Jeff Bezos Faceplants in West Texas Desert After All-Female Blue Origin Spaceflight

VAN HORN, TX — Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, took a tumble in the West Texas desert Monday morning as he ran to greet his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, moments after her return from space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule.

The livestream of the landing captured the 61-year-old billionaire falling face-first to the ground as he moved around the capsule’s windows to embrace Sanchez, who had just completed an 11-minute suborbital flight alongside five other women.

The mission marked Blue Origin’s first all-female crewed flight and the 11th human flight of the company’s New Shepard program. Joining Sanchez on the historic voyage were pop star Katy Perry, CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

The capsule soared roughly 62 miles above Earth—just beyond the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space—where the crew observed the moon, Earth, and the void of space. 

During the weightless portion of the flight, Perry sang “What a Wonderful World” and held up a daisy, later remarking, “They are resilient. They are powerful. They are strong.”

The flight drew a celebrity crowd to Blue Origin’s launch site near Van Horn, including Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and astronauts Jeanette Epps and Mae Jemison.

The mission was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963. In a post on X, billionaire Jared Isaacman, Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, congratulated the crew, calling the launch “the dream.”

Blue Origin has not released pricing details for the NS-31 flight, but the company previously auctioned a seat on its first crewed mission for $28 million.

Bezos, who flew aboard Blue Origin’s inaugural tourism flight in 2021, had told Sanchez the experience would be life-changing. Monday’s events confirmed that sentiment—with an unexpected fall to Earth to prove it.