Lauren Sánchez and Gayle King have responded to criticism over their trip to space.

On Monday, the two women took off in a Blue Origin rocket with their famous crew, including Katy Perry, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. It was the first female-only mission in more than six decades.

During a press conference after the 11-minute flight, a reporter asked Blue Origin’s crew to respond to some of the chatter and backlash against the trip. For example, actor Olivia Munn questioned the group for going up into space when there were so many other “important things in the world right now.”

“I feel anybody that’s criticizing doesn’t really understand what’s happening here,” King said during the Q&A session on Monday. “We’ve all heard it. We were even all talking about that.”

She then encouraged critics to do a “deep dive” into what the flight means to so many people.

“We can all speak to the response we're getting from young women from young girls about what this represents,” King added. “This is really a lot of work, what went into getting us up and getting us down.”

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Sánchez chimed in to share her thoughts about the criticism, adding: “I get really fired up, a little bit on this.”

“I would love to have [critics] come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don't just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle,” she said. “They love their work and they love the mission and it's a big deal for them.”

“So when we hear comments like that, I just say, trust me, come with me,” she concluded. “I’ll show you what this is about, and it’s really eye-opening.”

The rocket lifted off as part of Blue Origin mission NS-31 at 8:30 a.m. local time. The craft flew through space for around four minutes before floating back down to Earth, with the entire journey taking a little over 10 minutes.

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It marked the 11th human flight for the Blue Origin program, which has taken passengers, including the company’s billionaire founder, Bezos, to space since 2021.

After the rocket had landed safely, King told her CBS Mornings colleagues that Perry had sung “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.

Perry told reporters of her song choice: “I’ve covered that song in the past and obviously my higher self is always steering the ship because I had no idea that one day I’d be singing that song in space.”

Meanwhile, Sánchez said of her experience: “I don’t really have words for it. Earth looked just so quiet.”

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