Gayle King Explains Her Blue Origin Flight Face That Became a Meme

Gayle King has responded to the viral online memes poking fun at the footage that was taken of her just moments before she boarded her Blue Origin flight to space.

On Monday, King participated alongside Katy Perry, Amanda Nguyen, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe and Kerianne Flynn in a mission to sub-orbital space conducted as part of Blue Origin’s New Shepard space tourism program. Funded by Sánchez’s fiancé and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the flight marked the first time an all-female crew has flown to space since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.

Before their Blue Origin flight took off, King and her fellow crew members were recorded ringing a bell as they walked toward their space capsule. After the footage was shared, many online were quick to note that King did not look particularly excited about her forthcoming flight. “I’m hearing I’ve become a meme,” she said at the top of an Instagram video posted late Monday.

“I didn’t realize that I was being photographed at that moment, nor did I realize that my expression looked so terrified,” King said of the meme’d moment in question. “But I was!” She did not, however, let her fear stop her from taking part in the successful trip to space. “I just thought, ‘I’m just gonna go in and get in my seat and I’m gonna do this,'” she explained. “I knew I was always going to do it.”

King revealed that she, Perry and co. were told they had until two minutes and 30 seconds before the flight was scheduled to take off to back out if they wanted. “I wasn’t going to be that guy. But getting on, it was a little scary,” King noted. “So the memes show that I was apprehensive. [But] I tell you: Look at the picture when I got off the capsule! That’s the one that matters. That’s the victory speech.”

King’s latter comment referenced her reaction to safely landing back on Earth at the end of her 11-minute flight, at which point she knelt down to kiss and touch the ground beneath her feet. “I’m so glad to be back on Earth,” King concluded at the end of her Instagram response. “‘Welcome home’ has a new meaning.”

The flight’s participants have all been criticized, including by Hollywood stars like Olivia Munn, for taking part in the Bezos-funded flight at a time when space exploration is being increasingly taken over by private billionaires and many Americans are struggling to afford their bills and groceries. In response to the flight’s critics, King told PEOPLE, “Anybody that’s criticizing it doesn’t really understand what is happening here. We can all speak to the response we’re getting from young women, from young girls, about what this represents.”

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