Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen flew aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with her historic all-female crew, from the West Texas desert across the Karman line on April 14, carrying with her the promise that she made to herself more than 10 years ago.
That promise was to one day travel to space after pausing her astronaut dreams to fight for civil rights, a promise symbolized on the flight by a piece of paper on which she had written, “Never, never give up.”
The Harvard graduate studied astrophysics, conducted research for NASA, and worked on the last space shuttle mission, as well as NASA’s Kepler Exoplanet Mission.
Nguyen put her astronaut dreams on hold to fight for sexual assault survivors after being raped in 2013. She helped rewrite legislation, drafting the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act, which was passed by Congress in 2016. She has spoken at the United Nations and founded a civil rights nongovernmental organization called Rise, which continues to fight for sexual assault survivors and against Asian hate.
Her work earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and the title of TIME Woman of the Year in 2022.
“You know, I usually have nice words to say,” she said in a post-mission interview, showing that she carried her hospital wristband on the mission. “But in this moment, I just want all survivors to know that you can heal. No dream is too wild, and if it’s so wild out there, like going to space, you can absolutely make it through, and it can absolutely be possible.”
Nguyen became the first Vietnamese American woman, and the first Southeast Asian woman, to go to space. She spent her short flight conducting three experiments, including a new ultrasound patch for MIT Media Lab Women’s Health Initiative designed to ensure constant musculoskeletal monitoring of astronauts, checking for things such as radiation risk and skeletal changes that can occur in microgravity, such as spine elongation.
The earthly applications for this patch include constant monitoring and early detection of breast cancer.
Nguyen was not alone in making space history. She was joined by former NASA rocket scientist and engineering honor award recipient Aisha Bowe, who became the first person of Bahamian descent to enter space.
Bowe is an entrepreneur and STEM advocate, appearing as a State Department global speaker for STEM, space, and entrepreneurship in multiple countries, including South Africa, Croatia, and Mongolia. She carried postcards from all over the world into space and also conducted experiments on plant biology and human physiology.
She is the CEO of the engineering firm STEMBoard, which was recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. She is also the founder of LINGO, an education company dedicated to equipping 1 million students with tech skills.
Her 92-year-old Bahamian grandfather made the trip to Texas to see her fly.
“I never really thought I could go to space, although I really wanted to go, and today just confirmed that dreams are real and sometimes reality is wrong,” she said.
Bowe and Nguyen were also joined by Lauren Sánchez, an Emmy-award-winning journalist, best-selling author, and licensed helicopter pilot. She is vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund and founder of Black Ops Aviation, said to be the first female-owned and -operated aerial film and production company. She is also the fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
The mother of three’s first audible words after stepping out of the capsule were, “Where are my babies?”
The other three members of the high-profile crew included pop superstar Katy Perry, award-winning journalist and co-host of “CBS Mornings” Gayle King, and philanthropist and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
All three said their children were top of mind, with Perry carrying a daisy in honor of her daughter, Daisy. They said they hoped the flight would inspire the next generation to literally reach for the stars.
King had to overcome a fear of flying to participate. She credited the support of her friend Oprah Winfrey for helping her decide to go through with the mission, and she praised the level of training that the crew received from Blue Origin.
“I would say that we are forever bonded because you can’t go through what we went through, to look out for each other, to help each other, and not be changed by that,” she said in a post-mission interview. “It really is a true sisterhood.”
No video was available from inside the capsule, Tortoise, during the livestream, but cheers could be heard at every crucial stage of the flight. They flew more than three times the speed of sound, reached a maximum altitude of about 345,000 feet, and experienced weightlessness for four minutes.
King reported that in their final moments in space, Perry started singing “What a Wonderful World.”
The six astronauts stepped out of the capsule bearing smiles and tears, with some choosing to kiss the ground that received their return, and all declaring that they were changed forever.
Their mission took place more than 60 years after Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space with her solo flight for the Soviet Union in 1963.
The April 14 space flight was the 31st launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard and the 11th crewed mission. To date, Blue Origin has flown 58 people into space on the 10-minute suborbital flight.
