Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen reflect on life-changing Blue Origin spaceflight
Former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe described seeing Earth without borders or boundaries during her recent journey aboard Blue Origin's spacecraft, calling the view from 62 miles up "just beautiful" and transformative.
"When you look out the window, you don't see any borders, you don't see any boundaries. You just see beauty," Bowe said during a post-flight interview Tuesday. "It's stunning, and it also has like a feel to it, like it's almost like you can feel the living life force and it was just so beautiful. It's impossible to go through this and not come out changed."
Bowe joined "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King, pop superstar Katy Perry, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and journalist and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez—who is also the fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos—on the company's historic all-women spaceflight.
Bowe, an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur who became the first person of Bahamian heritage to travel to space, described conducting research during the flight, where she said she was looking at the future of being able to produce crops that can withstand harsh environments.
The flight appeared to inspire future generations as well. Bowe shared a story about a 6-year-old girl named Sophia who witnessed the launch and afterward declared to Bowe that she wants to go to space and help protect Earth.
"That," Bowe concluded, "is why we're here."
Amanda Nguyen reveals the powerful keepsake she carried to space
Amanda Nguyen, a rape survivor who transformed personal trauma into landmark legislation when she drafted the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights, carried a decade-old handwritten note reading "Never never never give up" aboard the Blue Origin capsule.
Nguyen, who became the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman in space during the flight, explained that she wrote the note to herself after undergoing a rape kit procedure at a hospital.
"It's a piece of paper that I taped to look at as I was determined to graduate Harvard, it was the same piece of paper that I looked at when I was fighting for my rights in Congress and the United Nations, and it was the same piece of paper that I held on to and looked at over Earth," she said.
She said the moment above Earth marked her "full circle healing journey" after postponing her astronaut dreams to fight for survivors of sexual violence.
"To me, that moment was my full circle healing journey, one that I hope any survivor, or just anyone whose ever had a dream deferred, can know that you will heal, you will make it through, and your miracle is just around the corner," Nguyen told "CBS Mornings."
The civil rights activist, whose call sign during the mission was "Astronaut Dragon," chose "justice" as her personal theme for the journey. Following her own sexual assault, Nguyen fought against the practice of destroying rape kits and successfully advocated for the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights, which was signed into federal law in 2016 and has inspired similar legislation in states across the country.
"Justice to me comes in different forms, and for my personal journey, justice was about going to space," Nguyen said. "For a decade, I gave up my astronaut dreams in order to fight for the rights of gender-based violence survivors."
Nguyen's family history added particular significance to her journey. Her parents were boat refugees from Vietnam.
"They swam so I can fly, crossed the ocean so I can touch the sky," Nguyen said, adding that her aunt, also a boat refugee, was the first person she hugged after touchdown. "She came on boats, and now we're on spaceships."
Beyond the personal milestone, Nguyen conducted scientific research during her brief time in microgravity. "One of the greatest joys that I have from this whole experience is being able to operate my science missions in microgravity and I'm just so so excited about how this research can help women's health in the future," she said.
Following the flight, Nguyen plans to show her flight suit to girls in Vietnam.
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