Historic Flight Met with 'Tsunami of Harassment'
Amanda Nguyen, the civil rights activist and bioastronautics scientist who became the first Vietnamese woman to travel to space, has spoken out about the severe depression she suffered following the backlash to her historic flight. The 34-year-old was part of the all-female Blue Origin crew that launched from Van Horn, Texas, on 14 April 2025.
The 11-minute suborbital mission, which also featured pop icon Katy Perry, broadcaster Gayle King, and Lauren Sánchez, wife of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, was heavily criticised for its environmental impact. Critics questioned the purpose and resource use of such private space tourism ventures.
'An Avalanche of Misogyny' Buried Achievement
In a powerful statement shared on Instagram, Nguyen described facing a "tsunami of harassment" that left her professional triumph feeling like "collateral damage." She said her lifelong dream was "buried under an avalanche of misogyny."
"The volume of news coverage and social media reaction was so unprecedented that even a small fraction of negativity becomes staggering," Nguyen wrote. "It amounted to billions of hostile impressions, an onslaught no human brain has evolved to endure."
The activist, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for her work with sexual assault survivors, revealed the profound personal toll. "I did not leave Texas for a week, unable to get out of bed," she confessed. A month later, she was so distressed she had to hang up on a senior Blue Origin staff member because she "could not speak through my tears."
From Refugee Boats to Spaceships: A Legacy of Resilience
Nguyen, whose parents fled Vietnam as refugees after the fall of Saigon, framed her journey in poignant historical terms. "When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, bombs rained down on Vietnam," she wrote. "This year, when my boat refugee family looked at the sky, instead of bombs they saw the first Vietnamese woman in space. We came on boats, and now we’re on spaceships."
Despite the intense negativity, Nguyen acknowledged the positive outcomes from the flight. It brought significant media attention to her women's health research and created advocacy opportunities with world leaders regarding support for rape survivors.
Now, eight months after the mission, Nguyen says the "fog of grief has started to lift." She expressed profound gratitude to her supporters, particularly in Vietnam, stating, "Vietnam saved me … You all saved me." In a hopeful note, she added that she can now tell fellow astronaut Gayle King that her depression is not going to last for years. She ended her emotional post with a photo of her younger self at Harvard, captioned simply: "For her."
