—u/Dulcinea80

“As if there weren’t nearly 100 **actual** female astronauts before them.

Katy Perry floating in front of a camera holding a dandelion with tears in her eyes pisses me off, and I genuinely don’t get pissed off about this sort of stuff, but the way they tried to market it and how she acted and *who* put them up there is just so inconceivably dumb when you remember that they touted it as the first all-female spaceflight in history.

That doesn’t matter when they were all literally tourists. It’s a participation trophy for the rich.”

—u/GarranDrake

“It was amazing how much they tried to turn it into a moment of empowerment when it was flaunting a wealthy 20-minute girl’s trip into sub-orbit.

There are nearly 100 women who have been in space who have dedicated their lives to studying science, the world, astronomy, physics, flight, who have gone through the rigorous training to make it up there, and, of course, the countless other women in engineering, mathematics, aerospace, etc., who made those flights possible. Real heroes for young women and people of all identities and backgrounds to look up to around the world. And no doubt it took a colossal effort to get someone like Katy into space from teams dedicating long hours and their lives to making space travel doable.

That trip made it feel like Katy was trying to make herself the hero and idol. I think the world saw through it. I fully believe going up there would be a transformative experience for anyone, and I’m glad they all enjoyed and appreciated that experience. But to use it in a way to say, ‘you too one day can be on a yacht’ was the message I think most people took from it.”

—u/ConvenienceStoreDiet