Amanda Nguyen makes history as first Vietnamese woman in space

By Vivien Bernardino

For Vietnamese-American astronaut and civil rights champion, Amanda Nguyen, the only way is up – literally and figuratively.

Nguyen blasted off into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with a six-woman celebrity crew on Monday, fulfilling a childhood dream that she had shelved for many years after being sexually assaulted in college.

In the process, Nguyen made history as she became the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to fly to outer space.

Nguyen among diverse and influential colleagues

The bioastronautics research scientist was joined by pop star Katy Perry, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, television personality Gayle King, and journalist and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez.

For her journey, Nguyen brought with her two zero-gravity indicators: a hospital band from the night of her assault and a note she wrote herself after her recovery.

The note read: “Never ever give up”.

She also carried 169 Vietnamese lotus seeds from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology as part of a research project examining the effects of spaceflight on plant growth.

Her ticket to space was partially sponsored by Space for Humanity, a non-profit organisation dedicated to making space accessible to everyone.

Monday’s all-female spaceflight was the first since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova launched herself into space in 1963 and Blue Origin’s 11th New Shepard human flight.

It lasted about 10 minutes and took the crew above the Kármán line, an imaginary boundary between Earth and space.

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From survivor to advocate to trailblazer

Nguyen called her sub-orbital spaceflight a journey of healing after 10 years of fighting for the rights of sexual assault survivors, including herself.

“In this moment, I just want all survivors to know: You can heal. No dream is too wild, and if it’s so wild and out there – like going to space – you can absolutely make it through, and it can absolutely be possible,” she said in a statement cited by Space.com.

Nguyen is a Harvard University graduate who has conducted research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), NASA, and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, according to her profile on Blue Origin’s website.

The 33-year-old is also the founder and chief executive officer of Rise, a non-governmental organisation advocating for the civil rights of sexual assault survivors.

She started the organisation in 2014, a year after she became a victim of rape and what she described as a “broken” criminal justice system.

Nguyen went on to draft and advocate for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act, which establishes statutory rights for survivors of sexual assault and rape in the United States.

The legislation was passed unanimously by the US Congress and signed into federal law in 2016.

That work duly earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 before she was named one of Time Magazine‘s Women of the Year in 2022.

Early last month, Nguyen released Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope, a memoir chronicling her trauma, recovery, and healing, plus her ongoing fight for justice for sexual assault survivors worldwide.

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