Astronaut Amanda Nguyen Is Taking Katy Perry and Gayle King to Space
The star of the e.l.f. Beauty series “Show Your(s)e.l.f” will be the first South Asian woman to travel to the stars.
Nobel Peace Prize nominee, advocate, activist and astronaut Amanda Nguyen is gearing up to finally head to space with a star-studded, all-female flight crew. The e.l.f. Cosmetics star of the digital series, “Show Your(s)e.l.f.,” will journey to the stars with Blue Origin alongside Gayle King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Aisha Bowie and Kerianne Flynn.
When outside of the Earth’s orbit, she’ll experiment on menstration management when in microgravity — something that stopped women from a career in her field once upon a time.
In the series, she opens up about preparing for her upcoming space mission. For her chapter, she dives into exploring the personal and professional challenges she’s overcome and how she’s using this historic achievement to inspire women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) around the world.
Nguyen is set to become the first South Asian woman in space. “My mom and her siblings escaped Vietnam as boat refugees and they used celestial navigation to find freedom. The stars were always deeply meaningful,” she details in the video. “When I look down at Earth, I will be sobbing.” Her goal is to keep the door open, allowing many others to move towards this monumental milestone as well.
The future space explorer boasts an impressive and impactful resume, too. After experiencing sexual violence during her time at Harvard, she felt a deep calling to help others who endured similar trauma. Driven by this knowledge, she authored and successfully passed “The Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights” through both the United States Congress and the United Nations. Following this, she founded Rise, a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering survivors of violence and other crimes to shape, influence and change laws that hurt them. In addition to her advocacy work, Nguyen is set to release her memoir, Saving Five, which chronicles her journey of healing and resilience in the wake of her assault.
You can watch the full episode of the series below or visit the brand’s YouTube channel for more. Nguyen and her crew will fly into space from West Texas on April 14.
While you’re here, check out our explainer on TikTok’s new unrecognizable makeup trend.
