Geordie Shore alum Vicky Pattison is the latest celeb to take a crack at the New Shepard NS-31 mission that took place yesterday. The brief, expensive space trip saw an all-female crew take a rocket to space while livestreamed across the globe, but Vicky blasted the stunt as very far from real feminism.
The special invite-only mission was operated by Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin, with Bezos’ partner Lauren Sanchez picking her companions for the flight. The mission made history as the first all-women space trip since Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova went to space alone in 1963, and featured some very famous faces.
Sanchez opted to bring pop star Katy Perry, CBS News journalist Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen for the once-in-a-lifetime journey, which saw the group boosted up into space and spending a few minutes at zero gravity to peek out of the windows.
On Instagram, Vicky, 37, raged against the idea that the flight was a symbol of feminism, pointing out the more pressing inequalities among non-celebs she thinks should be tackled before sending pop princesses to the stars.
“This isn’t feminism,” she stated alongside a photo of the group in their space suits. “They want to distract you with this so you don’t focus on the fact that slowly, also imperceptibly, women’s rights are being taken away.”
The Ex on the Beach star added: “I don’t think we need to see a bunch of uber rich women fired into space in a schlong shaped space ship for 5 minutes… we need equal pay, access to reproductive healthcare, the right to vote, to feel safe, autonomy over our own bodies, the right to safe, accessible abortion.”
Vicky also stated that the money spent on the flight – with a $150,000 (£114,575.85) deposit required just to reserve a seat – could have been better spent elsewhere.
“When I think of all the things this money could have been used to do, I honestly feel ashamed. We’re living in a world where children are starving, old people are dying in their homes, little girls are being forced into marriage as young as 9, women are dying due to a lack of access to healthcare.. and THIS was deemed as a SMART use of all that money,” she wrote.
Vicky – alongside acknowledging she might end up in the “Instagram sin bin” for the post – concluded: “You might think you have the privilege of watching these gender wars burn from the sidelines.. but you don’t, they’re getting closer and closer to home. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by shiny rockets and famous faces- stay informed, stay loud and be unapologetic in your support of women’s rights.”
Vicky isn’t the only famous figure to speak out against the star-studded flight, after model Emily Ratajkowski shared a furious TikTok slamming the major event.
“Saying that you care about Mother Earth and it’s about Mother Earth, and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s singlehandedly destroying the planet?” she said in part of the clip, adding that she was “disgusted” by the morals behind the flight.
Even before the crew blasted off, Hollywood star Olivia Munn shared her very negative take on the getaway with a twist. “What are they doing?” she asked on US daytime show Today with Jenna & Friends on April 3. The actress added: “I know this probably isn’t the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.
“I know this is probably obnoxious but like, it’s so much money to go to space, and there’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs.”
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