18/04/2025

FRIDAY | APR 18, 2025

23

LYFE

o Katy Perry roars into space with all-female crew on Blue Origin rocket Star journey Perry kissing the ground upon return to Earth. – AFPPIC

UNIVERSAL will build its first European theme park in Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week, unveiling a mega deal that could create thousands of jobs and attract millions of tourists. “Today we closed the deal on a multi-billion-pound investment that will see Bedford home to one of the biggest entertainment parks in Europe,” Starmer said in a statement, referring to the English market town north of London. No precise figures were given for the accord that was struck with US communications giant Comcast, which owns Universal, after years of discussions with UK leaders. There are currently five Universal theme parks around the globe. The first was opened in 1964 in Hollywood, based around the original film studios, followed later by an East Coast park in Orlando. Three others are in Asia – in Beijing, Osaka, Japan and Singapore. Visitors to Europe’s first Universal park could enjoy rides and shows based around beloved movie characters such as Shrek, Minions, dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the world of boy magician Harry Potter. The new park could create some 28,000 jobs, including 20,000 during construction, and represent a £50 billion (RM292 billion) boost to the UK economy by 2055, Starmer’s office said in a statement. Some 80% of the employees would come from the local area, the statement added. The spaceflight was a high-profile success for Bezos’s New Shepard launch vehicle, which has been developed for space tourism. The six-person crew also included Bezos’s fiancee Lauren P OP star Katy Perry and five other women launched into space on a Blue Origin rocket and successfully returned to Earth earlier this week, marking the first all-female spaceflight in more than 60 years. The crew lifted off from West Texas at 9.31am ET (1331 GMT) and travelled to the edge of space, where they experienced a brief period of weightlessness before returning to Earth in a flight lasting around 11 minutes, according to a live broadcast by Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Sanchez, CBS host Gayle King, former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn. King said when the crew returned to their seats after weightlessness, Perry sang the Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World . “I feel super connected to love,” Perry said after landing back on Earth. Perry was holding a daisy, a flower she took into space, to remind her of her daughter Daisy. Among celebrities in attendance at the launch pad were a tearful Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of King, and show business personalities Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian. It was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first

The all-female group on board Blue Origin’s latest flight into outer space. – AFPPIC

same year, Star Trek actor William Shatner flew free of charge as a guest of Blue Origin. In 2018, Reuters reported the company was planning to charge passengers at least US$200,000 for the ride. Blue Origin says on its website it aims to radically reduce the cost of access to space, with its rockets designed for reusability. Britain’s Warwick Business School professor of strategy and organisation Loizos Heracleous

estimated each launch of the New Shepard costs between US$1 to US$3 million. “Even ignoring development cost, there are six seats so each passenger would have to pay around (US$500,000) for this to be a financially viable ongoing business. “It will take a long, long time before space tourism can be a financially sustainable business available to the public at large,” Heracleous said. – Reuters The area is linked by a train ride of about an hour from St Pancras station, which also houses the Eurostar serving links to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Among the plans for the new park, are a 500-room hotel as well as rides, shows and a large dining complex. The proposals will be subject to a planning decision from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministry. Universal has yet to release details of the rides, but media reports have indicated a possible attraction themed around Paddington Bear , which is now a major film franchise. The whole attraction would be intended to rival Disneyland Paris, which drew some 10.4 million visitors in 2023 “From Wicked to Minions , Universal is behind some of the biggest blockbusters of recent years,” said Culture Minister Lisa Nandy. She added that the “landmark investment is fantastic news for our economy, UK tourism and the British public, who will be able to enjoy the biggest and best theme park in Europe on their doorstep”. News of the deal comes just a few days after the government signed off on the expansion of nearby Luton Airport that serves destinations across Europe. – AFP

woman in space, orbited Earth during a nearly three-day solo flight in 1963. Blue Origin does not disclose the average cost of a seat on one of its rockets. On its website, the company said potential passengers have to pay US$150,000 (RM662,000) in the form of a refundable deposit to start the “order process”. In 2021, the company revealed the highest bid for a seat on its New Shepard spacecraft was US$28 million. That

UK to host Europe’s first Universal theme park

An estimated 8.5 million people would visit in its first year, planned for 2031, making it the largest attraction in Britain. – AFPPIC

of Bedford, some 80km north of London. Universal said it would work with local colleges and universities to train the next generation of hospitality workers, with apprenticeships and internships.

to create and deliver an incredible Universal theme park and resort in the heart of the UK,” said Comcast president Mike Cavanagh. In 2023, Comcast bought a 200ha site of a former brickworks, south

An estimated 8.5 million people would visit in its first year planned for 2031, making it the largest attraction in Britain. “We could not be more excited to take this very important step in our plan