The launch from west Texas of the reusable New Shepard vehicle, operated by Bezos’ space company, is scheduled for 8.30am (9.30pm tonight in Malaysia), although the timing may shift depending on weather conditions.

“I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and … that dream becomes a reality,” the US pop star said in the caption of a video posted on Instagram.

In the video, Perry shows her followers around a Blue Origin training capsule. Clad in her space suit, she points to her seat and explains that her call name is “Feather”.

“I think I’m gonna sing, I’m gonna sing a little bit,” Perry says. “I gotta sing in space.”

Joining the all-civilian crew are US morning television presenter Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist and scientist Amanda Nguyen, and entrepreneur Kerianne Flynn.

Blue Origin notes that this will be the first time since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963 that a spacecraft will fly with only women aboard.

The suborbital flight is expected to last just over 10 minutes and reach an altitude of 100km, taking the six passengers just above the Kármán line, an invisible boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.

For comparison, the International Space Station orbits about 400km above Earth.

The Blue Origin crew will be able to briefly unbuckle and float weightless before returning to the Texas desert via a parachute-assisted landing.

The New Shepard vehicle is fully automated: there are no pilots on the voyage.

Blue Origin has been offering short trips for space tourists since 2021. The company has successfully completed 10 such missions, carrying 52 passengers to the edge of space.

Bezos himself was aboard the inaugural crewed flight, and the company has gained attention for sending celebrities, however briefly, into space. Legendary “Star Trek” actor William Shatner boarded a flight in 2021.