Talk about a giant leap for womankind – Amanda Nguyen, a civil rights activist and astronaut, will soon be the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to travel to space.
The Vietnamese-American will launch into space on the Blue Origin New Shepard 31 flight on April 14. And yes, that's the same spaceflight that American pop star Katy Perry will be on.
Needless to say, Amanda Nguyen is a badass – and not just for her upcoming spacefaring exploits. Here's all you need to know about her and how to watch the Blue Origin launch.
Who is Amanda Nguyen?
Amanda Nguyen is best known for driving the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, which passed unanimously in both chambers of the US Congress. The victory secured sexual assault survivor rights on the federal level, overhauling things like how sexual assaults are reported and how long rape kits are preserved, to reduce the burden on survivors.
Amanda's activism arose from her struggles navigating the criminal justice system in Massachusets after she was raped while studying at Harvard University in 2013. For her work at her non-profit organisation Rise, which aims to protect the rights of sexual assault and rape survivors, and her instrumental role in the landmark Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and named a 2022 TIME Woman of the Year.
Activism aside, Amanda interned for NASA in 2011 and 2013 and conducted research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics. According to multiple interviews, she's always dreamed of being an astronaut, and there's a personal story to it, too: her Vietnamese parents arrived in America on boats that were navigated by the stars.
Why is the Blue Origin New Shepard 31 spaceflight significant?
The upcoming Blue Origin spaceflight will be the first all-female flight since the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova travelled solo to space in 1963. It's a star-studded crew, comprising pop star Katy Perry, CBS Mornings host Gayle King, "This Changes Everything" film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and Emmy Award-winning journalist Lauren Sánchez (also Jeff Bezos's fiancée).
Blue Origin is a commercial spaceflight company and is no stranger to celebrities, who pay thousands of dollars to be shot into space. However, Amanda Nguyen's trip is sponsored by Space for Humanity, a nonprofit that aims to expand access to space through citizen spaceflight programs. "I fly into space so that Vietnamese girls can imagine themselves among the stars," said Nguyen to Vietnamese publication Tuoi Tre News. She added, "I'm going to be the first woman of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian origin to fly into space, but I will not be the last."
How to watch the Blue Origin New Shepard 31 launch?
If you're keen to watch history in the making, tune into the following channels on April 14, 15 minutes before the official liftoff time (9.30am ET):
- Blue Origin website live stream here
- Blue Origin YouTube live stream here
- Simulcast on Blue Origin's X account and on Space.com
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