Amanda Nguyen makes history as first woman of Vietnamese origin in space

At 8:00 am local time on April 14 (8:00 pm the same day in Vietnam), Nguyen and five other women boarded the New Shepard spacecraft, operated by space tourism company Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos – the world’s second-richest individual.

Thirty minutes later, the spacecraft launched from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas, carrying the six-member NS-31 crew beyond the Kármán Line—the boundary of space, 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.

Joining Nguyen on the mission were Lauren Sanchez, journalist, pilot, and fiancée of Jeff Bezos; pop superstar Katy Perry; Gayle King, host of CBS Mornings; aerospace engineer and former NASA staffer Aisha Bowe; and independent film producer Kerianne Flynn.

The suborbital flight lasted around 11 minutes, allowing the crew to experience weightlessness, witness Earth’s curvature, and peer into the vastness of space before safely landing with parachutes to conclude the journey.

With this flight, Nguyen, 34, became not only the first woman of Vietnamese origin but also the first Southeast Asian woman to travel into space.

This was New Shepard’s 11th crewed mission and marked the first all-female flight since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo journey aboard Vostok 6 in 1963.

Notably, Nguyen also carried 169 lotus seeds (Nelumbo nucifera) provided by the Vietnam National Space Center under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Selected from the Center for Flowers and Ornamental Research and Development under the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the seeds will be used in scientific studies on the effects of space conditions on plant growth after the space flight, contributing to both plant science and space research.

Nguyen joined the mission as part of the Space for Humanity Citizen Astronaut Program, which empowers individuals to address global challenges with a broadened perspective. 

As an Overview Ambassador, she advocates for space accessibility and a deeper connection to Earth.

Born in 1991 in California, Nguyen earned a degree from Harvard University and interned at NASA in 2013. 

She conducted research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MIT, NASA, and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS).

After surviving sexual assault, Nguyen set aside her dream of becoming an astronaut for over a decade to advocate for survivors of sexual violence. 

She founded the civil rights nonprofit Rise, where she now serves as CEO, championing the rights of assault survivors.

For her powerful and tireless advocacy, Nguyen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and named Time magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2022.