Vietnamese-born female astronaut carries 169 lotus seeds into space.

According to information from the Vietnam Space Center (VNSC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the NS-31 flight of the New Shepard spacecraft took place in Van Horn, Texas (USA). This event marks an important milestone in space exploration and cooperation between Vietnam and the United States.

The event will be streamed live on Blue Origin's official website at https://www.blueorigin.com/ . Blue Origin is a company founded by Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos.

Six female astronauts are part of the NS-31 mission crew. Photo: Blue Origin

Amanda Nguyen was born in California to a Vietnamese refugee family. She is the founder of the non- governmental organization Rise. With her journey on NS-31, she will be the first woman of Vietnamese descent to fly into space.

Information from Blue Origin indicates that Amanda graduated from Harvard University and conducted research at the Harvard Astrophysics Center, MIT, NASA, and the International Space Science Institute. This astrobiologist previously worked on STS-135 – the final flight of the NASA space shuttle – and Kepler, the Kepler telescope used to search for exoplanets.

Thanks to her efforts in advocating for victims of sexual violence, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and named Woman of the Year by Time magazine.

Notably, the female astronaut will carry 169 lotus seeds (Nelumbo nucifera) from the Center for Research and Development of Flowers and Ornamental Plants under the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Upon her return, these lotus seeds will be used in research on the effects of space on plant growth, contributing to plant science and space exploration.

Joining Amanda were five other female astronauts, including: Aisha Bowe, a former American aerospace engineer of Bahamian descent; journalist Gayle King; singer Katy Perry; film producer Kerianne Flynn; and journalist Lauren Sánchez. This was the first all-female astronaut crew since Valentina Tereshkova's flight in 1963.

The flight lasted approximately 11 minutes, during which the crew experienced several minutes of weightlessness at a maximum altitude of about 105 km, observing the curvature of the Earth and the shadows of space before landing by parachute in West Texas.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-phi-hanh-gia-goc-viet-mang-169-hat-sen-giong-len-vu-tru-2391008.html