Why Amanda Nguyen’s Historic Journey Is A 'Full-Circle Moment'

AmandaNguyen’sstory is nothing short of extraordinary.

As the first Southeast Asian woman set to journey into space, she carries with her not only the weight of history but also the dreams of her family, who fled Vietnam in search of political asylum and a better life after escaping the oppressive communist regime that took hold following the Vietnam War. (Watch the video above.)

The perilous journey Nguyen’s family took in a boat was marked by courage and profoundly shaped her aspirations.

“I’m so proud to be the daughter of refugees,” she said. “To know they used celestial navigation to find freedom is a huge part of what inspired me to study the stars, to study astrophysics.”

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That same legacy, however, became more than just a source of inspiration for her career — it also served as an anchor during the darkest moments of her life. Nguyen’s dream of becoming an astronaut took a detour during her final year at Harvard University when she was raped. The trauma of that experience shifted her trajectory toward advocacy.

In 2014, Nguyen founded Rise, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the rights of sexual assault survivors. Her efforts soon led to the creation of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights,which was passed by Congress in 2016 and ensures victims receive protections when reporting assaults and navigating the medical and legal systems.

Even as she championed justice for others, Nguyen often reflected on her family’s resilience to fuel herself. “They went through a tidal wave storm, you know, fled guards, escaped pirates,” she recalled. “So what’s emailing a senator?

Nguyen eventually found her way back to her original dream of becoming an astronaut — a journey that honors her roots in a deeply personal way. She’s also using her mission into space to uplift and empower women in STEM through partnerships with brands like e.l.f. Beauty.

Last year, Nguyen retraced her mother’s refugee journey, visiting the island in Malaysia where she first sought asylum. “I collected shells from there that I’ll be flying into space from that island,” she told me.

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Her upcoming mission with Blue Origin, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the 30th anniversary of Vietnam and the United States establishing diplomatic relations, carries profound significance. As someone who often grappled with her identity as a child of two nations, Nguyen had questioned how her homeland would perceive her.

“As someone born and raised here, I didn’t know how Vietnam would accept me,” she said. “And they did. … My flight will stand as a symbol of reconciliation between the two countries.”

Nguyen’s mission to space this year will also include a deeply personal artifact: a small note she wrote to herself after her assault.

“It says, ‘Never, never, never give up,’” she shared. This note, which serves as her zero-gravity indicator — an object carried aboard to signal the transition to weightlessness —will float beside her in space.

“When I take that note out and I see it floating in the mirror above Earth,” she said, “that is my full-circle moment, because I kept that promise to myself.”