India, April 14 -- American pop star Katy Perry and five other women will blast into space on a self-driving private rocket operated by Blue Origin on Monday.

Blue Origin is a company owned by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

Katy's co-passengers for the joyride in space will also include Bezos's fiancee Lauren Sanchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

"The New Shepard launch window opens at 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC," the company said in a statement.

The New Shepard rocket is due to lift off from the West Texas launch site.

The flight is expected to last for 11 minutes.

The passengers will be taken more than 100km (62 miles) above Ear...