---
title: UMD Alumna Gayle King Breaks Barriers in Space
date: 2025-04-15T11:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-alumna-gayle-king-breaks-barriers-in-space"
section: Articles
---
# UMD Alumna Gayle King Breaks Barriers in Space

*April 15, 2025* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih)


> ‘CBS Mornings’ Anchor Soars With All-Female Crew on Historic Flight

*Pop star katy perry journalists 102741205 1920x1080 — UMD alumna Gayle King '76, right, joined five other women in a historic spaceflight. From left, film producer Kerianne Flynn, Jeff Bezos' fiancé Lauren Sánchez, singer Katy Perry, scientist Amanda Nguyen and rocket scientist Aisha Bowe.*

A Terp has made history in space—again.

Award-winning television journalist [Gayle King ’76](https://today.umd.edu/a-commencement-speech-fit-for-a-king)flew as part of the first all-female spacecraft crew in more than 60 years aboard the Blue Origin NS-31, just a year after Jeanette Epps M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’00 became the second Black women to serve as an International Space Station (ISS) crew member.


*Gayle King raises arms after exiting capsule back on Earth — King disembarks from the capsule in Texas, kissing the ground shortly after.*


*six-person crew in blue spacesuits stands outside capsule — King, second from right, and the rest of the crew shortly after landing in Texas.*




**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni), [Gender](https://today.umd.edu/topic/gender), [Journalism](https://today.umd.edu/topic/journalism)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering), [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)