Amanda Nguyen’s Stellar Leap, The First Vietnamese Woman in Space

Amanda Nguyen made history as the first Vietnamese woman in space, but before reaching the stars, she paused her astronaut dreams to fight for survivor rights.

By Gianna Sibal April 16, 2025

Amanda Nguyen's Stellar Leap, The First Vietnamese Woman in Space

Not all heroes wear capes—some wear flight suits and make history midair. Amanda Nguyen, survivor rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, just added a new title to her name: astronaut. On April 14, she joined Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight, becoming the first Vietnamese woman in space. The all-female crew included public figures like Aisha Bowe, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, Gayle King, and Lauren Sanchez, proving that the sky isn’t the limit…it’s only the beginning.

For Nguyen, this was a powerful, poetic full-circle moment for someone whose life work has always been about expanding the boundaries of possibility. The same tenacity that pushed for survivors’ rights on Earth just propelled her to the stars.

Minutes in Space, Miles for Representation

Nguyen’s suborbital flight wasn’t just a personal achievement. In a world where representation in science and space is still staggeringly narrow, her presence on that spacecraft carried immense weight for the Vietnamese community and beyond.

Though the journey lasted only about ten minutes, its impact was far greater. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen’s flight became a powerful statement of resilience and visibility. In an industry still grappling with inclusivity, she emerged as a living symbol of what broader representation in science and space can—and should—look like.

Justice, Then Space: The Long Road to the Stars

Long before she suited up, Nguyen was already reshaping policy through her nonprofit Rise, which helped pass the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights. But her journey to space wasn’t always a given—her path to the stars started with a fight for justice. Nguyen studied astrophysics at Harvard, MIT, and NASA, working on high-profile projects like the Kepler exoplanet mission. Yet, after surviving sexual assault, her dreams of spaceflight took a backseat to a new mission: fighting for justice. When she discovered that the government could destroy her assault evidence after just six months, Nguyen found herself at a crossroads between her passion for exploration and her need to protect survivors’ rights.

At that moment, she chose justice. “I traded my telescope for a pen to draft laws protecting survivors,” she said. Her work led to the unanimous passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights in Congress and the United Nations. She then returned to training in bioastronautics, saying, “After 10 years of fighting for rights, I’m flying to space.”

Her journey to space proves that dreams don’t have to be abandoned in the face of adversity. It adapts, evolves, and sometimes even defies gravity. Her philosophy is rooted in empowerment, and her voyage is a metaphor for what happens when you dare to take up space in every sense of the word.

As Amanda Nguyen returns to Earth, she brings with her more than memories of weightlessness. She carries a renewed sense of purpose and the hopes of those who’ve been told they don’t belong in certain spaces. If anything, her mission proved what’s possible when someone dares to claim their place in the universe. And by all accounts, she’s just getting started.