On April 14 (local time), in the West of Texas (USA), Blue Origin company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos organized a flight of the New Shepard rocket and ship complex with a crew of 6 women.
The flight, mission name NS-31, is the 11th human-carrying project into space from Blue Origin. The group of astronauts selected are excellent women in many fields, including Ms. Amanda Nguyen - founder and CEO of the Non-governmental Organization RISE.
The New Shepard's journey was a great success when it reached an altitude of 100km in space and returned safely. After the flight, Ms. Amanda Nguyen made her mark as the first Vietnamese woman to fly in space.
According to VNA, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung attended and witnessed the flight of the New Shepard ship and presented a letter from Politburo member and President Luong Cuong to Ms. Amanda Nguyen.
In the letter, President Luong Cuong expressed his joy and pride when for the first time a Vietnamese woman flew into space, affirming the talent and intelligence of Vietnamese people in the US and the world.
The letter of the President emphasized that in 2025, Vietnam and the United States celebrated the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and in the overall relations of the two countries, Vietnam highly appreciated the positive contributions of the Vietnamese community in the US to the development and progress of the US, as well as promoting Vietnam -US cooperation.
President Luong Cuong highly appreciated the cooperation between Ms. Amanda Nguyen and the Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC), helping to promote cooperation between the US and Vietnam.
Amanda Nguyen was born on October 10, 1991, graduated from Harvard University and interned at NASA in 2013. She then worked at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astronomical Physics, then held the position of Deputy White House communications staff at the US State Department.
In November 2014, she founded RISE, a non-governmental organization with the aim of protecting the civil rights of people who have experienced sexual abuse.
In 2019, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to fight for the rights of victims of sexual assault.
