STEM, Space, and Activism: A Vietnamese Girl’s Tribute to Amanda Nguyen

By Adriana Palmares

Author’s Note – Please Read

This newsletter includes discussion of sexual assault.

This essay reflects my personal feelings and research about Amanda Nguyen, a woman who has deeply inspired me. I encourage all readers to explore her story further and form their own informed opinions. Thank you for taking the time to read! :)

“When Amanda Nguyen greeted Vietnam from space, I cried. In her voice, I saw my future.”

When celebrating historic women who have paved the way for women in STEM, we look back at the greats, but by looking behind us, we forget to look toward the future—the current women fighting problems that exist now. Amanda Nguyen is a Vietnamese civil rights activist, recently known for her trip to space with Blue Origin.

Amanda Nguyen is a person near and dear to my heart and passion for STEM. She has been a huge inspiration to me as I look to my own future. I initially discovered Amanda on my TikTok feed. I instantly gravitated toward her content, where she advocated for sexual assault victims and showed her justice being served. Amanda talks about her story very openly, a senior at Harvard who was sexually assaulted at a frat party. She then went on to push the “Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights Act.” in 2016, this act allowed sexual assault survivors to receive free medical exams and mandates forensic evidence be kept for the statutes of limitation on rape. She has since been praised and even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because of her work. And after she watched all her wildest dreams come true, she rode off to space! Amanda attempted to conduct two experiments. One was a fluid dynamics experiment to see how women’s menstrual products could exist in space. She used different materials like bamboo to see how space affects absorbance. Her second experiment was studying how microgravity affects plant pathology with Southeast Asian Brassica rapa seeds.

Unfortunately, Amanda has recently gotten a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons. Amanda’s crewmates are currently under fire for the ethics and morality surrounding the Blue Origin trip. Many netizens have raised concerns about the amount of resources and money going into this frivolous trip. Many have also pointed out that Jeff Bezos is involved in the company.This is a point of contention for many netizens as Jeff Bezos has gone under fire many times for his mistreatment of workers and excessive wealth. It is understandable that many are furious pop stars and millionaires are flying to space for a selfie while many people down on Earth are struggling to pay rent, afford necessities, and can barely afford food. It also feels dystopian to many netizens online. Many have talked about the hit book series The Hunger Games, referencing “District 12” (the poor) and “The Capitol” (the rich). Netizens bring this reference up to signify the class disparity, referencing the wealthy spending their money on space trips and islands while the average American is in $105,056 (2024) worth of debt.

Another concern raised was the carbon footprint this trip left, which was surprisingly not as bad as I initially thought. The aircraft only launches for about 11 minutes, just past the Kármán Line (the edge of space, about 62 miles up). The aircraft uses water vapor, which, from what I’ve seen, only raises the temperature but does not release carbon dioxide. They also say the spacecraft can be reused multiple times.

Which brings me to my last point: the commercial use of space. Bezos has created Blue Origin to be an “experience” for the ultra-wealthy. A deposit for the tickets is $150,000. I have not yet seen a number for the total cost of the flight, but a seat was auctioned for as high as 28 million dollars. Netizens have also pointed out another ultra-wealthy “experience” similar to Blue Origin—OceanGate. This was an experience that let the wealthy take a submarine down to the ocean floor. This tragically ended five people’s lives in a catastrophic failure that led to the submarine imploding. OceanGate was brought up by netizens because of the dangers involved in these experimental experiences.

Overall, I feel that unlike Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez, Amanda had a reason for being on the spacecraft. She had the knowledge and expertise to get back to Earth while doing productive experiments. And this isn't to say that Amanda was the only one deserving of this flight. Another one of Amanda's crewmates, Aisha Bowe, was a former aerospace engineer who conducted experiments on how plants are affected in space. It is tragic to me that Katy and Lauren are getting the most media attention when there were women in that crew who dedicated themselves and their education to space, then slid into the shadows behind the millionaires. Amanda states, “I’ve been given these cards. Now what do I do with that?” She slyly mentioned the corrupt capitalist scheme Blue Origin represents, but uses that to her advantage. She used this opportunity to not only bring justice to herself but working to create a safe way for other women to reach space.

Amanda has expressed dismay for the ultra-wealthy, recalling the night before the flight when she was training and getting her experiments ready for the big day—only to be invited to a last-minute dinner with the crew. This segment in The Cut showed such a drastic contrast to what this trip meant to her versus what it meant to them. To Lauren, it seems like she treated this as a fun photo op—to get a cool photo and fly back. Amanda was mentioned in several articles to be a bit annoyed at the crew's lack of consideration for her time constraints. Amanda only had a limited number of seconds to complete her experiment, while the crew nagged her to take a group photo. While Amanda was racing against the clock to finish her experiment, some crew members like Katy were taking selfies.

The only video Amanda took was a video greeting her country of Vietnam, telling all the young Vietnamese women to chase their dreams and reach for the stars. When I initially stumbled upon this video, it almost sent me to tears. In her native language, loud and proud, Amanda showed me just how much I have to explore, experience, and accomplish. As a Vietnamese woman myself, the representation was so incredibly inspiring. The way she is unapologetically nerdy and silly fills me with joy. A woman who has gone through so much has made her wildest dreams come true—and kept the biggest smile on her face. Amanda also mentioned on her Instagram that the day she took flight was the day her rape kit would be destroyed. Eleven years later, she flew to space.

Amanda rode to space not to chase clout, but to claim justice, to spark discovery, and to speak to girls like me. I don’t know what my next step looks like, but Amanda stepped onto that aircraft with a purpose and legacy in hand. It's my job to use that power, carry on her legacy, and use her empowerment to reach for the stars.