Of course the mainstream media chose to highlight Katy Perry in particular as being on board the Blue Origin space trip, and now, as a result, two very important astronauts on that flight are being erased and ignored, or framed as superficial rich people with nothing better to do.
Amanda Nguyen:
A civil rights activist and founder of the nonprofit Rise, known for her work on sexual assault survivors’ rights. In 2013, during her senior year at college while studying astrophysics and working with NASA, she was raped at a frat party. She paused her mission to go to space in order to change legislation for sexual assault survivors. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and awarded TIME’s Woman of the Year for her advocacy and work in this area. Amanda is now the 1st Vietnamese woman to fly to space.
Aisha Bowe:
A former NASA rocket scientist, Aisha Bowe graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in aerospace engineering and a master's in space systems engineering. Bowe is CEO of STEMBoard, an engineering company that works with governments and other organizations.
She also founded LINGO, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education technology company. Bowe is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Her work has been recognized with a NASA Engineering Honor Award, a STEM for Her Woman of the Year and a Black Enterprises Luminary Award.
