Activist, astronaut shares her story at YWCA's Inspire Luncheon

"With nearly 800 people in attendance at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Nguyen talked about how her dream of being an NASA astronaut was derailed in 2013 when she was raped at Harvard. Her path then led her away from space and into the world of activism, where she fought to secure rights for sexual assault survivors. That took her to Washington, D.C., where Congress passed and President Obama signed the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act in 2016."

"It even took her to the United Nations and to the Vatican, where she talked to then-Pope Francis about the issue - and about outer space. It turns out the late pope was also fascinated by space travel, and the two found a common bond there. A bioastronautics research scientist, Nguyen finally saw her dream realized last April when she conducted experiments on a Blue Origin suborbital space flight."

Amanda Nguyen was born one month after the YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley held its first fundraising luncheon in November 1991. In 2013, her dream of becoming a NASA astronaut was derailed by a rape at Harvard. Nguyen redirected her career into activism to secure rights for sexual assault survivors, culminating in the 2016 Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act signed by President Obama. Her advocacy reached Washington, the United Nations, and the Vatican. As a bioastronautics research scientist, Nguyen conducted experiments on a Blue Origin suborbital flight and brought a hospital note and bracelet as a zero-G indicator. Her parents were Vietnamese boat refugees; her flight represented the first Vietnamese woman in space fifty years after the Fall of Saigon.

Read at The Mercury News