Amanda Nguyen: How a Child of Refugees Made it to Space

In 2025, Amanda flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard-25 mission, joining the first all-female civilian crew to reach space. Her fellow passengers included Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, and venture capitalist Kerriann Flynn. For just over ten minutes, they floated above the Earth’s atmosphere and crossed the Kármán line, officially becoming astronauts.

While the celebrity names made headlines, Amanda’s journey represented something more profound. Her presence on the flight was not just historic. It was the result of a lifetime of persistence, activism, and the pursuit of a dream born in childhood and nearly derailed by trauma.

Her path to space began decades earlier in a family shaped by war and hope.

Amanda was born in San Diego, California, to Vietnamese parents who had fled the country as refugees after the war. Her family had survived unimaginable hardships during and after the fall of Saigon, including displacement, poverty, and political instability. Her parents came to the United States to rebuild, and they raised Amanda to believe that her future could be different.

As a child, Amanda developed an early and enduring love for space. She decorated her bedroom ceiling with glow-in-the-dark constellations and memorized the names of NASA missions. Her fascination with the cosmos only deepened as she grew older. In high school, she began exploring astrophysics more seriously, hoping one day to contribute to space science and possibly become an astronaut.

She eventually enrolled at Harvard University, where she studied astrophysics and government. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Amanda interned at NASA and worked on space policy. She immersed herself in the technical and political aspects of space exploration. To her, this wasn't just about science. It was about shaping the future of humanity.

But in her junior year at Harvard, her life took a devastating turn.

Amanda was raped while in college. The aftermath revealed something even more painful than the assault itself: a broken criminal justice system that treated her with indifference and confusion. She discovered that in Massachusetts, the rape kit containing evidence of her assault could be destroyed without notice unless she constantly renewed her legal request to preserve it.

She felt like the system was failing not just her, but millions of other survivors. Rather than accept that failure, Amanda turned her personal pain into a national movement.

She educated herself on policy and began drafting legislation. In 2016, just a few years after her assault, Amanda’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights was signed into federal law. The bill passed unanimously in Congress — an extraordinary feat in a deeply divided political climate. It guaranteed basic rights for survivors, including the preservation of rape kits and the right to be informed of legal options.

That same year, Amanda founded Rise, a nonprofit organization that helps grassroots organizers pass civil rights legislation around the world.

Since its inception, Rise has passed over 70 laws across the United States and internationally in countries like Japan, Mexico, and South Korea.

Amanda’s work earned global recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was named a TIME Woman of the Year, received the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, and delivered one of the most-watched TED Talks on hope.

Amanda became a voice for millions, advocating not just for survivors, but for the power of everyday people to shape their own laws. Media outlets began calling her a modern Rosa Parks for the digital age.

But even as her activism reached global heights, Amanda never let go of her earliest dream.

Throughout her career as a civil rights advocate, Amanda quietly continued her astronaut training. She participated in zero-gravity flights, completed high-G force simulations, and remained committed to the rigorous physical preparation required for spaceflight. She wanted to prove that you could be both an activist and a scientist — that one identity did not have to eclipse the other.

In 2025, her dream became a reality. Amanda joined the historic New Shepard-25 mission, a suborbital spaceflight operated by Blue Origin. It marked the first time a crew composed entirely of civilian women had flown to space.

Amanda’s participation in the flight carried deep personal and cultural meaning. She became the first Vietnamese woman, and one of the first Southeast Asian women, to go to space. It was a moment of pride not just for her family, but for communities around the world who saw themselves reflected in her journey.

In an emotional reflection after the launch, Amanda shared:

The line quickly went viral and became a rallying cry for immigrants and children of refugees. Her message resonated far beyond the aerospace community. It reminded people that inclusion in science and technology is not just about representation. It is about rewriting history in real time.

Amanda Nguyen’s journey is one of the most inspiring examples of modern leadership. She’s not just a survivor. She’s a policymaker, a founder, a scientist, and now, an astronaut.

She built global change through legislation and civil rights, but never gave up on her childhood love of the stars. When people told her it wasn’t possible, she kept going. When systems failed her, she rewrote them. And when given the chance to fly, she carried generations of history with her.

Amanda Nguyen didn’t just reach space. She brought her entire story — and all the people it represents — with her.

As you think about your own path, ask yourself:

What dream are you quietly holding on to — and what would happen if you finally gave it everything?