Who Is Amanda Nguyen? Her Blue Origin Story Is The Only One Worth Talking About

The following article includes mentions of rape and sexual assault.

On April 14, 2025, six women went to space for 11 minutes on a launch by Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos. The trip was expected to be a success; a feminist voyage into the uncharted ethers, a beacon of hope for young girls interested in STEM. Unfortunately, instead of inspiration, the trip proved to be nothing short of cringey. Lauren Sánchez, who, along with being known for her over-the-top outfits, is best recognized as the fiancé of Bezos, which made her the de facto face of the trip. (Surprisingly, her blue astronaut suit didn't cause too much of a stir.) Sanchez traveled alongside TV personality Gayle King, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, film producer and socialite Kerianne Flynn, and Katy Perry, who sang up there.

While the trip has been blasted as a waste of money and as an embarrassment — before take off, many of the women seemed more interested in their astronaut glam than in space travel itself — there was one figure on board who made the trip laudable: Amanda Nguyen. The civil rights activist had long dreamed of becoming an astronaut, and while this dream was temporarily stalled, her Blue Origin trip officially made her the first Vietnamese American woman to fly to space. And that's not the only inspirational part of her story.  

Amanda Nguyen had hopes of becoming an astronaut — she had interned twice at NASA — and was studying astrophysics at Harvard when she was raped in her senior year. Upon finding out that the rape kit would be destroyed six months later — and after receiving a $4,000 hospital bill – Nguyen, along with other survivors, created Rise, and paused her astronaut dreams. They wrote a Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights which became federal law in 2016 thanks to President Barack Obama. Nguyen was later nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2019 and in 2022, was named on of TIME Women of the Year. 

Unexpectedly, Nguyen got her chance to go to space in 2025 with Blue Origin. Alongside the rich and famous, the astrophysicist brought both her trauma and her research onto the space ship. "All astronauts have a zero-g indicator when we reach space; it's a little something that floats," she told TIME. For her, the special object was a note that she wrote after she was raped that read: "Never, never, never give up." Nguyen also had two research projects that she was testing while up in space. She tested a new fabric for spacesuits to see if it could absorb blood. (Women have historically been excluded from space travel for fear of menstrual blood.) She was also testing if a certain electrical chip could detect breast cancer in astronauts. Clearly, the cringe of the Blue Origin trip has nothing to do with Nguyen. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).