Amanda Nguyen says Blue Origin flight backlash led to depression

Vietnamese American advocate Amanda Nguyen said the intense online backlash following Blue Origin’s all-women spaceflight in April 2025 pushed her into a period of depression. In a public statement shared on Instagram on Sunday, the 34-year-old bioastronautics research scientist described the harassment as overwhelming and deeply personal in the months after the launch from West Texas. Before the flight, the mission had been widely covered as a milestone for women and representation in space.

The NS-31 mission marked the 11th human spaceflight for Blue Origin and carried six women, including Nguyen, journalist Gayle King, singer Katy Perry, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn and company executive Lauren Sánchez. The suborbital flight lasted about 11 minutes and drew widespread attention for its all-female crew and high-profile passengers.

Nguyen is the founder of Rise, a nonprofit organization she launched after surviving a rape while a student at Harvard University in 2013. Her advocacy helped secure the federal Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, signed into law in 2016, which protects survivors’ access to forensic evidence and prohibits charges for evidence collection. Nguyen became the first Vietnamese woman to travel to space, a milestone she previously described as deeply personal rather than symbolic.

Before the launch, Nguyen had described the flight as both a childhood dream and an extension of her advocacy work, rooted in her family’s refugee history and her pursuit of justice for survivors of sexual violence. In an interview with The Rebel Yellow ahead of the mission, she said, “My family charted stars on their journey as refugees. They looked to the stars to guide them through to freedom.”

Soon after the launch, Nguyen said criticism escalated across social media, shifting focus away from the mission itself. “It amounted to billions of hostile impressions, an onslaught no human brain has evolved to endure,” she wrote, adding that she felt like “collateral damage” amid the backlash.

Nguyen said the volume and persistence of the harassment contributed to a period of depression in the weeks and months following the flight, making it difficult to process what had been a long-anticipated achievement. She later shared that she told King her depression “might last for years” during a conversation after the mission. Nguyen said the emotional weight gradually began to lift months after the flight, crediting support from friends and her community.