Blue Origin Sends Katy Perry, Gayle King and an All-Female Crew to Space
Amanda Nguyen, first South Asian woman to travel to the stars, joined for the 10 minute journey.
Nobel Peace Prize nominee, advocate, activist and astronaut Amanda Nguyen headed to space this morning with a star-studded, all-female flight crew. The e.l.f. Cosmetics star of the digital series, “Show Your(s)e.l.f.,” journeyed to the stars with Blue Origin alongside Gayle King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Aisha Bowie and Kerianne Flynn.
This was the first all-female spaceflight since Valentina Tereshkova’s journey in 1963 — the women spent 10 minutes in zero gravity, just enough time to gaze at our planet.
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In the series, Nguyen opened up about preparing for her space mission. For her chapter, she dove 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 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 new 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.
