To The Stars
Amanda Nguyen is largely forgotten amongst the crazed celebrities
It will not have escaped many of your attention that six women took to space on Jeff Bezos's slightly penis-shaped rocket recently.
The cry of this is feminism has largely been ridiculed, especially as Gayle King and Katie Perry are convinced they are astronauts when, at best, they were passengers on one of the most expensive 11 minutes known.
Gayle King's question, "Have you been to space?" once again shows how short-sighted and out-of-touch celebrities are. No, Gail, most of us are trying to afford pasta for our children, and space is a little beyond our reach.
But, amongst the rich celebrities were two scientists. Both have been forgotten mainly amongst kissing the earth and daisies in space. The first was Aisha Bowe, an award-winning aerospace engineer, STEM tech entrepreneur, and CEO. The second is someone all little girls can look to for inspiration. That woman is Amanda Nguyen, a victim of a terrible crime that succeeded, in her dreams, despite everything.
Childhood
Amanda's family came over on a boat as refugees when Saigon fell. Her mum was one of twelve children; four were chosen to journey to America. She tells stories of her mother transferring from one sinking boat to another, holding onto a single rope.
Amanda's parents met in the US, having both arrived as refugees; her father grew into a violent, angry, abusive man. While some childhood homes are marked by children’s heights noted on the wall, Amanda says hers was marked with head-shaped dents in the plaster.
Many a time, her mother would flee with her to keep her safe, returning later in the day. Amanda would wait outside while her mother went to see if her father had calmed. While out there, she started counting stars, which ignited her passion.
College
Amanda was a student at Harvard University studying astrophysics. Her career aims were in two directions: working for NASA or the CIA. Whilst at college, she interned at NASA, working on NASA's last space shuttle mission; previously helped the agency develop its Kepler exoplanet-hunting space telescope.
I was a student at Harvard, three months from graduation with the rest of my life in front of me
Amanda attended a frat party, where she was raped. She is convinced the rapist had done it before because the attack was planned and precise. In the early hours of the morning at a Harvard teaching hospital, her body suddenly became a crime scene.
She was examined by a specialist nurse with a rape crisis volunteer beside her. Amanda was dazed and bruised. She felt icy cold but at the same time burning hot, she said, a cold slab of meat while her insides were liquid magma.
From her hospital bed, she was expected to process information and make decisions that could change her life.
Aftermath
She was then told that an anonymous rape kit would be stored in case one day she chose to file a police report. The statute of limitations for prosecuting rape in Massachusetts is 15 years. Amanda went for this option. Finally, she was discharged with a bill for $4,863.79
Once back in her bedroom, she had time to process what had happened to her and read the paperwork she had been sent home with it. It was here she found buried a devastating and ridiculous piece of information. All rape kits were destroyed after six months.
“The statute of limitations is 15 years because it recognises that trauma takes time to process,” says Amanda. “It allows a victim to revisit that justice. It gives grace to the experience of trauma. But destroying the rape kit after six months prevents a survivor from being able to access vital evidence."
The system was stacked against me, it felt rigged, and that felt like a greater betrayal to me than being raped.
Change the Law
This injustice led her to leave her student career to change the law for the better and completely change her life.
She built a team of survivors into a grassroots organisation called, Rise. Together they wrote a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, which included the right not to have your rape kit destroyed until the statute of limitations expired, and the right not to have to pay for it to be carried out.
After three years of fighting, President Obama signed the Bill into federal law in October 2016. It changed the lives of many victims.
In 2019, Amanda was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and in 2022, she was one of Time magazine’s women of the year.
Her work with the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights had taken up the majority of her life. She had succeeded at the expense of her career and ambition to go to space.
To the Stars
This journey and dream were realised on April 14th, when she joined four celebrities onboard Jeff Bezos's space craft. Amanda became the first Vietnamese woman to fly in space. She had closed the loop on her dreams and a promise she had made to her younger self.
During the flight, Amanda's carefully chosen zero-G indicator was a note she'd written to herself years ago, promising that, if she were to pause her astronaut dreams and fight for civil rights, "Never Never Never Give up." The zero-G indicator is a reference object that astronauts bring to space to indicate when microgravity conditions begin.
Amanda was not only on board for the photo opportunities, she also carried out several experiments. One of those experiments involves testing material for wound dressing in microgravity. Better absorption technology in microgravity conditions would allow engineers to create space-friendly pads or tampons for women astronauts who menstruate.
While this was happening, Katie Perry was kissing a daisy and releasing her set list.
Amanda is unsure whether she will ever press charges but through her bill she has given herself and thousands of women time to process and make their mind up.
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