5 things to know about Amanda Ngoc Nguyen, the first Vietnamese-American woman who just flew to space

Her journey aboard Blue Origin's all-female spaceflight made history—but her achievements extend far beyond the launchpad.

Here’s what to know about Nguyen and how she’s navigated the obstacles in her path:

Early ambition: from Nasa to Harvard

Nguyen was a Nasa intern at 18 and later studied astrophysics at Harvard. Her ambitions were to become an astronaut or work for the CIA, according to South China Morning Post. However, her senior year at Harvard in 2013 took a tragic turn when she was raped just months before graduation.

"I was a student at Harvard, three months from graduation with the rest of my life in front of me," she told The Guardian.

Despite this, Nguyen’s resilience fueled her path toward activism and space exploration.

Amanda Ngoc Nguyen. Photo courtesy of Nguyen's Instagram

Turning trauma into activism

Following the sexual assault, Nguyen submitted an anonymous rape kit instead of one with her real name, fearing the incident would be exposed in background checks for her chosen career, according to the U.S. National Public Radio. She later discovered that the rape kit would be destroyed under Massachusetts law unless renewed every six months, a system which Nguyen said forced her to "live her life by the date of the rape."

This setback motivated her to shift focus, founding Rise, a civil rights organization aimed at securing the rights of sexual assault survivors. Her tireless advocacy led to the passage of the Survivors' Bill of Rights, signed into law by then-President Obama.

"At the crossroads of justice or my astronaut dream, I chose justice," Nguyen shared in a Facebook video.

Authoring her journey to healing

Nguyen’s memoir, Saving Five, released last month, chronicles her healing process and the activism she engaged in after the assault.

"This book is written for every survivor," Nguyen shared in an interview with People magazine. "Writing it helped me heal. It is my greatest hope that these pages can help heal all who seek it, to show we can make it through."

Jeff Bezos’s fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, who led the all-female Blue Origin crew, congratulated Nguyen on her book release in an Instagram post, calling it "so inspiring."

A global voice for equality

In 2019, Nguyen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2022, she was named one of Time magazine’s women of the year.

She was also a prominent figure in the Stop Asian Hate movement, drawing national attention to the issue in 2021 with a viral video that sparked widespread conversation, according to CNBC.

A message from the stars

Nguyen delivered an emotional "Xin chao Viet Nam" (Hello Vietnam) as her spacecraft reached the edge of space on April 14.

"I am flying for Vietnamese young girls to see themselves in the stars. While I may be the first, I won't be the last," Nguyen said in a video posted to her TikTok on April 17. She shared that she spent weeks learning Vietnamese phrases to greet her homeland, with the hope of inspiring young girls.

The 33-year-old civil rights activist experienced a brief moment of weightlessness aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule before returning safely to Earth in an 11-minute suborbital flight launched from West Texas, U.S.

Joining Nguyen, the crew included former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, singer Katy Perry, CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and media executive Lauren Sánchez, Bezos’s fiancée.