West Texas – Oprah Winfrey was visibly moved as she watched her longtime best friend, Gayle King, embark on a Blue Origin space flight on Monday, April 14. Winfrey, 71, was among the attendees at the launch site outside El Paso, Texas, witnessing an all-female crew's brief journey to the edge of space.
King, 70, joined Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez (fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos), former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn aboard the New Shepard rocket.
Ahead of the launch, Winfrey shared her thoughts on the Blue Origin livestream, stating, "It goes beyond this moment of just going up in space. I think this will be an everlasting experience." She added, "Gayle has been there for me for hundreds of events I can't even remember them. But none of us will ever forget this day."
Despite looking nervous beforehand, King expressed exhilaration after landing, describing herself as still "floating." She exclaimed, "I cannot even believe what I saw," and shared her pride in undertaking such an adventurous feat. King noted the "quiet" and "peaceful" atmosphere high above Earth and jokingly suggested she might now get her ears pierced, having conquered her fears, signaling her newfound confidence to "take on anything."
