a little.
